Aurora native Sean Grandillo shares his road to success

Recently, we were lucky enough to talk to Aurora Graduate Sean Grandillo about his success on Broadway and in Hollywood. Sean was incredibly well-spoken and his talent in not only acting, but simply talking to other people really shines through. He shared with us various pieces of advice and stories about how to achieve your dreams and make important life decisions.

Grandillo graduated from Aurora in 2011 and went to Ithaca College for musical theater. He left college in 2014 to perform in Spring Awakening, and he ended up moving to Los Angeles.

“When I moved to LA, it was to do that show,” said Grandillo, “...and it was for $20 a show....I had no money, I was very much roughing it at that point.”

Grandillo played the double bass in the band and the voice of Otto in Spring Awakening. The musical went to Broadway, and had deaf actors portray the characters, as well as actors like Grandillo to voice the actors and play the music.

He was unsure about moving to LA at first, given that the show was barely a real job and would not provide the means to live in LA solely off of the show. However, he decided to take the chance.

“I found that taking that risk, even if it had not worked out so perfectly, is the thing I am most proud of....I think deciding things out of fear is safe and often really regrettable. Try to reword it so you can make it about something you want. Make the decision because of ‘I want to do this’ not ‘what if I do this? what if this happens?” said Grandillo.

Grandillo recently spoke at his college and gave advice about how to find success in the arts after graduation. “I told them to just like read things, because being well read will make you better conversationally, interpersonally...If you can learn to socialize well and be confident in yourself and influence people in just enough of a way that they like you when you walk into a room, that will serve you.”

Television has also found Grandillo, as he appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and took a recurring role as Eli Hudson in season two of MTV’s Scream. He was in the first two episodes of Secrets and Lies as Cooper, as well as playing roles in films Madtown and King Cobra.

In Law & Order: SVU, Grandillo played a high schooler named Chris Roberts who was suspected of sexual assault. The episode was directed by Mariska Hargitay, so he got a chance to work with her closely during his time on the show.

“What was really cool about that was Mariska Hargitay was our director for that episode, so we got to deal with her every day rather than if I had a scene with her,” said Grandillo. “It was cool that she was the director and I got to know her, have her phone number...as I’ve met some stars, you see that everyone is very real, and everyone’s sort of normal, relatively.”

Grandillo explained that how he watches television has been altered after being behind the scenes. “I watch tv in a different way now...often if it’s a very intense tv moment and there’s a close up, the person they’re talking to isn’t even there. They’re looking at an X on a microphone stand.”

Grandillo does not limit himself to acting. He played in a band during high school, and just released his first EP called “Why Is It so Hard to Change” containing six songs. He has also released a single called “New” and two covers featuring David Levitz. All of his songs are available on iTunes for 99 cents each, or $5.94 for the six song EP.

“I’ve alway been into music,” said Grandillo. “All of the entertainment now is so intertwined...so I figured I’ll write some songs and put em out and maybe a few thousand people will hear them instead of zero so that’s really cool.”

As for upcoming projects, Grandillo is set to play the role of Miles Brekov in The OA, an upcoming show on Netflix this year.

“I really prefer theater. It’s sort of less glamorous but in a good way, honestly the fact people applauded for you feels really nice.”

Grandillo will also be doing his solo show debut on Monday, December 5th at Feinstein's/54 Below in New York City. It will feature other guests from Spring Awakening and serves as a one time celebration of the theater community.