Mayor of Kingstown<\/a>\u2019 the past four years,\u201d Vavro said. \u201cI’ve been probably five or six characters on there: a prisoner, a yacht party guest, a dance club member, an FBI agent.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777403469_505_.jpeg\")
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Bryan Vavro, an alumnus of Butler Senior High School, poses for a headshot. Vavro is an actor who has appeared in film and television productions since the 2010s. Submitted photo<\/p>\n
In addition to working on ongoing shows like \u201cMayor of Kingstown\u201d and \u201cWatson,\u201d Vavro worked on the upcoming film \u201cHershey,\u201d a narrative story that dramatizes the history of the Hershey Company, its founder, Milton S. Hershey, and his wife, Kitty. The movie was shot around Pennsylvania, including in Butler County, Ligonier and Pittsburgh. Vavro said his on-set roles were behind the scenes this time.<\/p>\n
But he has not been pigeonholed into strictly stand-in work, Vavro himself has appeared in movies, TV shows and commercials for years, with the actor finding steady work in Pittsburgh since seriously entering the field as a junior in high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not as big as Hollywood or the New York market, but if you apply to things, you’ll definitely be booked if you keep at it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe last five years is when it really kicked off for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the call sheet<\/p>\n
Vavro said his parents got him involved in acting and modeling when he was young. He appeared in commercials for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Shop \u2018n Save, and got a work permit in high school, so he could do productions that would take more time.<\/p>\n
One of his first big projects happened when Vavro was a junior at Butler Senior High School. \u201cAdventureland,\u201d a 2009 romantic comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, started filming at Kennywood, and Vavro was able to land a job being an extra in the film shoot.<\/p>\n
The final movie has at least one appearance by Vavro.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can definitely see me in the movie. I’m wearing a pink shirt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After high school, Vavro attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where he studied video and film production. In addition to acting, he learned how to use microphones, program lighting kits and more, which Vavro said are skills that help when working on a film set. Knowing what other members of a production are doing throughout the 12- to 14-hour days helps Vavro be a part of the action.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing on set, it’s not easy \u2026 but it’s a well-oiled machine,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you’re on a professional set you have to know what you’re doing, because you could easily get booted off.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing how a film set works and functions it definitely came into play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working in a place that Vavro and some others in film production call \u201cThe Hollywood of the East\u201d has led Vavro to meeting some famous and well-known actors, some of whom he was star struck by at first. But after years working in production, actors become co-workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly on, I did, (but) now not so much. It’s like a normal person to me,\u201d Vavro said of feeling nervous around famous actors. \u201cAlan Ruck was cool to talk to. I’m a big \u2018Ferris Bueller\u2019 fan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off screen<\/p>\n
When he is not working with productions meant for the big screen, Vavro maintains jobs with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation, both of which involve him working on behind-the-scenes production. These jobs keep him employed while films are not in the works.<\/p>\n
And while Vavro has considered making a leap to a place like Los Angeles or New York City to pursue more acting opportunities, he said the work he has found in Pittsburgh has been consistent and pleasant enough that he\u2019s not seeking such a move.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a while I was trying to aim for LA or NY, and I realized those markets are very saturated and it\u2019s difficult,\u201d he said. \u201cPittsburgh, I feel like there’s more opportunities. I kind of made a name here already.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good coming on set and the director says, \u2018Good morning.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryan Vavro, an alumnus of Butler Senior High School, poses with a big Hershey chocolate bar at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3035,3027,3022,3042,3048,3051,1610,3030,3028,31,3029,3034,3025,3047,3041,3024,3045,3033,3023,3036,182,3049,3039,139,3026,28,30,29,3040,39,3031,3044,3043,3032,3050,3038,3037,3046],"class_list":["post-178514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bruin","tag-butler","tag-butler-eagle","tag-cabot","tag-callery","tag-cherry-valley","tag-community-news","tag-connoquenessing","tag-cranberry","tag-crime","tag-east-butler","tag-eau-claire","tag-education-news","tag-evans-city","tag-fairview","tag-government-news","tag-harmony","tag-harrisville","tag-high-school-sports-news","tag-karns-city","tag-local-news","tag-mars","tag-mount-chesnut","tag-news","tag-obituaries","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-petrolia","tag-political-news","tag-portersville","tag-sarver","tag-saxonburg","tag-slippery-rock","tag-valencia","tag-west-liberty","tag-west-sunbury","tag-zelienople"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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