Gary Sinise’s memoir isn’t your typical celebrity dispatch. Then again, he’s not your typical actor.

When he was a sophomore in high school almost a half-century ago, three words changed Gary Sinise’s life: “Come and audition.” As he relates in his new memoir, “Grateful American,” those words came from Barbara Patterson, the formidable drama department head at Highland Park High School outside Chicago, where the performing arts were as much a priority as sports.