Why a Lisle actor chose Chicago over Hollywood
Editor's note: Emily Johnson and Kraig Blackwelder were co-writers of the movie “Blood & Water.”
dgire@dailyherald.com
Sitting in a van in downtown Chicago, waiting to be called for his scene on the set of "ER," actor Grant Stokes began a deep conversation with one of the TV show's stars, actress Laura Innes.
Innes (Dr. Kerry Weaver) encouraged Stokes, a Lisle resident, to stay focused on his acting and to be creative and diligent. Knowing she was a Hollywood veteran, he took her advice to heart.
If he was going to be creative and do his best acting, Stokes decided he'd be better off staying in Chicago. While New York and Hollywood beckoned, he opted to be the big fish in the small independent movie pond, starring in films like the award-winning "Fall Away" - which earned him the Best Lead Actor award at the 2011 New York City International Film Festival.
For some of his films, Stokes also wrote the script and composed the soundtrack with his band, Crooked Willow.
"I've been able to do things here that I'd never be able to do in New York or L.A. I'm getting to play lead roles and big parts, where I get to really act," he said. "I don't have to do small, little parts, or bring Harrison Ford coffee or whatever."
Stokes' newest movie, "Blood & Water," which he stars in and cowrote with Columbia College professor Del Harvey, will be in film festivals this spring. They plan to screen it at theaters in Naperville and Oak Park in March, although specific dates haven't been finalized.
The movie's based on a true story of a family that runs a vineyard in southwest Michigan and risks losing it all when the oldest son returns home. Some of the scenes were filmed at the Lynfred Winery store in Naperville.
As a side job, Stokes teaches acting and film at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove. He previously ran a suburban-based acting school, North Hollywood Acting Studio, with filmmaker Nick Celozzi, an Elmhurst native.
Growing up in a Canadian-American family in the Detroit-Windsor area, Stokes earned a master's degree in Fine Arts from Wayne State University and quickly landed stage roles in Los Angeles and New York.
With plans to be a stage actor, he moved to New York and studied at HB Studio. There, he was trained by legendary actress Uta Hagen, who also taught Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon and Jason Robards.
Hagen had a profound impact on Stokes' career, instilling in him that a character's "inner life" needs to come through in performances.
"You have to completely immerse yourself in the character's given circumstances. Which means, if I'm playing a cowboy in Utah in 1819, I have to figure out how he walked. Did his body hurt? How did he think? You have to think like the character and feel physically like the character," he said.
After a friend encouraged him to move to Chicago for work, he started doing small theater productions and picked up a teaching job at Act One Studios and Conservatory.
A short time later, he connected with Chicago casting agent Jane Alderman, who helped him land roles on "ER" and small films like "Maidenhead" and "Death by Broadcast." Suddenly, Stokes started thinking of himself as a film actor rather than a stage actor, and refocused his career on movies - and music. His band, Crooked Willow, which includes Aurora-based guitarist T.D. Clark, composes movie soundtracks and plays an occasional gig at places like Double Door in Chicago. They're currently working on a new album.
"I hope to always call this (Chicago) my home, and stay here, and create more, and keep us all inspired," Stokes said. "We're in a time now where small independent companies, if we can get the funding and the backing. the film can travel. We can create it here and it can go off into the whole wide world, and it's amazing."
- Jamie Sotonoff
• Dann Gire and Jamie Sotonoff are always looking for people from the suburbs who are now working in showbiz. If you know of someone who would make an interesting feature, email them at dgire@dailyherald.com and jsotonoff@dailyherald.com.