This 6-year-old Monmouth girl has been cast in a movie. Learn about her budding acting career
MONMOUTH — In many ways, 6-year-old Gwyn Ray shares much in common with her Monmouth Immaculate Conception School classmates. She takes gymnastics lessons, her favorite TV show is SpongeBob and she loves to draw and color.
But Gwyneviere Ray also is making a name for herself in the entertainment industry.
Gwyn — as she's known to family and friends — has been acting professionally for more than two years. She was recently cast in the movie "No Vacancy" with Dean Cain and Sean Young. She's worked as a background extra on "Fargo," "South Side," and "Chicago Fire." And she's also had a lead role in an online commercial and has worked several independent projects.
To make it official, the SAG-eligible actress even has her own IMBd page.
Art Ayris, founder of Kingstone Studios and one of the producers of "No Vacancy" said, “First of all, (Gwyneviere) had to run a huge gauntlet to even be selected for the film. We had a strong outpouring of submissions from the talent agencies for the two spots we had for child actors.
"You can imagine how hard it was for the casting director and team selecting the girls for these two roles. Gwyneviere gave an impressive audition and she also looked the role so we were able to pair her with the other girl and the actress mother."
Ayris added, "From fitting to COVID checks to execution Gwyneviere did excellent. She was easily a 10X over anything I would have been able to pull off at that age.
"The director ended up compressing a lot of the footage we had of the homeless single mother family but Gwyneviere still gets some good screen time and we are looking forward to the movie release.”
Gwyn lives in Monmouth with her parents Scott and Sonda Ray. Sonda fills us in on Gwyn's budding career in a Q&A with The Register-Mail.
How did Gwyn get involved in acting?
Mom: Her brother, Alister Long, was in drama club in school and loved acting. He asked me why I wouldn't let him be a professional actor. I did a bit of research and found on the city of Chicago's website, a list of what they were filming at the time and a list of companies to contact if you wanted to be involved. He started out working as an extra through 4 Star Casting.
As we continued, I met other parents that had children involved in this industry for quite some time, and they helped me learn how to advance his career. As I was searching for roles for him, I found one that wanted siblings. I had her audition with him and she did a great job. I started looking for roles for her too and she just really took off. My son is no longer interested in acting and rarely works, but he will pick up an extra role once in a while.
Tell us about the acting projects that Gwyneviere has been involved in?
Mom: Gwyn has worked on a lot of projects. Her first role that gave her IMDb credit was a re-enactment for "Storm Stories: The Next Chapter" on The Weather Channel. She did not have any lines in that one. She worked as an extra on the series "Fargo" which was her first job as an extra. She also worked as an extra on "South Side" and on "Chicago Fire" and made it on camera on both of those. She has done an internet campaign for the Women 2 Women Conversations Tour. She had one line in that one.
More: 'No Vacancy,' a movie loosely based on the Samaritan Inn, to start filming in Leesburg
She has been an extra in a couple of music videos, one for a local Chicago artist, and one for a band in New York called Burn the Jukebox. She was also in a book trailer for an author in California. No lines in that one either, but she was a main character. She recently did a commercial that has not come out yet where she has several lines. She had a speaking role in the movie "No Vacancy." She filmed that one in Florida last September and it will be released sometime this year. She is still in the process of filming the movie "Roadkill." She has a character name but no lines. That one will be released in theaters. She also has had speaking roles in a couple of comedy skits, some indie films and some student films.
What makes Gwyneviere a good actor?
Mom: One thing I would say is her ability to memorize lines. It amazes me. Also, the way she can figure out what kind of emotion to put into the lines.
How does being a professional child actor work?
Mom: It really depends on the project. The movie she is filming now is filming in Florida. We drove down there mid December and she worked two days, then we came home, and now we are headed back Friday for her to film one day of re-shoots. Sometimes she is on set for only a couple of hours, and other times she is on set for 8 hours.
We do travel a lot, mostly to Chicago and only for one day. Her school is very accommodating. I let them know when she will be gone and they send work home with her to do. Some sets have a studio teacher that will help her do her work and make sure she gets it done.
What are your/Gwyn's aspirations in acting? Where would you like to see it go?
Mom: I would love to see her get a main role in a series, where she can work steady, instead of working little jobs here and there. She does have an agent, but I have found her all of the jobs that she has worked. It would be a nice break for me to not have to hunt for new roles for her! Gwyn's favorite part of acting is all the people that she gets to meet. I think for her, at this point, she just wants to continue to make new friends.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Gwyneviere Ray, 6-year-old Monmouth girl, casted in 'No Vacancy' movie
