Carson Grant

Carson Grant, an American actor and artist from USA, has followed his artistic instincts to accomplish a lifetime of Arts. Grant studied method acting with Lee Strasberg 1970 in New York City. He joined 1972 the acting unions Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio, and Actors Equity Association, and was represented by Myrna Jacobi at William Morris Agency. At the request of Italian director, Edoardo Amati, to portray the lead, 'Frank Falcone' in "Master Shot" in 1998, Grant returned to film acting. Born Carson Ferri and raised in a middle-class family in Rhode Island, Grant has created characters and stories in visual mediums as drawings, and paintings, in films and on stage. His first acting performances were in the Touissett Point Coggeshall Community Center in Warren, RI at 6 years old. An avid viewer of the television program, The Mickey Mouse Club, at age 10 he teamed up with a playmate to create children's theater shows in the family's garage attic, he directed and acted in productions performed with and for the neighborhood children. During his grammar school years, he designed themed showcase displays and painted murals reflecting the seasons. Recommended at age 12 by his art teacher, Grant attended Saturday classes in figure drawing and painting at Rhode Island School of Design. As a young artist, he was a recipient of 'The Rhode Island Scholastic Gold Key Art Award'. By 14, influenced by The Rascals, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles, Grant began his baritone singing career and formed 'The Younger Breed' with four musicians, performing at college dances and events throughout New England, including 'The Battle of the Bands' sponsored by RI-WPRO radio station. 1970s After graduation from Saint Raphael Academy and attending one semester in the Fine Arts Program at the University of Rhode Island, Grant moved to New York City in 1970 where he studied acting with Lee Strasberg and voice with Wally Harper. After cast in the famed commercial campaign for U.N.C.F. 'A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste', he joined the acting unions: SAG, AFTRA, AEA, and by 1972 was represented by William Morris Agency with the stage name 'Carson Grant'. Grant launched his film career in small roles in classics as "Man on a Swing", "The Front", and "Death Wish". Still in his twenties, he played Thomas Jefferson for the WNET 13 Bicentennial series The Last Ballot. Grant performed various stage roles for the New York City Opera Company. Grant painted large oil canvases and constructed many art installations in alternative exhibition spaces as part of the East Village, Manhattan 1970s Art Movement, participating in Colab, Charas PS64 - El Bohio, ABC No Rio, Fashion Moda; and many group-art shows in the East Village, the Westside, and the Bronx in alternative spaces. Leo Castelli recognized Grant's installation of living sand sculptures 'Coney Island Bathing Beauties' shown in the "The Coney Island Art Show 1980," and his triptych 'In Life Turmoil' in the "Time Square Show" 1980 organized by Collaborative Project Inc. Colab. Grant had a cobalt blue 'graffiti tag' of a pine tree coastline with his initials CFG, and on a midnight graffiti session, he had painted ten-foot-high cobalt blue iris flowers stretching the block-long 100-foot wall on the Lower East Side Con Edison plant, at Avenue C and 14th Street, titled "Open your Irises", in protest of the pollution produced by the energy plant. Influenced by Robert Rauschenberg's use of art for social change, Grant's one-man exhibition was called "Nature-Nuclear" at the 1979 Jack Morris Gallery, NYC, where he constructed a large climb-up-into 'scarred Mother Earth Uterus' post-nuclear, with her distorted next-generation traveling down her maimed fallopian tubes into her contaminated womb (30' x 40'). The artwork encouraged the viewer to consider alternative energy sources to protect our environment. During this decade, he helped establish the 'Westside Arts Coalition' with a group of multi-discipline Upper West Side artists at Symphony Space to help establish exhibition spaces and affordable arts studios. In 1981, as the WSAC group marched to Lincoln Center to protest President Ronald Reagan's budget cuts to the Arts, Grant's photographs appeared on the front page of the Westsider Newspaper. In 1981, he organized a 'not-for-profit' art group called 'EAU' Environmental Artists United which created educational art exhibitions merging art and environmental conservation, which received grants from America the Beautiful Fund and Avon Foundation. Grant exhibited his artwork in alternative spaces throughout the boroughs, as one of the artists in the New York City 1970's and 1980's Art Movement. Grant received his bachelor's degrees with summa laude honors in Psychology and Art from Hunter College (CUNY), and he was Psi-Chi president in 1979. 1980s: Grant earned his Master of Arts summa cum laude in Socio-Drama at University of Connecticut. He performed postgraduate work at Columbia University and presented his research at Georgetown's Drama Therapy Association Convention 1985. 1990s: Grant continued his visual arts career working in the fields of computer graphics and video editing until in 1998 Italian director Edoardo Amati asked him to portray the lead character 'Frank Falcone' in "Master Shot" rekindling Grant's acting career. 2000s: One of Grant's most challenging roles was portraying a living person honestly as Howard Hughes at ages 40 and 60 while suffering from paranoia and in drug-induced states in the film "HH" (unreleased). Selected film roles include Robert Munoz's feature film Dear J were Grant played dual-lead protagonist roles. In the musical film "Summer Dayz" (unreleased) written and directed by the Passero brothers, Grant sang the role of 'Tom Albright'. Carson Grant's portrayed 'The Preacher' in The House is Burning film which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2006 with Wim Wender's Chambre 666; and won Best Picture award in Woodstock Film Festival 2006 and Best Picture award in Hoboken Film Festival 2006. Grant for his role as 'Mr. O'Brien' won for 'Best Actor - The Italian American Heritage Award', noting Grant's contribution to the positive portrayal of the Italian American culture, Guild of Italian America Actors Film Festival 2007 in the short film 'God Bless America', director Rodrigo Diaz McVeigh. Grant for his role as 'Joaquin', the cast, the crew and the directors won 'Best Web Drama' in the 1st Webby awards 2007 for "The West Side", directors Ryan Billborrow-Koo and Zachary Liebman. Grant serves as the elected vice president of Guild of Italian American Actors 2008-2021, and serves as the GIAA's VP delegate to the Associated Actors and Artistes of America. Carson Ferri-Grant was included in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Art, and Who's Who in the World editions beginning 2009. In 2010, Grant won with the cast 'Best Ensemble', for his role as 'Abramo Mangene', in the New York Television Competition 2010, for the feature film and web series pilot "Gelber and Manning in Pictures", director James Lester. In 2010, Grant won 'Best Supporting Actor' for his role as 'Murray Bailey' in the feature film "Sneakers & Soul", director Jonathan Zelenak at the "Sunscreen Film Festival". In 2015, Grant, Vice President of GIAA (Guild of Italian American Actors), was elected as the Vice President of the International Board of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America-The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO. In 2015, Grant was honored to portray 'Jesus, being taken down from the cross,' in Bernardo Siciliano's painting exhibited in Aicon Gallery, NYC. In 2015, Grant sang and performed the role of 'Utnapishtim' in "Gilgamesh, the musical" directed by Peter Petkovsek and composer Ian Wehrle, at the Connelly Theater, NYC. In 2017, Grant won 'Best Actor' for his role as Professor John Allen' in "One Penny", in Film Forum Selections at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 2017. In 2017, Grant was the 'Yogi Namaste" in Emblem Health 2017 Campaign. In 2018, Grant moved to LA signing with CESD and Central Talent Agency. In 2020, Grant was hired to portray the role of "Francisco Santos" in the film 'Amazon Queen'. A friendship and partnership with director Marlin Darrah, was forged with Grant to help develop the film as a Producer and an Executive Producer of 'Amazon Queen'. Throughout 2021 'Amazon Queen' won many film-festival awards. In 2021, Grant won 'Best Lead Actor' award from the "Rome International Film Festival" for his portrayal of 'Francisco Santos' in the feature film, "Amazon Queen." In 2021, Grant as Vice President of GIAA: Guild of Italian American Actors spoke at "DPE Arts, Entertainment, and Media Unions' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy Agenda Press Conference", Grant stated, "Reflecting on the preamble of the United States Constitution, 'We the People'....to be re-embraced and made anew in 2021...Arts are the crossroads where all societies meet." In 2021, Grant sang and performed the role of 'Ivan the Ghost' in "Hollywood Ghost Stories" composed by Joelle Sahar with lyrics by Marilyn Haese at the New Musical, N. Hollywood. To date, Carson Grant has created more than 400 theater and film characters.