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Gary Newton (Arkansas) is not a star.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t want to be. Or that he still may be.
He is, however, a working actor and produced filmmaker, whose diverse life experiences inform his creativity.
His encouragement to those seeking a similar path? “Like good improv, say ‘Yes, and…’”
So Many Choices
Growing up, Newton was surrounded by and attracted to funny people. For as long as he can remember, he loved television.
“From our shared bedroom, my younger sister and I could hear our parents watching The Tonight Show,” Newton recalled of his childhood in the Arkansas Ozarks. “Johnny Carson and his guests, along with Norman Lear’s sitcoms added some urban to my Andy Griffith, Beverly Hillbillies, Hee Haw sensibilities.”
But rather than seeing comedy or performing as potential careers, they were among his many interests, nurtured by the place and people of his father’s employment.
“Our dad was the principal of Mountain Home (Arkansas) High School, and we were the elementary school students playing under the stage as the actors rehearsed,” Newton said. He was also drawn to sports practices and band rehearsals.
His role models were those who could do it all – athletes, artists, leaders – as he pored over yearbooks, marveling at the seniors with the long lists of activities alongside their names and pictures.
Like them, he wanted to do everything; until life intervened and “everything” began to collide.
Adolescent Rug Pulls
Following his parents’ divorce and the end of seventh grade, Newton and his sister moved to Fayetteville, Ark., where his mother returned to graduate school. To cope with the upheaval, he immersed himself in football, basketball, and band as a way to fit into his new school.
His talent on the trumpet landed him first chair in the Woodland Junior High band, and his overachievement on the gridiron allowed him to play up a grade alongside the freshmen.
A year later, his mother got a job as a guidance counselor at Lebanon (Missouri) High School. Once again, sports, band, and other extracurriculars eased the transition into his fourth school in four years.
By the time he graduated, he had performed in six plays, played “Elwood” in a Blues Brothers tribute, was a drum major in the marching band, and jammed with Keith O’Quinn, a Saturday Night Live Band trombonist, who was a graduate of his high school. He was elected president of his junior class, then the student body, and was one of two students in the United States to receive the Washington Crossing Foundation Scholarship.
The Call of the Hogs
After graduating high School, Newton returned to his native Arkansas for college.
Although initially skeptical about the stereotypes of fraternity life, he was encouraged to check out Sigma Nu by his uncle, Randy Zook (GU 1155), and Phil Shellabarger (GU 1307), whom he met while seeking an internship at the State Attorney General’s Office.
Dropping by Arkansas’ Sigma Nu House on his own, the first person Newton ran into was Michael Ptak (GU 1650), a freshman football teammate from junior high.
After talking with Ptak, he was drawn to the success of the Gamma Upsilon Chapter, which had recently been awarded the McClellan-Fulbright Trophy for “best fraternity on campus” and was the flag football runner-up national champions at the Sugar Bowl.
“It was a diverse house of scholars, athletes, musicians, campus leaders, and party animals – and some all of the above,” said Newton, who served in several chapter leadership positions, including Commander.
He points to his greatest accomplishment as the recruitment of fellow Razorback Marching bandsman Brian Rosenthal (GU 1746), who would be selected Model Pledge, elected Commander, named Alpha Affiliate and Sigma Nu Man of the Year, and who remains his best friend.
A close second was helping the chapter win the McClellan-Fulbright Trophy again, and the coveted Rock Chapter Award for the first time. He also edited the RAZORBACK yearbook, was selected for the University’s Who’s Who, and was named an Alpha Affiliate.
Newton found creative outlets in co-writing winning comedy sketches with Teresa Habig for the ZTA House in Sigma Nu Relays, roasting his brothers as Santa Claus at the annual Christmas party, and writing and performing with the campus-renowned Sadie Hawkins Band.
In his junior year, the mini-series, The Blue and the Gray, was shot in Northwest Arkansas, including on campus. It was produced by Arkansas native son, Harry Thomason, who would go on to produce/direct Designing Women, Evening Shade, and Hearts Afire, among many others.
“Many of our members and pledges got roles as extras on the production, and it marked my first experience on a set,” Newton said.
The ‘Real World’
After graduation, Newton, now an aspiring songwriter, moved to Nashville. There, he interned at Tree Publishing (now Sony) and landed a gig as one of the first video jockeys at Country Music Television (CMT).
The sudden passing of his beloved grandfather and an offer for a “real job” – director of governmental affairs at the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce – brought him back to Arkansas.
A creative life was set aside… until it wasn’t.
At the Chamber, Newton quickly rose to executive vice president, led the creation of Leadership Greater Little Rock, and chaired the board of Riverfest, the state’s largest festival.
He joined with Ptak to charter the Gamma Upsilon Alumni Chapter of Sigma Nu, a group he serves today as Lt. Commander.
“After four years at the chamber, it was time to either run my own or do something else,” said Newton, who quietly began interviewing for CEO positions and auditioning for acting schools.
On Labor Day weekend in 1988, he had a choice: accept the presidency of the Biloxi-Gulfport (MS) Chamber of Commerce or accept a scholarship to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in Manhattan.
He chose the latter.
There’s No Business Like…
Upon graduation from AMDA two years later, he got a “survival job” as an administrative assistant at the NBC Health and Fitness Center, which was down the hall from Studio 8H, the home of Saturday Night Live.
Getting to know SNL casting director Michael Shoemaker led to a background role when Quincy Jones hosted. He returned for a second stint playing a “Sprocket” in the Mike Myers’ sketch Dieter’s Dance Party.
Over three seasons, Newton appeared in eight episodes of SNL, which included getting slapped by Steve Martin (his show business idol), playing basketball with Michael Jordan, and being the date of Timothée Chalamet’s future mom in the classic sketch Massive Headwound Harry.
While he also performed in a handful of Off-Off-Broadway plays, Newton’s focus was always film and television. So, in early 1992, he and a fellow AMDA classmate moved to Los Angeles.
His first role in LA was on Hearts Afire, cast by Fran Bascom, who also cast a popular soap opera. “Thanks to her, I was able to work three of Harry and Linda (Bloodworth) Thomason’s series, as well as many episodes of Days of Our Lives.”
In an acting class, Newton met his future wife, Alanna Hamill, who was not only a standout actor, but had just co-written a film which was premiering on USA Network.
Between acting jobs, Newton gigged as a long-term temp at places like Showtime, and an overnight word processor at law firms. He wrote screenplays, created an act to showcase his talents – Cole Slaw & The Baked Bean – and constantly hustled acting jobs.
The year 1998 was a milestone for Newton. He reunited the cast and crew from his 1978 Lebanon High School production of Our Town to raise money to endow a scholarship honoring classmate Jo Davis. She had played “Rebecca Gibbs” in the original production, and died in an automobile accident just before the start of her senior year.
Newton enlisted his longtime friend and collaborator, Teresa (Habig) Roth, who was a producer for WSB in Atlanta, to direct a documentary chronicling the event. The result was the award-winning feature documentary, Jo’s Town.
Two months after the reunion production, he and Alanna married in Scotland. Four years after that, he finished all the classes at The Groundlings and was placed on the wait list for the Writing Lab – the gateway to writing and performing at the storied improvisation and sketch comedy venue.
When he finally got the call to join the Lab, his twins – John Henry and Lilliana – had just been born.
You CAN Go Home
“Priorities shift when you have children,” said Newton. “Their needs come first.”
For his family’s well-being, Newton knew he needed a more consistent living. And after nearly two decades out of the business world, he knew he would have to start over anywhere else but Arkansas.
Within months after his family’s relocation and his return to the Little Rock Regional Chamber, Newton was named executive vice president. In this position, he helped lead efforts to reestablish film and television production incentives in Arkansas; and emerged as an advocate for reform in the Little Rock School District.
In 2012 he was asked to create what would become Arkansas Learns - the voice for student-focus, accountability, transparency, rewards and choice in education.
“Because of our work in this field, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders asked to use our name as the acronym for her historic, nation-leading education reform legislation – the LEARNS Act,” Newton said.
Sanders also appointed him to the Arkansas Educational Television Network Commission (aka Arkansas PBS), and Newton was honored to be sworn in by Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice John Dan Kemp (GU 1342).
In 2013, Newton was asked by filmmakers Daniel Campbell and Graham Gordy to produce their first feature. Three years later, Mortuus Pater Pictures, LLC completed Antiquities, the highest budgeted feature ever funded solely by Arkansans.
The ensemble comedy is available on Prime Video, Apple TV, Tubi, among others.
His biggest feature film role to date is playing Raymond (the “bad dad”),” in I’ll Be There, currently streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV, PLEX and more.
“I guess Yogi Berra was right,” Newton reflected. “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”
The Encore
As for his dream production, Newton suggests an “all-Sigma Nu” version of a familiar title.
“How about a reboot of Snakes on a Plane with Brothers Harrison Ford and Paul Rudd?” Newton mused. “I would play Passenger 1, as I am deeply experienced in roles with numbers. Then throw in my Gamma Upsilon fellow actors for Passengers 2 through 5 – Dean Denton (GU 1776), Byrne Offutt (GU 1898), Louis Waddell (GU 3455; my pledge son who was just named Sigma Nu Talent of the Year), and my son, John Henry Newton (GU 3399).
“And while we’re at it, let’s have Barry Waldo (GU 1927) produce, Jeffrey Humphries (GU 1869) handle sound, and Tyler Bell (GU 1951) produce the soundtrack. Look ‘em all up. You’ll be impressed.”