This week's Patch Portraits also features two Skokie-based men who represent the past and present of serving the 101st Airborne Division.

After studying theater at Northwestern University, Nili Yellin ran full force in pursuing an acting career in New York City when she was 21-years-old. Yellin's bold personality earned her a gig at Warner Brothers' start-up music channel, MTV, in the 1980s. During that time, she also landed consistent small gigs as an improvisational actor on Saturday Night Live, where she worked alongside Dennis Miller, Eddie Murphy and Conan O'Brien.

Yellin switched gears and turned down a promotion at MTV when she was 29-years-old to pursue a career in stand-up comedy. As her decisions fell into place, While visiting Chicago to perform at Zanies comedy club, Yellin surfaced a love connection with a former college classmate. This romance galvanized her to a lifestyle crossroads: remain in career-driven New York City, or move to Chicago and have a family?

Today Yellin balances her stage life with the family she's always wanted on her own terms while being a driving, creative force behind the Wilmette Theatre.