Colin Keith Gray

Colin Keith Gray is a Canadian actor, writer and film director. He played Frank Hardy on the TV show The Hardy Boys for thirteen episodes. He is known for directing the documentary film Freedom's Fury.[1]

Colin Keith Gray
Born
Ann Arbor, Michigan
NationalityCanadian
Other namesColin K. Gray, Colin Gray
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
OccupationActor, writer, director
Years active1993–present
Known forThe Hardy Boys
Freedom's Fury
RelativesMegan Raney Aarons (sister)
Websitewww.gpixer.com

Gray was born in the American city of Ann Arbor, Michigan before his family moved to the Canadian city of Ottawa.[2]

He played on the high school water polo (the sport of his future film Freedom's Fury) team for Lisgar Collegiate Institute. Gray also performed in various productions by the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society and at the Ottawa Little Theatre.[2]

After high school, he moved backed to the States and graduated with degrees in political science and French literature from the University of Michigan ("Michigan") during a time when his sister (Megan Raney Aarons) and mother moved to the United Kingdom. After graduating from Michigan, Gray moved to New York City where he eventually earned a role in the Broadway production of Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story.[2]

In 1995, Gray returned to Canada to perform in a lead role (Frank Hardy) alongside Paul Popowich (playing Joe Hardy) in the Toronto production of The Hardy Boys, produced and syndicated by New Line Television, a division of New Line Cinema. The characters were portrayed as in their early twenties, Frank working as a reporter and Joe still in college. The show was co-produced by Canadian broadcasting company Nelvana[3] and was dubbed in French for airing in Quebec and France as well as in the United States.[4] The show only lasted for one season of thirteen episodes due to poor ratings.[4]

After the show ended, Gray moved to Los Angeles and earned small roles in television shows such as Saved by the Bell: The New Class before switching to writing and directing and setting up WOLO Entertainment with a friend.[2]

His sister Megan joined him (branding their partnership as The Sibs) to write and direct Freedom's Fury, a 2006 feature documentary film about the clash between Hungary and the Soviet Union in 'Blood in the Water match', the water polo semifinal of the 1956 Summer Olympics during the Soviets' military reaction to the Hungarian Revolution. By working with his UMich alumni Lucy Liu, who was working on Kill Bill at the time, they were able to lure Quentin Tarantino on as co-executive producer with Liu in 2001.[5]

The Canadian premiere earned them congratulations in the House of Commons in a Private Member's Statement by Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi.[6] In the year of the film's release, Gray and Aarons were granted Hungary's highest civilian honour, the Knight's Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.[5]

They now manage GRAiNEY Productions which has undertaken projects such as:

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1993 Secret Service Spencer Episode "Something for Nothing/The Amateur" (1.12)
1994 Saved by the Bell: The New Class Ski Patrolman Episode "Drinking 101" (2.20)
1995 Too Something Male Friend #1 Episode "Pretend You Know Me" (1.22)
1995 The Hardy Boys Frank Hardy 13 episodes
1996 JAG Lieutenant Teese Episode "The Brotherhood" (1.12)
1997 Living Single Terrell Episode "Swing Out Sisters" (4.18)
1999 The West Wing Reporter 3 episodes
gollark: The internet gets rid of geographical differences to some extent, but now we get subcultural dialects of English.
gollark: It doesn't really have a governance structure in place and nobody would accept one.
gollark: Like apparently lots of English things it runs on bizarre informal consensus which kind of holds together.
gollark: They should publish the grammar as BNF or something.
gollark: I'd assume *not*, since they mostly developed before there was sufficient global communication to make it work nicely.

References
  1. TV Archive
  2. Sage, Amanda. "Colin Keith Gray and Megan Raney Aarons, filmmakers". Kickass Canadians. amandasage.ca. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  3. Forman-Brunell (2001). Girlhood in America: an encyclopedia. Oxford: ABC:CLIO. p. 470. ISBN 1-57607-206-1.
  4. Connelly, Mark (2008). The Hardy Boys Mysteries, 1927-1979: A Cultural and Literary History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-7864-3386-5.
  5. Sage, Amanda (27 September 2006). "Freedom's Fury: The bloodiest game in Olympic history". Xpress. Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  6. Hansard, House of Commons, 2006
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