Today we’d like to introduce you to Gradey Filion
Hi Gradey, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Well let’s see here, diving into childhood it all really started with how much I have always had a love for Halloween. Every year I was so excited to get a new costume and go trick or treating. Once I was in my teenage years, that’s when it took a turn into more of the scarier costumes, and when I discovered how terrified some people get of these different looks we get to throw on once a year. Fast forward into the end of my teenage years I had begun attending an event at Universal Studios Hollywood called Halloween Horror Nights. I believe the first year I attended as a guest was 2009, I was immediately hooked, I found it all so fascinating that at one season each year they build these haunted houses from the ground up to terrify people in, it was so immersive and I always had one question on my mind throughout the beginning years of attending this event. How in the world does one get into a position where you get to wear one of those costumes and play a character in one of these haunted houses?! Well that question was answered for me in 2015, a friend of mine that I grew up hanging out with in high school just so happened to be what they call a “Scare Actor” at Universal Studios Hollywood, he told me “dude, you have to come audition for this, you’d be perfect, you’re huge!” And to that I said “where do I sign up?” Next thing you know I’ve got an audition set up to attend at the Universal Hilton ballroom and my goodness was I nervous. I’ve never done anything like an audition in my life. Sure, I scared some kids when I was younger in my neighborhood on Halloween night dressed up as Jason Voorhees, but I had never thought of acting like him or an insane clown for that matter, in front of a panel of what seemed to be like the judges you’d see in the show American Idol. Well, I did and it worked! I got the acceptance ticket that they call “the golden ticket” which is essentially the “hey, we liked what you did for us and we’d like to consider you for a role.” So then came Halloween season of 2015 and I was a Scare Actor for Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. It truly paved the way into what turned into a long creative adventure performing within Universal Studios Hollywood for 8 years as a variety of various characters from Frankenstein’s Monster all the way to that big ogre from that movie Shrek. Doors opened left and right for opportunities outside of Universal Studios Hollywood as well, I worked amongst other entertainment companies such as Meyer2Meyer Entertainment working for some big video game called Fortnite, a show called American Horror Story, another show called What We Do in the Shadows, and many others. I’m currently a Scare Actor for a haunted house in Thousand Oaks called Reign of Terror Haunted House which is dubbed the largest indoor walk-thru haunted house in Southern California and was considered the number 1 scariest haunted house on Yelp. To say this life being a creative freelance scare actor/performer has been interesting is an understatement, it’s been one wild ride that’s going to keep going until I lay my head to rest 6 feet 4 inches in the grave.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Well I’d say within being a performer of any kind nothing is ever a smooth road, and if it is for you, consider yourself a very lucky few. With what I do in particular comes some very busy times and some very slow times as well. Of course, Halloween being the busiest time of the year, it’s been nice having Halloween sort of bleed into Christmas now as well as some other holidays which opens up for opportunity. Of course it all depends on what’s happening, in most cases it has to be worth it too. Sometimes we as performers get low balled in this industry and have to remember our worth. Time and talent is money, just as is any other job out there. So without a doubt there is going to be some struggles along the way, naturally, but you just have to keep your head held high and keep chugging along on that road, wherever it may go.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Well aside from being a freelance artist/creative and performing/scare acting, some people got to have the bread and butter that tides you over if you still haven’t found your way into making a living off of those talents. Which in this case is me right now. So aside from the fun work, I also work in healthcare security. So if you ever need a body guard, just give me a call. I’d like to focus more on telling you about the fun stuff though, that being the creativity and performing aspect of things. On my spare time I’ve always got the gears turning in my head that usually start as an idea and then go straight into execution. To give you an idea of what that’s like I’ll mention something I’m currently working on, another version of a character that I love to play that’s near and dear to me. I call him Teddy Head as of right now, he hasn’t really been named anything else thus far and of course when you see it, it’s pretty obvious why he’s called that. This version though is going to be based off of Winnie the Pooh, essentially I see a teddy bear while thrift shopping and if it’s the right size and shape to cover a human head, I usually grab it. In this case he was gifted to me by a friend. Now this is where it gets fun, I then essentially gut this teddy bear and place it on a plastic head form so that I can work on it furthermore with the base of a human head for it to be worn. That’s one thing that I love to do, is create new and different characters to be able to perform in at events that pop up that I get hired for or say the haunted house that I work at or sometimes just to do a cool photo shoot with. Everything from the mask to the costume, head to toe I try to blend together and configure to design a look that will strike fear into those people that attend these events to get that scare they so desperately want. Myself, being one of those people that loves that adrenaline rush from both sides of performing and being a guest at these said events. So that goes over some of the artistic side of things, now for the creative side. When it comes to being a creative, it all started in my background with Universal Studios Hollywood, after working there as an animated character performer for about a year out of the eight years that I worked there, I applied to be an animated character trainer and got it. I trained any new hires coming in to do what I knew how to do best, and that was to perform as a variety of characters by only using body language as well as how to do it comfortably with minimal vision. Fast forward with the years of doing that and scare acting for various Halloween events, I now more so like to dive into the creative aspect behind these events that more so have to do with Horror/Halloween in some shape or form, as well as any side projects that may pop up outside of that element. For example, I got to work with Meyer2Meyer Entertainment on that side of things for the premiere of a movie called Immaculate. I had the pleasure of directing a crew of about twenty or so performers that had to dress up as creepy nuns that would then be a part of the movie premiere in two locations, the Egyptian Theater and Immanuel Presbyterian Church. Gosh, isn’t life interesting?
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I like best about our city is the creativity that still keeps flowing within it. People like myself love to find ways of making something new and interesting for others to enjoy and it shows. I feed off those creative juices, without any of that what would LA even really be? Talk about boring. As far as what I like least about our beloved City of Angels, have you seen the rush hour traffic or just traffic in general? Yeah, I think I’ll leave it at that.
Pricing:
- If you’re interested in buying a teddy bear mask or want help customizing a Halloween costume from me, please don’t hesitate to reach out via Instagram @theboogeymancan
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theboogeymancan?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gradey-filion-2b9523b4?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@imyourboogeyman?si=KWX5ZTc0c3-t9lus
- Other: https://linktr.ee/theboogeymancan
Image Credits
The purple haired clown holding a hammer
The teddy bear head sitting on the swing
The doll face with an axe are all shot by Jacob Balken @jbalproductions on Instagram
