Biography

According to Stone family lore, June 28, 1968, began as a warm, sunny day until John and Jan started the drive to a Seattle hospital for the birth of their second child.  A sudden storm blew in, and as hail bounced off the car John turned to his wife and asked, "What sort of child are we bringing into this world?"  And so was the beginning of life for Gregory Calvin Stone.

Greg was raised in Shoreline, Washington with his older sister, Lisa.  Although they are quite close now, he says they were fond of tattling on each other as children and that Lisa "probably thought of me as her annoying little brother who always wanted to hang around."  Lisa is now the mother of two of Greg's favorite people, Kelley and Tyler.

Greg traces his love of performing to an incident that happened when he was in about the third grade.  "As a child, I had a propensity for looking down at the  ground when I walked.  I don't think this abnormal, but as such I was always finding things of interest that my sister and parents never saw.  Well, one day I found a small case lying in a ditch on the side of the street.  I opened the case and inside was a professional microphone [which] happened to plug right into our enormous record playing stereo system in the basement of our house. (To those born after 1980 there once existed strangely large grooved discs from which all of our popular music was played--these were called records.) My sister and I would crank up the microphone setting and sing along to our parents' 50's albums (I particularly liked the song 'Barbara Ann') and much to their surprise I sounded good."

Greg and sister Lisa performing in the living room.

It was Greg's obvious  love for singing that led his mother to take him to an audition for the Northwest Boys' Choir.  He made it, but only stayed in for about a year.  He quit because he wanted to play baseball , but after that year, he always had the confidence to sing in public.

At age eleven Greg was given the title role in Amahl and the Night Visitors --not only the first production Greg was in, but also the first production he ever saw.

Much of Greg's childhood was spent outdoors playing  baseball, basketball and racing in bicycle motorcross, but by high school, other than competing on the swim team, Greg spent his spare time with friends "being quite the geeks and playing hours of computer games and yes, even . . . Dungeons and Dragons."  He loves reading and attributes that love to his friend, Scott Hermann, for introducing him to Science Fiction, and to a particular English teacher:  "He completely drew me into reading.  We read On The Beach and Johnny, Get Your Gun . . .real depressing stuff, but I liked it."

Greg's love of sports started  at a young age.

While at Lynnwood High School Greg developed his interest in theatre.  He played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz--his first high school production.  This was followed by Flowers For Algernon and Out of the Frying Pan.  Greg played saxophone in the band until an administrative mistake put him in Chorus his senior year.  Rather than choosing a life of singing Greg says, "I think singing sort of chose me.  Several times it kept coming back into my life."

Greg attended the University of Washington and graduated with a degree in English.   "I probably should have double majored in music or acting or something, but the University of Washington doesn't have a musical theatre program.  I took many music classes and acting classes as electives."  His goal entering college was to pursue a serious straight acting career, but, as he says, "musical theatre found me hiding out in the drama department."  He had his first paying acting job before he graduated from college in Taradiddle Travels produced by the Piccoli Junior Theatre Guild.

Greg acted in the Seattle theatre circuit until 1995, when he headed to New York City.  Soon after, he was in the Christmas Show at the Fireside Dinner Theatre in Wisconsin.  He recalls, "It was a fun job, but it was so cold.  It was my first time away from my then wife (they divorced in early 1999) and my first Christmas away from home.  It was a glimpse of my future."  And he has, in fact, missed many holidays, birthdays, and other special days with his family while touring with Les Miserables and Miss Saigon.  He loves his family dearly and states that even though he is "the rebel of the family," they love and support him.  "My parents are great.  Without their help, I would have a much more difficult time of it."

Jan Stone and son Greg

In between auditions Greg spends his time following the games of his Seattle sports teams, reading, working out and writing.  He has recently finished a play and is currently working on a novel and a musical.  His  grandmother Jennings, from whom he gets his Lakota or Sioux blood, inspired Greg in his writing.  He states, "She was a writer and a wild woman.  I loved her greatly."

Some of Greg's dreams and ambitions include winning a Tony, being a published writer, and  someday being "the greatest father ever to a couple of kids."  But first and foremost he wants to continue performing as he believes it is his Raison d'etre and--even with the ups and downs that come with being a musical theatre actor--it is who he is and what he loves.

Greg currently lives with his girlfriend, Chelsea Hale, in NJ

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