Chris Cook had planned for a career as an actor. Instead, the West Roxbury resident is now running Boston’s Parks and Recreation Department – the vitally important city agency with a $35 million annual budget and more than 200 employees.

And, much like an actor would have, he won the job by nailing the audition.

Cook, 37, was sworn in as the Parks and Recreation Commissioner on Monday afternoon by City Clerk Maureen Feeney. He had been the “interim” commissioner since January, a sort of “try-out” period that Cook and his team evidently survived to the satisfaction of the city’s casting director, Mayor Marty Walsh.

“Chris has served the city exceptionally well during his time as Interim Commissioner of the Parks Department, and previously as director of the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism & Special Events,” the mayor told the Reporter this week. “He has a long history of success in leadership, from coordinating championship parades to the incredible work of the Parks staff this summer. I’m pleased to have him join our administration in a permanent role, and I’ll be excited to see him execute our shared vision for Boston’s parks, open spaces, and recreational programming, and making our city home to the greatest parks system in the country.” 

The mayor let Cook and his administration’s leadership in on the news last week.

“I’m incredibly humbled and honored beyond belief,” said Cook of his appointment. “I think it’s a reflection of how we had a great summer and everyone has been working very hard as far as programming and making impressive strides.”

Like several other key members of Walsh’s team, Cook is a holdover from the Menino era. His “very unusual path” into city government began with a part-time gig working with traveling theater companies in the Boston schools. That led eventually to full-time work in the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Tourism, where Cook discovered that his love for stage and screen had a serious rival.

“I just absolutely loved the people and the work at City Hall,” said Cook, who took charge of the tourism-arts role on a temporary basis in 2010. “It was a very easy transition from being a frustrated actor to acting commissioner.”

Cook grew up in Plymouth, but spent many of his childhood days visiting his grandmother Ann Cook at her Dorchester home off of Adams Street. She passed away two years ago at age 104, but his connection through her to the neighborhood has been long-lasting. Cook and his wife Aine have two daughters, Saoirse, 9, and Rosheen, 4.

Cook takes full charge of portfolio that includes 331 parks, playgrounds, burial grounds, two golf courses and assorted squares and urban wilds across the neighborhoods. It’s a department that comes with a constant drumbeat of constituent demands – from public safety concerns and graffiti to keeping the lights on an extra half-hour for soccer practice.

“The constituent buy-in is just vital to the department’s work,” said Cook. “I’ve been impressed with how important the parks are to the people who use them and abut them. They are an extension of the yard for many people and the sense of ownership people have is real. We hope to expand those partnerships and turn the enthusiasm into action and establish some new partnerships.”

In Dorchester, a good chunk of the job will be to oversee existing projects to improve and maintain existing parks – including Savin Hill – due to undergo a $215,000 enhancement project next spring (see story on Page 11.)

“We have an incredible design and construction team in place,” said Cook. “It’s a balancing act between the projects and maintenance, so we’re taking care of these properties as we renovate them. I think what we can’t ignore are the large parks – like Moakley and Franklin Park. They have major infrastructure needs going forward and we’ll have to look at outside partnerships to make those happen.”

Cook said he frequently fields “routine maintenance calls” directly from his number one constituent, Mayor Walsh. “He sees more of the parks then we do, given the amount of time he’s traveling to these spaces across the city. It’s good because he’s directly hearing from constituents. He wants to maintain them to the highest level.”

Cook – and his right-hand, Ryan Woods, a Dorchester native who works as director of external affairs for the Parks Department – say that the Citizen Connect application is a great tool to track and complete requests for service at the parks. They also encourage park-users to call in requests and suggestions to their own hotline, 617-635-PARK.