Feb. 7, 2011 — A body shop owner in a small Missouri town is also a big-screen actor involved in an Oscar-nominated movie, according to recent news reports.
Brandon Gray, owner of Gray’s Collision and Customs in Marshfield, Mo., played a character named Spider Milton in “Winter’s Bone,” which received four academy award nominations including one for Best Picture. The film follows a woman from the Ozark Mountains as she tracks down her drug-dealing father and tries to keep her family intact.
Gray, 29, was among several area actors to earn a spot in the movie through the Creative Actors Workshop of Springfield.
“This is a brand new world for me,” he told local newspaper the Marshfield Mail. “The other local actors are really getting a lot of exposure and it’s been great for everyone involved.”
The Springfield native told the newspaper he acts on the side and works full time at his shop, which he recently moved to Marshfield.
“It’s a fresh area and a great market,” he said. “This city treats me well. You have to establish trust in a small town and we are getting that word of mouth for what we do.”
The 83rd annual Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 27.