In the first two installments of this three part series of interviews conducted with actor Courtney Gains, the twenty-five year veteran of the silver screen touched on his acting, his producing and music career. We spoke on his acting debut, which many know is the horror flick entitled, “Children of the Corn”, to his newly produced/acting credit, “Benny Bliss and the Disciples of Greatness”.
Gains and I broke off into his love for music, and his ongoing band called the “Ripple Street band”, as well as his upcoming music endeavors. Gains has had seventy-action credits, some as a guest on sitcom television series, most on motion pictures, and other projects here and there. Four credits go to producing, and Courtney has a handful more of movies to come out, in the future.
In my time speaking with Gains, I had a blast, on and off the record he was a very humble, very respectful, and a very savvy guy. So read on to see what Courtney had to say on being a father, as well as defining his twenty-five year career in the entertainment business.
Benny Henderson Jr.
What is a typical day for Courtney gains?
Courtney Gains
(Laughs) Ah, that is a good question, sometimes there is nothing going on, it can be completely slow. Sometimes it is all about me being Dad; I have a son who is in high school. I have him a week on and a week off, so when he is home I am Mr. Mom running him around doing his thing. He is a distance runner, doing very well. He is working on being a runner in college, he is pretty good. I run around taking care of him a lot, so when I am not working I have enough time to go see him run his cross country events and all, which is great because I don’t work a nine to five job. But you know all of a sudden it can go from that to booking a job and you are on a plane off to Austin, TX, doing a movie for six weeks. At the end of last year I did a movie called “Assent”, a thriller, kind of like a fools gold project. In a heart beat you are off to do conventions, or off to do appearance or off to shoot a movie. So I always bank my time with my son because I don’t know when I am going to be gone. It is a feast or famine kind of business.
Did you happen by any chance to see “My name is Earl” episode?
BH
No sir, I watch it from time to time when I get a chance.
CG
Look it up man, it is totally worth it. It is the best comedic guest star I have ever done; I had a blast doing it. My kid loves that show and it was great to take him on the set to meet those guys, which is one of his favorite shows. I get to play my nerdy side, as well as my crazy side, which you know I can do both. But rarely do I get to do them together. It is a character I get to do a lot with.
BH
I seen it on your reel on your website.
CG
Oh yes, that is a couple of scenes, the episode is called “I sold the guy a lemon car”; the ending is real funny which I don’t have on there. It is worth watching.
BH
From what I seen you were all happy and singing driving down the road, then it shows you pushing the car a little aggravated.
CG
Yes, I kind of become bitter, but he has me on his list, doing his Earl thing to get me off the list. The networks loved it so much they put it on three weeks later.
BH
Twenty-five years in the business, how would you define your career up to this point?
CG
Wow, well, I would define as a character actor career, supporting actor career with the occasional lead sprinkled in. Twenty-five years I think you have to reinvent yourself a few times. I obviously had that run in the eighties with teen cinema, and that was great. My motto then was not to do the same thing twice; I played in “Can’t buy me Love”, and then played Whitey in “Colors”. That established me as somebody who can play in different roles. Then in the nineties I had to look at the market, there were no twenty something roles, there are plenty now but none then. You were either a teenager or you were like thirty-something. I did a ton in the work in the nineties, all though the money was not as good. Then the nineties died down, and the long haired guys died down and all you could play was crack heads. So I cut off my hair took new pictures to my agents, I told them I was going in a new direction, I want to do comedy you guys kind of forgot because I have not done any in a while, and they looked at me like I was crazy. They had been making money off of me playing bad guys, I told them I was not going to play any bad guys for a while so don’t send me out. I literally sat out for a year and a half. I kept turning down jobs and auditions. I went in for an audition for “I am Sam”, the caster saw me there with the short hair and they liked me so they brought me back as the Sheriff on “Sweet Home Alabama”, that was a huge move for me, that opened up the comedy door for me again. The 2000’s have been a very different career, I have done a lot of comedy, the occasional bad guy, but a lot more comedy, and I have been having a blast doing it.
I would like to thank Courtney Gains for his time and thoughts, it was a pleasure. For more info in Courtney check out www.courtneygains.net
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