How Did You Get Cast, Roger Grunwald?

Gabriele Schafer, co-producer and co-star of the drama Outside Inn, calls Roger Grunwald "a miracle." Before Grunwald read for the part of Chris, Schafer and co-producer Melanie Dreyer had spent months searching for the final piece of the four-character murder mystery, which would be performed in both English and German, with performances in Germany as well as the United States.

"Imagine trying to find a middle-aged American," the German-born Schafer says, "fluent in German, who can speak English without a German accent and German without an American accent, who is also able to play this ruthless businessman, and who can really act, because there are lots of long monologues. So the role requires a very unique and experienced actor."

Grunwald was a German-language major at the University of California, Berkeley, and after studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, the San Francisco native came to New York in the mid-1970s to pursue a career on stage and screen. He worked steadily in theatre, found background roles in film, appeared on soaps, and did voiceover work. And because of his undergraduate education and the year he spent studying in Germany, he says, "Most of [my] voiceover work was in German or with a German accent. I had a niche."

Back then Grunwald was a member of Equity, SAG, and AFTRA, but he rejoined the unions just last summer after 25 years out of the spotlight. Before that he was a central member of the All Stars Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes development through performance, serving poor and minority young people in New York and other cities across the country. When he felt the organization had grown enough to continue thriving without him, Grunwald decided it was time to get back to his roots as a full-time actor. So when he saw the casting notice for a role requiring accent-free American English and fluency in German, he submitted his headshot and résumé.