Studer Community Institute

Local actor finding success in "American Horror Story"

October 17, 2014
/ Mike Ensley
/ civiccon

Jerrad Vunovich never made the decision to act. The desire was just always there. “Ever since I was little, I’ve had an active imagination,” Vunovich said. “I would get so into playing pretend and make-believe games and become so engulfed in that character I was pretending to be that I would get mad if someone wasn’t taking the game seriously.” Only by chance did Vunovich finally realize that acting might be for him. During his senior year of high school, he needed an elective to graduate and drama was the only option open. “I went into it with the stereotypical notion that drama was for all the ‘weird’ kids and was ‘uncool,’” said Vunovich. “Once I actually got fully into the course, I realized that my fellow students were some of the most spectacular human beings I had ever met.” The West Florida High School alum has had smaller parts in several films, but you can catch him on the small screen every Wednesday at 9 p.m. on the fourth season of FX’s “American Horror Story: Freak Show.” Vunovich plays one of the performers and workers in the titular carnival that comes to town. Given the track record of show creator Ryan Murphy’s series, strange things are indeed afoot. Vunovich wouldn’t give away any secrets of season four, which is shooting in Louisiana. But he did say that viewers watching with an eagle eye during the intro and initial episodes could see clues about what lies ahead. “Pay close attention to the intro because Ryan Murphy has hidden things in there that will give you hints to what will happen this season,” he said. “The first two episodes of this season will also give you some clues of what he has in store for next season as well.” Vunovich says that after months of shooting, the “American Horror Story” set has become very comforting. “I love constantly coming back to the same set and to the same cast and crew," he said. “It is almost a second family to me and I am going to be heartbroken when this season ends. I have made so many new friends on this show and so many great memories.”

Casting calls and big films

Vunovich got started in the film business after graduating from West Florida High in 2012. He answered an open casting call for the Jackie Robinson bio-pic “42” starring Harrison Ford and won a small part. “My first role was as a kid at a concession stand with actress Nicole Beharie, who played Jackie Robinson’s wife, which never even made the final cut into the film,” he said. But Vunovich enjoyed the experience and was soon auditioning for more roles. “I absolutely fell in love with the atmosphere of being on set of a film,” he said. Vunovich soon got a more substantial part in the parody film, “The Starving Games”, written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the team behind the popular films “Scary Movie” and “Meet The Spartans.” “'The Starving Games' was such a blast to film,” he said. “It was so hilarious and the cast was simply amazing.” Making the movie was not always glamorous. Filming in a field on a farm in Hammond, La., Vunovich found a non-voluntary way to exit a scene. “The grass was literally up to our knees, so it was very hard to see where you were stepping,” he remembered. “In one of the scenes, I had to run away from the arena across the field to the tree line. There was this huge hole hidden in the grass just waiting for me to fall into — and I did. I literally disappeared in the middle of that take.” [youtube id="r8yOSMspR1k"] After “The Starving Games,” Vunovich found himself on the set of another Hollywood blockbuster – a film series he’d just been parodying, “The Hunger Games – Catching Fire.” Vunovich was cast as a District 3 Man in the wildly popular film, but again, his featured scene with co-star Josh Hutcherson, was cut from the final film. It didn’t mean, however, that Vunovich didn’t have fun with his big name co-stars. “I remember one of the days on Catching Fire we were doing a district scene with Josh (Hutcherson) and Jennifer (Lawrence) and Jennifer’s character Katniss had to say ‘Panem,’ the country that we live in, in a speech,” he said. “Apparently Jennifer said she made it through the entire first movie without having to say it, so she really did not know how to pronounce it. Everyone [on set] scrambled to find out the correct way to pronounce it and had her recite it over and over again. It was hilarious and she was such a sport about it.” Vunovich followed up his work on “The Hunger Games” with two episodes as a walker on the popular AMC show, "The Walking Dead" and more recently filmed for the upcoming "Fantastic Four" movie, coming to theaters in 2015.

Giving it your all

As his star has begun to rise, so too has his fan base, but it’s not necessarily something Vunovich quite comprehends. “I find it strange because I haven’t really done anything that I consider ‘huge’ or ‘worthy’ yet,” Vunovich said. “But I have realized that people love anything and everything that has to do with their favorite movie or television show and get giddy over anything that can make it more real and tangible for them. I am glad that I can provide people with that.” Vunovich also has advice for those who might be thinking of pursuing an acting career. “If acting is what you truly love, what really makes you happy, then stick with it and give it your all,” he said. “This industry can be very disconcerting at times, and if you go into it looking for ‘fame and fortune,’ you constantly will be getting upset and discouraged because that rarely happens, therefore you will never be fully happy.” “But if you go into it just wanting to do what you love and give it your all, you will be just fine.” Vunovich is equally philosophical about his own career and future. “If I continue to follow the path that I have so far, and strive for more and accomplish everything that I have in mind, then that's outstanding,” he said. “This is my dream job. I will do everything in my power to try to keep it going. I will not give up.” But if things don’t turn out the way he hopes, Vunovich will still take pride in the work he’s already done. “If for some reason, it all stops, and this is as far I will ever come in doing what I love, then I believe that I will be content in knowing that I did way more than I ever thought I would,” he said.

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Local actor finding success in "American Horror Story"

Casting calls and big films

Giving it your all

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