{"id":193158,"date":"2026-02-25T14:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/193158\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T14:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:48:10","slug":"can-an-actor-make-it-big-out-of-sacramento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/193158\/","title":{"rendered":"Can an Actor Make It Big Out of Sacramento?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n From Leonardo DiCaprio speeding
\n down Tower Bridge in 2025\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d to Kristen
\n Stewart getting a scoop at Gunther\u2019s Ice Cream in 2024\u2019s
\n \u201cSacramento,\u201d the capital city has been a backdrop for a number
\n of big-name film productions in the past few years. But, as the
\n latter film points out, Sacramento often feels further from the
\n glitz and glam of Hollywood than the six hours on I-5 would
\n suggest.\n<\/p>\n

\n Is it possible for an actor to
\n break into that world while living in Sacramento? We spoke to
\n Sacramento-based actors at all stages of their careers, from
\n students starting out to professionals with dozens of roles on
\n their IMDb pages, to get a sense of what it\u2019s like to launch or
\n land a film or television career in the Capital Region.\n<\/p>\n

The good and the bad
\n of working out of Sacramento<\/p>\n

\n Sacramento has produced many star
\n actors, from Betty Inada<\/a> to Brie Larson, but not many have returned
\n home after their big break. One exception is Andrew Gray, who
\n played Troy Burrows, the Red Ranger in \u201cPower Rangers Megaforce.\u201d
\n Gray grew up in the Sacramento area and says he used acting both
\n as a way to make use of his athleticism and to deal with issues
\n at home.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI grew up in a broken home, so
\n it was an escape for me,\u201d Gray says. \u201cI think that\u2019s also what
\n Power Rangers was. It was something where there was athletics,
\n there was teamwork, there was heroism. It was an escape, and it\u2019s
\n something that I felt was really noble.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Andrew Gray, who played Troy Burrows in Super Megaforce Red
\n Ranger, at Power Morphicon 2014. (Photo by Dennis A. Amith,
\n J!-ENT, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Gray\u2019s career took him all over
\n the world before he returned to Sacramento in 2021. In that time,
\n he says he\u2019s made an effort to get to know the acting community
\n here a bit more.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve gone to a couple of mixers
\n here where I\u2019m meeting people that are creators, creatives that
\n are drone operators, DPs, producers, directors, writers,
\n photographers, those kinds of things.\u201d Gray says. \u201cThey\u2019re
\n hungry, and that\u2019s good.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Jeffrey Weissman<\/a>, who played George McFly in \u201cBack to the
\n Future II\u201d and \u201cBack to the Future III,\u201d echoes this sentiment.
\n After decades playing dozens of roles in Hollywood productions,
\n he moved from the Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada foothills during
\n the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic.\n<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0Ready, Set, Action! Filmmakers big
\n and small are finding the region a congenial place to make
\n movies<\/a><\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe beauty of the community up
\n here is that, once again, there\u2019s a lot of people who want to be
\n a part of your film project for their own need to make art and
\n storytelling,\u201d Weissman says. \u201cIt\u2019s not viewed, as I would feel
\n in Los Angeles, like it\u2019s a competition when you go on an
\n audition and everyone\u2019s eyeing each other.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Weissman, who has worked as an
\n acting coach and teacher for over 30 years, says that in his
\n experience, the Sacramento acting community has overall been
\n \u201cfantastic.\u201d He is working to create connections with local
\n filmmakers here in addition to those he already has from the Bay
\n Area.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Gavin Alton-James Bailey took part in the J Street Film Festival
\n hosted by the Sacramento State University film program at Crest
\n Theater. (Courtesy photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n One of the biggest factors for
\n many actors choosing to stay in the area is the difference in
\n cost of living compared to a major film hub like Los
\n Angeles. Gavin Alton-James
\n Bailey<\/a>, of Shingle
\n Springs, a 20-year-old acting student at Studio 24 in Folsom,
\n noted that this lower cost allowed him to pursue acting while
\n still being able to pay bills.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe cost of living is definitely
\n one thing that I am taking advantage of right now, and that this
\n is a good place for artists who don\u2019t necessarily make a livable
\n salary on acting,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cIt allows them to survive while
\n creating and training and taking risks, and they can do so while
\n having a roof over their head.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Bailey also says he felt the
\n acting community in Sacramento was another major positive, noting
\n it felt far less competitive than in Los Angeles.\n<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0Film
\n Festivals Take Center Stage in Sacramento<\/a><\/p>\n

\n While many actors based in
\n Sacramento say they love living in the area, they also concede
\n that there aren\u2019t necessarily as many opportunities within the
\n borders of the Capital Region as there are further south, with
\n many finding a bulk of their work in the Bay Area or making the
\n much longer trip to L.A. or out of California altogether.\n<\/p>\n

\n Francois Battiste<\/a>, who\u2019s starred in a variety of theater
\n productions and guest-starred in a four-episode arc of \u201cLaw &
\n Order: Organized Crime,\u201d made his way to Sacramento in 2014,
\n having spent the previous 12 years in New York. Battiste says
\n that while the Sacramento area is great for raising a family, the
\n majority of his work is outside of it.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI laid tracks down in New York
\n City and worked elsewhere. It allows me to continue to work both
\n in New York, on Broadway, off-Broadway, in L.A., and various
\n places in between,\u201d Battiste says. \u201cTo be completely honest with
\n you, when I\u2019m in Sacramento, I generally am just a dad.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Battiste says he had been living
\n in the area for almost nine years before he first became involved
\n with the local theater scene. He believes there is a lot of
\n opportunity for growth in the region.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m often asked by a lot of my
\n friends that live elsewhere, \u2018What\u2019s it like living in
\n Sacramento?\u2019\u201d Battiste says. \u201cI love it for raising a family, but
\n in terms of artistic endeavor, there doesn\u2019t seem to be as many
\n opportunities.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Ups and downs of guild
\n membership<\/p>\n

\n Something else that can
\n significantly affect the opportunities for an actor in the area
\n is whether they have SAG-AFTRA membership. The Screen Actors
\n Guild\u2013American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is the
\n labor union for film and television actors in the United States.
\n Bailey of Studio 24, who recently became SAG-eligible through his
\n work in the film \u201cDream<\/a>,\u201d notes that there are some obvious benefits
\n to joining the union.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Bunny Stewart sits in the upper area of the Sacramento Natural
\n Foods Co-op off R Street. Stewart initially became involved with
\n the local film scene as a makeup artist before starting to take
\n onscreen roles as well. (Photo by Jacob Peterson)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey limit the time you can be
\n on set, and they make sure you get a lunch break like any normal
\n job would have,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cThey make sure you get fed and
\n there\u2019s water and there\u2019s food on set, as well as they regulate
\n your salary.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n In spite of these benefits,
\n including much better pay, Bailey has yet to apply for full
\n membership due to the simple fact that SAG-AFTRA actors are
\n generally blocked from working on non-union projects, something
\n he says would severely limit his ability to work in the
\n area.\n<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0Lights, Camera, Sacto: Warner
\n Bros. movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio highlights Sacramento as
\n filming location<\/a><\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s so much harder to get union
\n projects than non-union projects, that with someone with a
\n limited resume you can almost become stuck,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cYou\u2019re
\n seen as inexperienced, but you can\u2019t gain experience outside of
\n the larger projects because you\u2019re blocked from the smaller
\n projects now.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Bunny Stewart<\/a>, a local actress and makeup artist who
\n cohosts the YouTube channel \u201cSacTown Movie
\n Buffs<\/a>,\u201d cites this
\n loss of access to non-union work as the main reason she herself
\n has not pursued SAG membership, saying she is far more interested
\n in the artistic element of filmmaking than money.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen it where a lot of my
\n friends who are SAG, they have to sit on the sidelines while I\u2019m
\n doing all of these really great independent films for, like, a
\n lot less money,\u201d Stewart says. When I moved out here from
\n Chicago, I got advice from another professional actor to not go
\n SAG.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n John Demakas<\/a>, a Sacramento-based actor who joined the
\n union in 2017, notes that there has been a slight decline in
\n SAG-eligible roles in Northern California in recent years.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n John Demakas says that actors needed to do the work to find the
\n different opportunities out there for them, noting that in
\n addition to film and television he has done work for radio,
\n audiobook narration and theater. (Image courtesy of John Demakas)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt
\n really has gone down in terms of the amount of projects that come
\n up here, and COVID sure didn\u2019t help,\u201d Demakas says. \u201cEven before
\n I got into SAG, I was on projects that were coming up from
\n Hollywood to San Francisco, but those projects have started to
\n wane a bit.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n However, Demakas says there have
\n been more non-union projects available, not just in NorCal but in
\n Los Angeles as well.\n<\/p>\n

\n Both union and non-union actors
\n were quick to point out that the benefits of union membership are
\n still worth considering, with Stewart specifically saying that
\n union sets often had better safety standards.\n<\/p>\n

\n Gray, the Red Ranger, has been a
\n SAG-AFTRA member for decades and says he initially moved away
\n from the Sacramento area because of a lack of union work. He says
\n SAG-AFTRA membership provided a lot of its own
\n opportunities.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the union, you\u2019re
\n loyal to the union, and they give you benefits, they give you
\n perks with that,\u201d Gray says. \u201cIf it\u2019s screening opportunities, if
\n it\u2019s meeting writers, directors and casting events, if it\u2019s
\n auditioning for union projects, if it\u2019s using their healthcare,
\n et cetera.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Weissman of \u201cBack to the Future\u201d
\n also says that while the choice between union and non-union work
\n can present an obstacle for actors in the area, in his
\n experience, some directors will go through the process of making
\n a project union-eligible.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019d say 85 percent of those
\n projects that come to me, they do jump through the hoop,\u201d
\n Weissman says. \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate that I have some credibility
\n with some of my major credits that help attract some
\n financing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

What\u2019s on the marquee
\n next in Sacramento?<\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s been a lot of buzz about
\n filming in Sacramento after \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d and
\n \u201cSacramento\u201d shot scenes here \u2014 and, of course, 2017\u2019s \u201cLady
\n Bird\u201d \u2014 but whether these projects translate into more
\n opportunities for the area is something that remains to be
\n seen.\n<\/p>\n

\n Demakas says there have been
\n efforts by SAG to reach out to local creators to educate them in
\n an attempt to create more union-eligible productions. He says
\n California as a whole has a lot to offer for film and television,
\n and Sacramento is no exception.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI tell people all the time, if
\n you want Northern California to get out of L.A., that\u2019s great,
\n come to Sacramento,\u201d Demakas says. \u201cBecause Sacramento has far
\n more assets than people think.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

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