ACTORS FOR AUTISM
Our Board & Advisors
Gavin Grazer was born and raised in Los Angeles California. He graduated from USC with a major in film and a minor in political science. While attending USC, Gavin worked for The Exceptional Children’s Foundation for four years.
In the late 70’s, Gavin got his acting start after his brother producer Brian Grazer gave him a small role in the TV movie titled “Zuma Beach.” From there, Gavin went on to producing and starring in his own films. In the 90’s Gavin was part of the Saturday Night Live Family and Second City, acting and making short films.
Gavin has also directed several films such as “Enio” and “Scorched” starring John Cleese Woody Harrelson and Jeffrey Tambor. Gavin has acted alongside great actors like Denzel Washington, Anthony Hopkins, Mike Myers, John Turturro, Christian Slater, Jodie Foster, just to name a few.Gavin is extremely excited to share his passion of acting and filmmaking with Actors for Autism.
Stan Taffel was born in New York City and began his professional career performing in comedy clubs all over the east coast. He appeared in several films in mostly extra roles. His gift for impersonations of famous and not so famous voices led him to his first television show, an animated series called The Toysters, in which he supplied several vocal characters. His next television work was as one of the performers in The News In Revue, which aired on PBS in 1993 thru 1996. He portrayed famous people from the news.
All the presidents from Kennedy to Clinton, Yassir Arafat, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, the White House Chef, Stan played them all. For his often unpredictable performances, he won an amazing three Emmy Awards (1994, 1995, 1996). In addition to working on television projects, he devotes much of his time as a film archivist. He serves as an officer for Cinecon, a film festival presented each Labor Day weekend in Los Angeles at the restored Egyptian Theater.
Charlene Tilton is an American actress who gained fame for portraying Lucy Ewing in CBS’ primetime soap opera ‘Dallas’. She is also a singer. In 1984, she put out the popular single ‘C'est La Vie’. A native of California, she grew up in an impoverished family with a mentally ill mother. In later years, her ‘Dallas’ co-star Larry Hagman would become a surrogate father figure. In 1976, she made her TV debut in an episode of ‘Happy Days’. That year, she also appeared in her first feature film, ‘Freaky Friday’.
She played Lucy Ewing in ‘Knots Landing’ and the 2012 version of ‘Dallas’ as well. Active in the industry for four decades, Tilton has accumulated over 60 film and TV credits in her career. Known for her platinum blonde hair, stark blue eyes, and voluptuous figure, Tilton has also appeared in films like ‘Problem Child 2’, ‘The Silence of the Hams’, and ‘Superhero Movie’. For her performance as Ewing, Tilton has won the Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actress in a TV Series or Special in 1979, Young Artist Award Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and TV Land Pop Culture Award in 2006.
Cherish Lee is the daughter of Johnny Lee (Urban Cowboy's "Lookin' for Love") and Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing on hit TV show "Dallas"). She is a country artist that has played at such famed venues as The Ryman, The Grand Ole Opry and the Bluebird Cafe. At the beginning of 2018 Cherish was named one of Billboard's "15 Country Artists to Watch" before she released her latest album, "Tequila Cowgirl."
Erin Murphy is a former child actress from Encino, California. She is primarily remembered for portraying the underage witch Tabitha Stephens in the fantasy sitcom "Bewitched" (1964-1972). She portrayed the character for 103 episodes, between 1966 and 1972. She initially shared the role of Tabitha with Diane Murphy, her own fraternal twin sister. As the two sisters looked less alike as they aged, Diane left the series.
Jerry Trimble - At 15 Jerry earned the rank of a first-degree black belt and became the number one point fighter in the Midwest U.S. At 18, he started Kickboxing and won the "Kentucky State Championship."
In April of 1990, Jerry retired from the ring and moved to Hollywood, California, to embark on a career in the entertainment business. Within a few months, Jerry signed with a talent manager and his first two auditions resulted in leading roles in the same week.
Jerry has been in over fifty-five feature films and TV shows that include "Heat", (playing alongside Al Pacino) "Charlie's Angels" Green Hornet, more recent roles include, the Kung Fu TV series, The Flash, iZombie, Supernatural, Chesapeake Shores, and others.
David Alan Basche -In films, David can be seen calling the title fight for Hugh Jackman in “Real Steel” and breaking down doors all over New York chasing Matt Damon in “The Adjustment Bureau.” He stole Tom Cruise’s wife in Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds,” and was caught flirting with Julia Roberts in Steven Soderbergh’s film "Full Frontal." David portrayed passenger Todd Beamer (famous for his last words of “let’s roll”) in Universal’s Oscar winning film “UNITED 93.” He starred with Molly Shannon in “The Wedding Weekend” and starred in the Emmy Nominated Showtime film "Carry Me Home.” He also leads a fun cast in the indie film "I'll Believe You" with Ed Helms, Fred Willard, Chris Elliot, and Patrick Warburton.
Alysia Reiner is an American actress. She is best known for playing Natalie "Fig" Figueroa in the Netflix comedy drama series Orange Is theAlysia Reiner is an American actress. She is best known for playing Natalie "Fig" Figueroa in the Netflix comedy drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role as part of the ensemble cast.New Black (2013–2019), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role as part of the ensemble cast.
Reiner starred in and produced the financial drama Equity, which was bought at Sundance by Sony Pictures Classics and released nationwide. It is now being developed into a TV series by Tri-Star and ABC. Reiner has appeared in several Off-Broadway plays and won an Obie Award for her performance in An Oak Tree.
In Sideways, the critically acclaimed comedy–drama film, Reiner played Christine Ergarian, where she won her first ensemble cast SAG award. She played District Attorney Wendy Parks in the ABC crime-legal drama TV series How to Get Away with Murder and Sunny in the FX comedy Better Things.