Chicago’s Charles Parnell rises through the acting ranks to a big-time role alongside Tom Cruise

Charles Parnell plays a rear admiral overseeing Tom Cruise’s character in “Top Gun: Maverick.” (Paramount Pictures)

When business was slow at Guadalaharry’s, a Mexican restaurant on Rush Street, Charles Parnell and a co-worker would make up skits in the kitchen.

They’d write character names on a nearby blackboard, Parnell said. They’d decide on a backstory and sometimes an accent. And then, they’d start acting.