Graduate pursues Hollywood dreams

While many of his Sisters High School Class of 2010 classmates are returning home from college for the summer, Grayson "Gray" Gould is anchored in Los Angeles focused on making a name for himself as a Hollywood actor.

Already he has contributed to a number of productions including the Fox TV hit "Glee" and the just-released movie sequel "Hangover 2."

"To really go after what I want, this is where I need to be," says Gray.

The busiest season for actors is summer into fall.

"I heard a statistic that everyday, 8,000 people move here - actors, musicians, models - to compete for 38 jobs. You've got to find the one thing that makes you stand out."

For Gray, that's comedy.

"My main dream is to be a well-known comedic actor. Getting there is harder work than just being a hunky stunt man," he quips. "To be a funny guy you've got to go out there and make people laugh."

Sisters High School Drama teacher Gary Bowne thinks Gould has the chops to do it. Bowne recalls that Gould first arrived in his class as an untrained sophomore, yet "showed a remarkable skill in expressive body movement and facial expression."

By the time Gould graduated he had mastered the fundamentals of voice and diction, and scored juicy parts in SHS productions including "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Grease."

"He really evolved as an outstanding student, earning plum roles on the main stage," says Bowne. "He now has the skills, particularly in physical comedy, to capture a good role in a sit-com for TV!"

Since moving to Los Angeles last fall, Gray is already growing comfortable on Hollywood sets. He's well on his way to becoming a member of the Screen Actors' Guild (SAG), having earned two of the required three union-job vouchers.

Gray explained that as a union member, "the pay-scale doubles and it's easier to get auditions and to get parts."

His first voucher came when he interviewed to be a featured extra - an "evil nerd" on the Fox TV show "House." He didn't get the part but received the coveted voucher. He scored the second working as an extra on the independent film "Dirty Girl."

Gray found recurring background work on the "Glee" set. Some of his other TV assignments include the shows "Switched at Birth," "The Middle," and a recurring job on "Raising Hope."

Because he has the same body size as one of the principle actors on ABC's "No Ordinary Family," he was hired as a stand-in "to help set up the lighting and fix the camera angle just right. You stand there for like 10 minutes, then you step off and the actor comes on. You have to communicate with the actor when the director moves their mark."

He considers these opportunities a precursor to landing a speaking part, telling The Nugget, "I'm very anxious to get to acting and not just walking around on camera."

Still, it's a long way from his first acting gig, when as a preschooler he played one of the Lost Boys in "Peter Pan" in his hometown of Wenatchee, Washington.

Gray's parents, Mike and Jan Gould, moved the family to Sisters when he was in the third grade.

"My parents say ever since I was little I would run into the room announcing "Here he is...the Grayson!' And I'd bow and say "Thank you, thank you.'"

Making his parents laugh inspired Gray to develop his funny side.

At SHS he explored virtually every expression of the Performing Arts Department, playing the trumpet in the jazz band for a spell, then learning guitar and writing a few songs with the Americana Project. But he found his real groove in Jazz Choir and drama.

The most memorable event of his high school performing career came during "Fiddler on the Roof."

Gray played the role of Motel the tailor. "A week before the show opened, we weren't ready. We asked them to reschedule the show, but they couldn't. So we knuckled down and did it."

Adding to that, Gray expected to sing "Wonder of Wonders" as a duet. "But in rehearsals everyone agreed at the last minute I should do it as a solo. It was beyond the word nerve-wracking."

He closed out his senior year playing bad boy Sonny La Tierre in the well-attended musical "Grease."

Gray met his current acting coach, Chambers Stevens, at a talent scouting event in Seattle when he was 16, after "begging and bugging the living daylights out of my mom to take me." He delivered a 30-second monologue and drew some laughter doing comic improvisation on stage with Stevens.

Afterward, Stevens personally invited Gray to attend his acting workshop and recommended he pursue a career in Los Angeles. Two years later, Gray's parents were convinced that he should go.

"Without them I wouldn't be here," he says. "There are times I think "What am I doing? This is kind of crazy!' And I call them and they tell me, "This is what you need to be doing and we love you.'

"Gary Bowne was another driving force to pursue my dreams - a big inspiration. He said "If this is what you want to do, you should do it.' I look up to Mr. Bowne because he is doing day in day out what he loves: he's teaching kids to act or to play guitar. He showed me that it's possible I can be doing exactly what I love."