one younger, even had a band: sha sha and the Funkadelics. grays’ family attends her performances with a near groupie-like diligence. “my sister’s been to almost every show in every state I’ve performed in,” grays says. “And my mother spent the weekend up here for the opening of Shipwrecked.” Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, an off-Broadway play, is now up for a drama league Award for distinguished production of a play, as well as an outer Critics Circle Award. since the play’s finale in march, grays has been keeping her schedule full by teaching at the New york Film Academy, and working with fellow College alumna Anna warren schumacher ’97 to create a show about schumacher’s struggle with breast cancer. Coyote rEp, the theater company of which grays is a founding member, will present the work next year. In between acting gigs, grays focuses on writing. she calls these times “involuntary hiatuses,” but that’s not recession talk. she doesn’t waste time worrying about work, or lack of work. “The artists I know don’t have a fear that the next thing won’t happen,” grays says. “It’s interesting because the recession from my eye level looks like every other day since I got out of school.” Actors have and always will continue to take on another job, such as waiting tables or babysitting, to survive in the creative world. “we are the ultimate shapeshifters,” she notes. And she speaks from experience. grays’ favorite thing about being an actress is “not being a telemarketer anymore.” It’s a career choice she remembers with a cringe, thinking of the telemarketing job she held for a few months when she first moved to New york. “As an actor, that’s the worst thing you can do to yourself,” she says. “you’re literally dealing with rejection all day long.” while rejection is inevitable in such a competitive field, grays’ lengthy demo reel reveals that success is there, too. Her acting experience includes plays, musicals, movies, television and commercials, but she admits that the average person’s idea of acting is warped, or at least limited. “people know the Tonys, TV and movies,” she says. “That’s it.” And, partly due to the two golden globe Awards it won, people certainly know The Wrestler, in which grays played Jen, stephanie’s (Evan rachel wood) roommate. “wood has such dynamic energy,” grays says. “she’s just electric and grounded. And mickey is exactly as you see him. He is a big, tough teddy bear.” one blockbuster down, grays is moving on, and in every direction. “I’m finally able to sing in front of people,” she says. “I want to do everything. Including comedy.” True to form, grays leaves me on a humble note: “Thanks for letting me talk about myself.”

"WE ARE THE ULTIMATE SHAPESHIFTERS."

Proving that point, Donnetta Grays '99 reacts to three words from photographer Leslie McKellar: (top to bottom) Perplexed, Shocked and Pleased.

by rheana murray ’08

DonnettA GrAys ’99 usEd To HAVE A JHErI Curl. Now, a bandana holds back her thin dreadlocks that are more ladylike than rastafarian. she sits next to me and her body language is hesitant, but when she pauses to think before answering my questions, I realize I’ve misread her – she’s not apprehensive, just careful. I’m expecting a smooth-talking, Jennifer lopez–type actress who winks and brags and demands only green m&ms in her dressing room. what I get is a petite black woman in jeans, one who doesn’t seem to realize that she just had a role in an award-winning blockbuster, in which she acted alongside mickey rourke and Evan rachel wood. That film, The Wrestler, pops out on her résumé along with Law and Order and The Sopranos, but when pushed to talk about her career, grays leaves out the big names and mentions a couple of plays and talks about her writing. Lay it on thick, Donnetta, I want to tell her. But she doesn’t have that smoothness, that self-assured way of carrying herself that I’m looking for. donnetta grays isn’t a diva. she is, however, hilarious. we meet at a busy starbucks in New york City. I pull out my wallet and tell her I’ll get the Naked Juice she’s about to pay for, and she looks at me with wide eyes, then turns to the barista and asks if he has any lobster, too. we laugh so frequently during our meeting that coffee starts to seem pretentious, and I’m wondering if we should have met for a beer instead. grays loves guinness. so while she’s far from being a tabloid face, she’s still come a long way from her childhood self, who she says was very shy and wore huge glasses. “I wanted to be invisible,” she remembers. It’s interesting that someone who used to want to disappear now makes a living by putting herself on display. Acting, though, was always in the cards. “I was a drama geek all the way,” says grays, who earned her master’s at the university of California after graduating from the College with a theatre degree. Then, before she even had a chance to walk across the stage to get her diploma, grays moved to New york. “my mom says to me, ‘you know, you ran away from home at 18,’” grays admits without shame. “But they’re excited about every single audition.” grays is part of a close family, all of whose members share her wit and sense of humor. she wonders why more of them aren’t in the entertainment industry, too. As a child, she and her sisters would stand on the platform in front of their fireplace, a makeshift stage, and sing and dance, taking turns putting on performances. stuck in the memory, she smiles. “we would play oprah.” “How do you play oprah?” I ask. “well, one person’s famous. And you have to interview them.” she says this almost matter-of-factly, as though I, too, should have “played oprah” as a child. she and her sisters, one older and

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donneTTa grays ’99