|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Eric Kyle Szmanda (born July 24, 1975 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American actor of Polish descent, best known for playing Greg Sanders in the popular crime drama CSI. As charming lab tech-turned-field-investigator Greg Sanders on the hit series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”
(2000- ), actor Eric Szmanda zoomed from relative obscurity to weekly face time on one of the most popular television series in America
if not the entire globe. That the performer has made the transition and retained his affable Midwestern personality said much for his future in the business. Attended Carroll College in Wisconsin. Great-nephew of former Menard's pitchman Ray Szmanda. Name rhymes with raw-panda. Attended high school in Mukwonago, Wisconsin; graduated in 1993. Acted in numerous plays in high school. Is a fan of Marilyn Manson. In 2003, he appeared in the video to Manson''s song "Saint" along with Asia Argento , who also directed it. The video has never aired in the United States. He has two brothers named Rob and Brett. Played drums until about freshman year in high school. In his first movie the producer he was working with requested that he changed his name. He likes the music of the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. Lived in the guest quarters of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000) co-star George Eads for a couple months and took care of George's dog, Maverick, while he was out of town. His name is pronounced like "Amanda" with a "z". Has a Golden Retriever Dog named Dax. Is of Polish descent. Born July 24, 1975 in Milwaukee, WI, and raised with two brothers in nearby Mukwonago, Szmanda got a small taste of the performing life from his great-uncle, Ray Szmanda, who achieved regional celebrity as a local radio and television announcer, as well as the on-camera star of a string of commercials for a chain of home improvement stores. Szmanda grew up in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, with his two brothers, Rob and Brett. Szmanda is Polish-American. He graduated from high school in 1993. His great-uncle, Ray Szmanda, is a local radio personality in Wisconsin and a regional television ad figure known unofficially as "The Menards Guy". He played drums until about freshman year in high school. Uncle Ray’s popularity must have appealed to Szmanda, as he gravitated towards drama in high school, and attended Carroll College, a private liberal arts school in his home state. After graduating in 1997, Szmanda relocated to Los Angeles, taking classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts while maintaining an internship at music publishers BMG. This later blossomed into a full-time job for the avowed music buff (Szmanda’s musical expertise would later contribute to his role as a music consultant on the 2001 feature “Life as a House”). He also attended Carroll College in Wisconsin. Once in college he was cast as Lysander in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. After college, Szmanda moved to Los Angeles and was cast for a guest role on the drama The Division and starred in the television series The Net on USA Network. Any fledgling music career was quickly cast to the side when Szmanda landed his first full-time acting job on “The Net” (1998-99) – an action-drama based on the 1998 Sandra Bullock thriller. As skateboarding hacker Jacob “Sorcerer” Hesh (a character not too far removed from his future “C.S.I.” character, Greg Sanders), Szmanda’s “aw-shucks” demeanor and fast way with a quip helped audiences warm to him quickly, even if they didn’t take to “The Net” in droves. In 1999, Szmanda also booked the lead in his first feature, a low-budget independent film titled “Dodge’s City.” In interviews, he frequently mentioned that the producer of his first film advised him to change his last name (which is pronounced like “Amanda”). Szmanda’s big break would come in 2001 when he landed the biggest role of his career up until that time – Greg Sanders on “CSI.” Originally a semi-recurring role, Greg was one of several lab techs whom the main investigators consulted in the course of solving their weekly cases. But, due to Szmanda’s charm, Sanders a teenage nerd turned self-conscious hipster won over audiences with his sly humor and nice-guy looks, which were well utilized in his scenes with William Petersen (as Greg’s mentor, chief CSI Gil Grissom) and Jorja Fox (as Sara Sidle, the object of Greg’s unrequited crush). His popularity with both the show’s writers and fans helped Sanders to finally step out of the lab and become a full-time investigator during the series’ fifth season. Since “CSI,” Szmanda found time to appear in only a handful of other projects most notably a 2003 video for Marilyn Manson’s song “(s)AINT,” which was directed by actress Asia Argento. Szmanda also logged roles in a largely panned indie feature called “Little Athens” (2005) and shared screen time with Mary Tyler Moore in a Christmas-themed TV movie, “Snow Wonder,” from the same year. He also provided the voice of Greg in several of the “CSI”-related video games, and has returned to the theater on several occasions, most notably in a Hollywood production of the one-man show “Hyenas.” Szmanda is a good friend of Marilyn Manson, and was one of 60 guests at Manson's wedding to Dita Von Teese in Ireland. In an interview Eric stated that he lost his virginity at age 16. Eric Szmanda supports the U.S. Campaign for Burma and traveled to Thailand to see the conditions of Burmese refugees who have fled their native country. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Celebrities Guide 
| WhoABC
Home : Disclaimer
: Terms
: Privacy
Policy : Contact
Us : Links All original content Copyright Celebrities Guide, WhoABC.com © 2004 - 2008. All Rights Reserved |