Greg Orvis

Greg Orvis was raised on a barrier island, in a small beach town about 20 miles south of Cape Kennedy, Florida by his maternal Grandparents, Pauline and Schuyler "Sky" Orvis Jr. It was they who instilled in him his sense of integrity, and originality, with their primary directive being "Don't just do what everyone else is doing just because everyone else is doing it; do what you know is right." Orvis' grandfather had distinguished himself by crossing the Atlantic at his own expense to volunteer for the French army in 1939, two years before the U.S. joined the Second World War, returning home a local hero, and consequently was elected to the Connecticut State legislature, although he didn't run for office; local residents penciled him in on the ballot.At the age of eight, trusting Orvis' self-taught swimming ability, his grandparents permitted him to go alone to the lifeguard-less beach and swim in the ocean whenever he pleased, which was often; this in the county with the largest waves in the entire state of Forida, and the second largest waves on the entire east-coast of the USA.Growing up with grandparents could have been idyllic had Orvis' grandfather not been slowly dying from cigarette-related illnesses, but seeing first-hand from his youth the horror his grandfather's addiction caused resolved Orvis to make health a primary focus of his life.While living in Miami beach where he surfed, practiced Yoga daily and swam about 230 miles a year alone in the ocean in practically any conditions, Oliver Stone discovered Orvis' singular talents and cast him as a day-player with an unscripted role in his football epic, "Any Given Sunday". Stone originally hired Orvis for 4 days but was so satisfied with Orvis' work ethic that he kept Orvis on set for the entire duration of principal filming--4 months-- allowing Orvis to ad lib a scene with Al Pacino and to execute an advanced Yoga scene.Oliver Stone, was so satisfied with the novice actor that he cast Orvis again in an unscripted role in "Alexander" and he became one of only three American actors to work on the "all-European cast" film; this time he worked with Erol Sander and Colin Farell, with whom he executed an unscripted speaking scene.Orvis took his cue to move to Switzerland shortly after the Iraq war because he'd always wanted to live in a land without war, and because he wanted to get in touch with his Swiss roots; Orvis' paternal Grandfather, with whom he wasn't so well acquainted was Swiss.In 2007 Peter Coyote, grateful for Orvis' extensive efforts to get his memoir "Sleeping Where I Fall"--the definitive chronicle of the American 60's counterculture--published in European languages, referred Orvis his first theatrical agency representation, in London. ( Orvis had wanted his German girlfriend to be able to read his favorite non-fiction book but she didn't speak English so he undertook to get it published in German). But after Orvis turned down the role of 'Ronald Niedermann' in the original Swedish version of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, Orvis' London agent dropped him; this even though Orvis had directly procured the casting for himself without assistance from his agent and, refusing to do the job "under the table",showed good faith by referring his agency to the client once he was under consideration.In 2012 Orvis performed in his first lead-supporting role, in the ZDF ( German Public Television ) TV-movie "Schlangen Im Paradies" ( "Snakes In Paradise" ), playing the bad-guy in a movie seasoned with some of the biggest names in German television. Its ironic that Orvis' first feature lead-supporting debut is in a German movie, performing in German, because when he moved to Switzerland, he didn't even speak the language. But Orvis not only produced the goods, as usual he went above and beyond the call of duty and scripted a surfing scene for the film, because he was able to convince the director that since his character owns a surf-shop and the action takes place in Cornwall, the English capital of surfing, some surfing visuals would increase the film's production value.2012 was also a monumental year for Orvis because he finally realized a longtime goal, to read all 37 Shakespeare plays in original (Old-English) dialect. Show less «