IN CHARACTER WITH ... Lucas Neff

The Chicago native and ‘Raising Hope’ star on his lucky break

Lucas Neff, star of “Raising Hope,” feels unbelievably fortunate that the hit comedy is entering its fourth season. But the Chicago native is no stranger to luck: If it weren’t for an administrative mistake at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he never would’ve considered acting in the

” . first place. “They misplaced my application into the performing arts department,” Neff says. “So I got into acting by accident.”

It was a stroke of good luck for Neff — it turned out he really enjoyed acting classes. Upon graduating, he began performing at Steppenwolf Theatre before serendipity struck again: Thirteen months after he left UIC, he landed the part of loveable underachiever Jimmy Chance on the Fox series “Raising Hope.” “It was pretty miraculous,” he says. Now, in addition to the Nov. 8 season premiere, Neff is also looking forward to his first Pixar film, “The Good Dinosaur,” scheduled to be released in 2015.

Seasoned actors: “We’re

all pretty thrilled we are going into season four. We have Jesse Chandler in the premiere — he is TV comedy gold. Molly Shannon is doing a spot with us, too. We’re going to be exploring a lot of Jimmy and Sabrina’s marriage. They’re in wedded bliss, so now is the perfect time for everything to go wrong.”

Prep work: “I believe in the power of the imagination. I sit down and ask myself questions, and see if I know anyone like that in my life. We’ve all been sad, happy, angry — it’s not hard to imagine. My process isn’t super method-y. My thing is just hanging out with the character.”

Breaking in: “I was an actor in Chicago doing theater for nothing, and I went on tape for a national casting call. They called in a ton of actors, but I was the 20th kid to go into the casting agency. They watched the tape and then I flew to LA. They called me back and wanted to put me on tape again. I’m the luckiest guy that ever lived.”