University sophomore Will Cuddy@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Cuddy@@ recently co-starred on an episode of NBC’s new Portland-based TV show, “Grimm.”
“Grimm” has the basic set up of any police drama — but with a twist. Characters based on fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm exist in the real world. The show follows a homicide detective who discovers he is the descendant of supernatural fighters called Grimms. The detective must explore his new powers and navigate the supernatural world while at the same time hiding his knowledge from regular humans.@@oh brother. greatest american hero redux@@
Though filmed and set in Portland, “Grimm” has hired most of its cast from out of town. Beaverton-born-and-raised, Cuddy is one of the first Portland-area actors to perform on the show. He appeared as the character Carter Brimley in the fifth episode, “Danse Macabre,” which aired Dec. 8. The episode revolved around a Pied Piper-esque story and was directed by David Solomon,@@http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/David_Solomon@@ who had a large hand in episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
“I was just extremely excited because I’ve never been on a TV show of this size with a speaking role before, ever,” Cuddy said. “I was interacting with lead characters for not seconds but minutes.”@@no way, dude! for reals?!@@
His agent set up the audition, which was easy — if nerve-wracking — the first go-round. With a callback within a few days, he heard he got the part. And he not only beat out other Portland hopefuls for the same role, but also actors auditioning in Los Angeles.
“I was extremely proud and elated that he got it,” said Ward Cuddy, who is Cuddy’s father and manager, “because you can audition for a lot of parts, and some you get and some you don’t.”
Carter Brimley,@@http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/Carter_Brimley@@ Cuddy’s character in the episode, isn’t the nicest guy around. A privileged teen attending a Portland private school, Brimley taunts his peer Roddy Geiger, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who turns out to have a supernatural secret. Cuddy described Brimley as rich, pompous and cocky.
“I’ve sort of been typecast as a bully, which is pretty funny,” he said, having had similar smaller roles. “People pretty much see me as this nice smiley guy, and then they see me on film, and they’re like ‘Who are you?’ … I guess I pull off the tough guy well.”
Though playing the bully was nothing new, he was challenged in another way. In the episode, his character and several other actors played in a string quartet. Before filming in September, a cellist and violinist from the Oregon Symphony spent four hours a day for three days training the actors on how to handle their instruments and look like advanced musicians.
“It wasn’t super hard, because I have some music background,” he said. “So I followed the rhythms. It was pretty exciting to be working with these talented artists.”
Cuddy got into acting at nine, when his mother took him to the Young People’s Theatre Project summer camp at Jesuit High School.@@http://www.yptproject.org/@@ Not sure if it was for him, he was about to leave when one of the adult organizers invited him to audition.
“I always call that my life-changing moment,” he said. “If she hadn’t seen me, I probably wouldn’t be acting today.”
He went on to participate at the theater project for the next five years, as well as act in his high school’s plays and musicals. At 14, he was cast on “Endurance,” a “Survivor”-esque TV competition show on the Discovery Kids cable channel. He’s also had small roles in 2008’s “Without a Paddle 2” and the NBC television movie “A Walk in My Shoes” — both of which were filmed in Portland. But so far, his appearance on “Grimm” has been his biggest network role to date.
“This is pretty big for him,” Ward Cuddy said, “because he was in the whole episode and had a speaking part and all.”
Though Cuddy enjoys stage acting, he’s pursuing television acting at the moment.
“They both have their benefits,” he said. “I really like theater because it’s exciting and live, and I like the intimacy with the audience. With film, I really like the production and technology and things like that.”
In acting, competition is fierce, especially for someone also attending the University.
“It’s tough to fully commit to the dream, to drop everything and act,” he said. “I’ve kind of been doing what I can on the side to keep my resume up to date.”
A year from now, he tentatively plans to take winter and spring term off from school, move down to Los Angeles and go to as many auditions as possible. January to June is called “pilot season” down in L.A., where television networks start casting and filming episodes for new TV shows.
“I’ve got to follow it, or I’ll regret not trying,” he said.