The mechanic is played by Kennedy; Grubba has the role of the mechanic\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe screenplay is the reason I decided to do the project,\u201d Grubba said. \u201cIt was really well-written and very funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Actress](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TFL-L-Eileen-Grubba-01.jpg\")
Eileen Grubba stars in “You Are Here,” a new indie film set to screen this month at Savor Cinema Fort Lauderdale. (Eileen Grubba\/Courtesy).
\nStruggles & successes<\/p>\n
Grubba grew up in Plantation. Although she has struggled with a spinal cord injury and Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome, an autoimmune disorder, for most of her life, she has found tremendous success in Hollywood, where she has had roles in several series, including \u201cThe Lincoln Lawyer,\u201d \u201cSons of Anarchy,\u201d \u201cWatchmen,\u201d \u201cHung\u201d and \u201cThis Is Us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actress lived in Alaska and Arkansas, the fifth of eight children, before her family moved to Broward just before she entered fifth grade. She had become paralyzed from the waist down at 4 years old, the result of an immune system reaction to childhood vaccines, she said. Determined to walk on her own, she spent hours each day pulling herself up from her bed and trying to get on her feet, finally succeeding when she was 7.<\/p>\n
Grubba also has had thyroid cancer and decades of surgeries to reconstruct her bones, which became weakened due to nerve damage and lack of weight-bearing activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy feet and ankles have been rebuilt so many times,\u201d Grubba said. \u201cI wear a brace on both ankles. If I\u2019m doing major movement, people say, \u2018Is she drunk?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Grubba said she has faced many casting rejections due to her limp. But she said she thinks back on her mother, Barbara Shannon Grubba, who died in 1992 and always encouraged her to pursue her passions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom let me know I was special, and I believed her,\u201d Grubba said. \u201cI knew I was still good at what I did, so what did it matter how I walked?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Eileen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TFL-L-Eileen-Grubba-01_3a9c57.jpg\")
Eileen Grubba, standing second from left, was a cheerleader at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in this photo from 1983. (Eileen Grubba\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n
Gradually, she began advocating for more roles in Hollywood for people with disabilities. She is a brand ambassador for the Florida-based consultancy Global Disability Inclusion<\/a>, which works to improve workplace experiences, and has served on panels with advocates such as Temple Grandin and Stephen Hawking. She has also shared her story at events nationwide.<\/p>\n Grubba said the community that supported her when she was younger is always in the back of her mind.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I battled my industry for the inclusion of people with disabilities in entertainment, they cheered me on,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were excited for every small victory and I am certain it helped me keep going. Growing up in Fort Lauderdale turned out to be a tremendous gift to my life and a major source of support through so many challenges. This family shows up, everywhere, good times and bad, and I will be forever grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n The film, \u201cYou Are Here,\u201d will be screened on Sunday, Oct. 25, at Savor Cinema Fort Lauderdale, 503 SE Sixth St. The event, from 2 to 6 p.m., will include a Q&A session with the actors and producers and an after-party. Tickets are $20 at youareherethemovie.com\/screening-tour<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the many trials actress Eileen Grubba has endured, there has been one consistency: the friends she made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,104,28,249,251,250,114,5077,109,106],"class_list":["post-428819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-movies","tag-social","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}