Gregor Collins

{{Short description|American actor, writer and producer (born 1976)}}

{{Infobox person

| image = File:Gregor Collins in SOHO in 2019.jpg

| caption = Collins in Soho in 2019

| birth_place = Mountain View, California

| alma_mater = Florida State University

| occupation = {{plainlist|

}}

| notable_works = {{plainlist|

}}

| website = https://www.gregorcollins.com/

}}

Gregor Collins is an American author, speaker, producer and former actor, most known for writing The Accidental Caregiver, a memoir about the three years he spent with Maria Altmann.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gregor-collins |title=Gregor Collins - Art and design |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=October 5, 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://wizofl.org/product/the-accidental-caregiver/ |title=Gregor Collins |website=Women's International Zionist Organization |access-date=April 18, 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.australianjewishnews.com/illuminating-the-woman-in-gold/ |title=Illuminating the Woman in Gold |newspaper=The Australian Jewish News |access-date=May 6, 2018}}

Career

Collins moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to pursue a career in entertainment. He worked his way into producing various reality television shows such as Blind Date, Celebrity Mole: Yucatán, Girls Gone Wild, Ripley's Believe it or Not, E! at the Emmy Awards, Welcome to Myrtle Manor and Counting Cars.{{cite web|url=https://scriptmag.com/features/balls-of-steel-a-new-world-in-distribution-goodbye-promise-releases-on-indiegogo|title=Producers Branin, Worden and Collins are forging a new path, distributing their critically exclaimed film Goodbye Promise not at film festivals but on IndieGoGo.|website=ScriptMag.com|access-date=August 16, 2012}} In 2004 he began to pursue professional acting, eventually performing on stage, in television and in independent films, landing lead roles in the indie feature Night Before the Wedding and the improvised feature Goodbye Promise, which the Los Angeles Times called a "simple, richly emotional look at a failed actor's introspective last days in Hollywood."{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2012-jun-01-la-et-goodbye-promise-capsule-20120601-story.html|title=Movie review: 'Goodbye Promise'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 2012 |access-date=January 4, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://tvtick.com/Celeb/Actor/Gregor-Collins/254200/Schedule#google_vignette|title=Gregor Collins is an American film and television writer, producer and actor |website=TV Tick|access-date=January 3, 2025}}

In October 2014 Collins moved to the Murray Hill, Manhattan section of New York, living with and serving as a caregiver to Austrian painter Ruth Rogers-Altmann while he prepared a stage production of his book The Accidental Caregiver, about his experience caring for Rogers-Altmann's cousin Maria Altmann.

Collins has written essays about Ruth and Maria for The Guardian, Focus, Huffington Post and others, and has been a regular contributor to CinemaEditor since 2013.{{cite web |url=https://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/es-war-einfach-nur-magisch-32-jaehriger-findet-in-92-jaehriger-die-liebe-seines-lebens_id_4576146.html |title=32-Jähriger findet die Liebe seines Lebens - in 92-Jähriger |trans-title="It was love at first sentence": 32-year-old finds the love of his life - in 92-year-old |website=Focus |access-date=October 5, 2017 |language=de}}

''The Accidental Caregiver''

In 2012 Collins released the memoir The Accidental Caregiver: How I Met, Loved and Lost Legendary Holocaust Refugee Maria Altmann, detailing his chance meeting and unusual bond with Jewish émigré Maria Altmann,{{cite web |url=https://www.entertainmentvine.com/books/interview-with-actor-author-gregor-collins/ |title=Interview With Actor & Author Gregor Collins |website=Entertainment Vine |date=October 14, 2012 |access-date=September 20, 2013}} culminating in her death in early 2011.{{cite news |last=Weiss |first=Holly |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Book-Review-The-Accidental-Caregiver-by-Gregor-3834960.php |title=Book Review: The Accidental Caregiver by Gregor Collins |newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=September 2, 2012 |access-date=September 20, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://edenbaylee.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/get-inside-the-mind-of-author-gregorcollins/|title=Get Inside the Mind of Actor and Author @GregorCollins|website=Edenbaylee.wordpress.com|date=September 27, 2013 |access-date=January 4, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://publishersweekly.com/ASINB0092GS96K|title=Nonfiction Book Review: The Accidental Caregiver by Gregor Collins. Bloch-Bauer Books, $9.99 (378p) ASIN B0092GS96K|website=Publishersweekly.com|access-date=October 5, 2017}}

File:Gregormaria.jpg in 2010]]

In 2018 Collins was the keynote speaker for events called Love, Maria in New York, Miami, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth - all sponsored by the Women's International Zionist Organization - and in 2019 was the keynote speaker for an event called Te Amo, Maria at the Jewish Cultural and Community Center in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.{{cite web|url=https://wizofl.org/product/the-accidental-caregiver/ |title=WIZO Event |publisher=Women's International Zionist Organization |date= |access-date=May 1, 2018}}{{cite news |first=Rebecca |last=Davis |url=https://www.australianjewishnews.com/illuminating-the-woman-in-gold/ |title=Illuminating the Woman in Gold |newspaper=The Australian Jewish News |date=May 6, 2018}}{{Cite web |title=Author Grego Collins and "Art of the Heist" Screening {{!}}{{!}} JC3 {{!}} Discover San Miguel de Allende |url=https://discoversma.com/events/mexico/guanajuato/san-miguel-de-allende/community/author-grego-collins-and-art-of-the-heist-screening-jc3/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=discoversma.com |language=en-US}}

The Accidental Caregiver Part 2 was published in 2020 by Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, and follows Collins' life after Maria's death and his accidental speaking tour across Australia with WIZO. As of 2024, Collins is working on a third and final installment of the caregiver series.{{cite web|url=https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/805259-the-accidental-caregiver-part-ii|title=The Accidental Caregiver Part 2|website=www.balboapress.com/|access-date=June 5, 2020}}

Stage plays

The Accidental Caregiver stageplay premiered at Playwrights Horizons' Robert Moss Theater in New York City on January 26, 2015, and was directed by British theatre director Alice Kornitzer.{{cite web|url=http://venusnytheaterfestival.com/the-accidental-caregiver/|title=THE ACCIDENTAL CAREGIVER|work=Venus Theater Festival|access-date=January 4, 2015}}

The play also had a staged reading at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York on June 25, 2015, which was directed by Collins. Actors Christian Scheider and Rochelle Slovin read the parts of Gregor and Maria, respectively.{{cite web|url=https://acfny.org/event/staged-reading-the-accidental-caregiver/ |title=Austrian Cultural Forum New York: THE ACCIDENTAL CAREGIVER PLAY |website=Acfny.org |accessdate=October 5, 2017}}

In November 2015 Collins wrote the Oscar Wilde-inspired dark comedy Pentonville for the Manhattan Repertory Theatre in New York,{{cite web|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/regional/Pentonville-154502|title=Pentonville in Off-Off-Broadway at Manhattan Repertory Theater|website=BroadwayWorld.com|access-date=October 5, 2017}} which was directed by Jonathan Stuart Cerullo.{{cite web|url=http://current.nyfa.org/post/133820108733/iap-interview-jonathan-s-cerullo-andrei|title=IAP Interview: Jonathan S. Cerullo & Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan|website=Current.nyfa.org|date=November 23, 2015 |access-date=October 5, 2017}} In June 2016 Collins created, co-wrote and co-produced the black comedy series Stories for Ali Farahnakian and the People's Improv Theater in New York.{{cite web|url=https://thepit-nyc.com/event/2016-06-05-stories|title=stories|website=Thepit-nyc.com|access-date=October 5, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://newplayexchange.org/users/10254/gregor-collins|title=Gregor Collins - New Play Exchange|website=Newplayexchange.org|access-date=October 5, 2017}}

In January 2017 Collins' play The Secret World Inside Me was developed and performed as a staged reading at the IATI Theater in New York.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Personal Life

Collins resides in Arlington, Virginia and has a Vizsla named Lucy.{{cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/author-actor-speaker-gregor-collins-150000015.html |title=Author Gregor Collins Bio |website=Yahoo Finance |date=July 13, 2020}}

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
2004 \| Passions \| Bartender \| TV-series
2005 \| Creepies 2 \| Jeff Quest \| Film
2005 \| Manhater \| Jackson Botero \| Film
2005 \| The Witch's Sabbath \| Derek \| Film
2006 \| The World's Astonishing News \| Prison Guard \| TV-series
2006 \| Blood Legend \| Clark \| Film
2007 \| Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide \| Bouncer \| TV-Series
2007 \| Ocean's Thirteen \| Stickman \| Film
2007 \| Loveless in Los Angeles \| Peter \| Film
2009 \| Night Before the Wedding \| Bronco \| Film
2009 \| Chloe and Keith's Wedding \| Zach \| Film
2011 \| Urban Jungle Dating Dilemmas \| Matt \| TV-Series
2012 \| Goodbye Promise \| Matt \| Film

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

2004

| Passions

| Bartender

| TV-series

2005

| Creepies 2

| Jeff Quest