“Aren’t you my tennis instructor?”

With an IMDb (Internet Movie Database) list of acting credits for TV shows, movies and voice roles that stretches back about 40 years, prolific character actor Stephen Tobolowsky has a face and voice that people recognize — though, not always accurately, as evidenced by the above question he received from a local passerby on a previous trip to Vashon.

“Are you sure you’re not my tennis instructor?”

No, Tobolowsky is not your tennis instructor, but the busy actor, author and podcaster, whose movie credits include “Spaceballs,” “Mississippi Burning,” “Single White Female,” “Groundhog Day” and “The Lorax,” will be in town again next Thursday, Dec. 14, to give a show in support of Safe Grad Night for the Vashon class of 2019.

This will be Tobolowsky’s third time performing a fundraising show on Vashon — each of which he has donated his time for — and the second time for a Safe Grad Night event.

“The first was for the theater program at the high school,” he said. “And the Grad Nights … are an awesome cause. It’s heartbreaking that it’s necessary, but it’s a wonderful thing for parents to do for their kids.”

Lisa MacLeod, Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse (VARSA) co-chair, noted that prom and graduation are the two most common nights for teens to engage in high-risk behaviors. Safe Grad Nights (SGNs) are organized by parent groups to provide exactly what the name implies: safe graduation night festivities that are busy, fun, alcohol and drug-free, and chaperoned by both parents and event professionals.

“Experience has shown that this is a very successful model,” MacLeod, who is also the chair of the class of 2019 SGN committee, said. “The kids have a really good time instead of ending up in the ER.”

Each year’s parent committee creates the event, usually working with a Safe Grad Night company, for their graduating seniors and keeps the plans secret so that the night’s activities will be a surprise. Past experiences have included an indoor pool turned into a water park, nightclubs closed to the public for the evening, go karting, game centers and indoor skydiving. Mobile vendors such as henna artists are often brought in and the events last all night, with all transportation provided.

The catch, however, is that it all costs money, and the committees also want to be able to ensure that all students who want to can attend, regardless of any financial constraints. So to keep ticket prices as low as possible and also have enough for financial scholarships, each SGN committee sets a fundraising goal for their event.

“But everyone is so maxed out with fundraisers these days,” MacLeod explained. “We realized that rather than hold multiple bake sales or car washes, it’s great to have a one-off event like this.”

“This,” being Tobolowsky’s show next Thursday. It is also worth noting that if the event brings in enough money, MacLeod said that some funds may be donated to the SGN class of 2018 committee, which is still fundraising for its event.

So how did parents on Vashon Island manage to get this in-demand celebrity to agree to help — not just once, but three times now?

Islander Lauri Hennessey, fundraising chair for SGN 2019, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for the Woodland Park Zoo and confessed longtime Stephen Tobolowsky fan, told us the story.

“Back in 2011, Rebecca Graves had the idea that she wanted to raise money for VHS students who were interested in theater, but she didn’t know how to go about it,” Hennessey said. “So she contacted Michael Soltman (VISD superintendent) who connected her with me, as my daughter was in the high school’s theater program at the time. She (Graves) came up with the idea of bringing Stephen Tobolowsky here after hearing his podcasts on NPR. So, I contacted him through his website.”

And as both Hennessey and Tobolowsky tell it, what happened next was just so … Vashon, that not only could he not say “no,” now he’s hooked.

Tobolowski offered to donate a stage show if his flights and lodging could be taken care of. So (then) VHS student parents Ellen and Pat Call donated enough frequent flier miles to cover the flights and Lavender Hill Farm offered to put up Tobolowsky and his wife, actress Ann Hearn, during their stay. That first show raised about $8,000 for the theater program, and allowed the actor to not only give the first live performance of the stories from his NPR podcast, “The Tobolowsky Files,” but to make connections here.

Hennessey said that about four years later, she contacted Tobolowsky again, this time for SGN 2016, and he was thrilled.

“Vashon is fantastic. That second time, we stayed at Hedy Anderson’s place — she had Packers’ tickets and wasn’t going to be home,” he said, his kind, familiar voice not missing a beat. “You know, we found the room where she hides all of that delicious candy … and it was basically an orgy (laughing). So now when we come, we always make sure to buy some of her caramels at Pike’s Place Market to make up for what we ate.”

The actor now author also mentioned that he wrote part of his second book, “My Adventures With God,” while on the island.

“Both books and the shows I’ve done on the island come from the stories in the podcasts,” Tobolowsky said. “And those were the result of breaking my neck in five places when I fell off of a horse while riding on the side of a volcano in Iceland.” (In 2008).

OK then.

“I remember waking up and the doctor telling me that I had suffered a ‘fatal injury.’ It was the same injury that paralyzed, and ultimately killed, Christopher Reeve. And it struck me as funny — or as funny as anything could be in that situation — that the doctor was basically telling me I should be dead. All I could think of was that I still had so much to tell my sons,” he said. “Not Hollywood stuff, but true stories about my life that I wanted them to know. So I recorded them. In no particular order, just whatever came to mind at the time. Then KUOW and the NPR community picked up the podcasts … and that led to Simon and Schuster approaching me about writing the books.”

And, of course, coming to Graves’ attention.

Ironically, Tobolowsky said his younger son, now in medical school, only listened to the first audio book recently and the older son hasn’t read the books or listened to the podcasts at all.

“What can you do with kids?” he chuckled, “I mean, this is why in the fairy tales they’d bake ‘em in a pie and eat them.”

And now, he’s coming back to the island he’s grown to love, as Hennessey reached out again for the class of 2019.

Next week’s show will see Tobolowsky telling a mix of some of his favorite old stories and some new ones, some funny, some not. With the actor’s schedule so busy these days he doesn’t even have time for your tennis lessons, it will a be a rare treat for those who attend.

“You know, I get invited to perform all over the world now, but Vashon was the first place to ask me. And everyone pitched in to bring me and my wife there … it was just such a loving thing to do. You can’t duplicate that kind of affection, so I like to contribute when I can.”

An Evening with Stephen Tobolowski in support of the class of 2019’s SGN takes place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at the Vashon High School theater. The event includes a silent auction that will take place during the intermission. Tickets cost $40 ($25 for seniors and students) and may be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3160220 and via the SGN website at http://safegradnight.org/events/. Any island student, regardless of where they attend school, may participate in their year’s SGN. For more information, see the SGN website as noted above.