Actors (left to right) Davi Santos and Grant Davis.
Carson City-native Grant Davis, 21, trained in acting and singing at Reno’s Take 2 Performers Studio for six years, returns to the school’s Reno campus for a free public screening of his first feature-film starring role on Thursday.
Take 2 Performers Studio, an arts performance school founded in Reno in 2007 by Justine Reyes, will host a screening of Something Like Summer at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, at the school’s campus, 780 Smithridge Drive, No. 300, Reno. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. A question and answer session with Davis follows the screening.
It was Reyes who got Davis his first audition for the movie. After learning of the project’s wide casting search in 2014, Reyes contacted the producers and suggested Davis. The casting process was enormously competitive and would take more than a year for Davis to finally nab the coveted part.
“I knew he was perfect for this role! We are very proud of Grant’s accomplishments and can’t wait to see what he does next,” Reyes said. The film was shot in Portland in August and September 2015.
Something Like Summer is the musical film adaption of the award-winning 2010 novel written by Jay Bell. The story examines the journey of two Texas teenage boys who have fallen in love with each other. Davis plays the lead role and sings four songs in the film. The award-winning new movie has won raves on the 2017 film festival circuit, including prominent engagements in Sydney, Australia; Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; and Durban, South Africa.
Take 2 Performers Studio provides training and opportunity in acting, modeling, voice, and dance. Davis studied at the school from 2008 to 2014.
“Take 2 Performers Studio is not only the reason I am the actor I am today, but the reason I’m the man I am today,” Davis said. “Justine (Reyes), (acting teacher) Waters, the rest of the crew and my friends there raised me in a lot of ways. So I’m incredibly excited to return home for a short while to celebrate with people who have loved me through it all.”
Davis was born in Carson City and graduated from Silver State Charter School in 2014. His parents are Angela and Clay Davis of Carson City, and Clay is proprietor of Clay Davis Roofing. His maternal grandparents, the late Carol and Vaughn Williams, were also longtime Northern Nevada residents.
“Grant started training with us at Take 2 Performers Studio when he was just 12 years old. It’s been fun to watch him grow not only as a performer but as a person,” Reyes said.
Davis resides in Los Angeles, the city where he moved at age 18 to pursue acting full time.