Carson Ferri-Grant, USA artist (Carson Grant, USA actor), is a renaissance man for all seasons, has followed his artistic instincts to accomplish a lifetime of Arts.

RI
Born in 1950 and RI raised in a hard working middle-class family, Carson's RI lineage genealogy dates to 1636 when John Sweet was granted land by Roger Williams*, as part of the 38 families who traveled with Williams from Massachusetts to establish the colony of Rhode Island based upon principles of complete religious toleration, separation of church and state, and political democracy (values that the U.S.A would later be founded upon). Roger Williams insisted that land must be purchased from the Indians, rather than taken from them forcefully, in order to claim title to it. Williams then purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and established the settlement of Providence, RI. (ref. Founders and Patriots, p. 234)

Several pieces of ornately carved art objects and furniture created by Carson's great grandfather, William Russell Sweet (1860-1946) are on display at the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society in Knigston, RI. Carson's grandfather was Col. Russell H. Sweet, RI National Guard since 1915, former chief of public relations for the First Service Command, honored in 1946 with the 'Legion of Merit' award for his brave work in the Military Intelligence Service of the War Department during both WWI and WWII.

Carson Ferri-Grant has created characters and stories in visual mediums as drawings, paintings, in films and on stage. His first acting performances were in the Touisett Point Coggleshell Community Center in Warren, RI at 6 years old. At ten he teamed up with his playmate Susan to create children's theater/variety shows in the family's garage attic, where he directed, art directed and acted in productions performed with and for the neighborhood children. During his grammar school years, he designed the themed showcases displays and painted murals reflecting the seasons.

Recommended by his art teacher, at twelve years old Carson attended Saturday classes at Rhode Island School of Design where figure drawing and painting nurtured his talents. As a young artist, he was a recipient of the RI Gold Key Artisan award.

By fourteen, influenced by the Doors, Stones, and Beetles, Carson began his baritone singing career by teaming up with four other musicians to form "The Younger Breed". Throughout his high school years (taught by the La Salle Christian Brothers), Carson was hearing religious theology by day and performing in night clubs at night. Carson Grant was lead singer with two bands performing at events throughout New England, including "Battle of the Bands" sponsored by RI-WPRO radio station.

NYC
In the early 1970's, Carson moved to NYC, studied acting with Lee Strasberg, joined the actingnight unions- SAG, AFTRA, AEA, was represented by William Morris Agency, and began his film career in seventies classics as "Man on a Swing", "The Front", and "Death Wish". Still in his young twenties, the character of 'Thomas Jefferson' for WNET 13 Bicentennial series "The Last Ballot" fit Carson, as well as, various stage roles for NYC Opera Company.

Maintaining good New England work ethics, he has developed both blue and white collar skills which he has used in front and behind the camera. As a RI youth, Carson had driven many vehicles on land and in the water, so when asked to drive a farm tractor and a boat in films, he easily adapted. On the college wrestling, fencing and swim teams, Carson applied these skills to his first acting role 'the Swimmer' in "Man on a Swing" , which he is grateful to the Warren, RI Summer Youth Program for their swim classes and for their winner trophies given to him.

Expressing his visual perspective, Carson Grant painted large oil canvases and constructed many art installations in alternative exhibition spaces as part of the 1970's East Village Art movement. Recognized for excellence by Leo Castelli, Carson's installation of living sand sculptures 'Coney Island Bathing Beauties' in the "The Coney Island Art Show 1981," and his triptych 'In Life Turmoil' in the famed "Time Square Show" gained notoriety. His one-man exhibition called "Nature-Nuclear" 1979 provoked quite a stir when he constructed a large climb-up-into 'scarred Mother Earth Uterus' - post nuclear with her next distorted generation traveling down her maimed fallopian tubes into her contaminated womb (30' x 40'), encouraged the viewer to consider alternative energy sources to protect our environment. (Times: 11-30-79)

The seventies brought an awareness of our environment, pollution and nuclear waste contamination (3 mile Island & Chernobyl). For two summers, Carson hitch-hiked and walked the entire USA photographing damaged natural reserves. Marching with the Sioux Indian in South Dakota, as part of the 'No-Nukes' concert tour 1979 MUSE, Carson returned to NYC to establish an award-winning not-for-profit organization, Environmental Artists United (EAU), sponsored by 'Avon' and 'America the Beautiful Fund' Foundations, which promotes art educational exhibits focusing on our environment and conservation. One honored exhibition 'Four Elements: Fire-Wind-Earth-Water' for "Earthday 1980" received special attention from American Express during the now famous event. Carson was one of the founders of "The Westside Arts Coalition", NYC, helping to preserve the Upper Westside artistry, neighborhood, the Symphony Space, and actively 'worked-the-soil' to create the Westside and the Riverside Park Community Gardens. As an adjunct faculty member of College of New Rochelle, Carson aided the efforts to bring Rosa Parks to the renamed Harlem campus.

Graduating as a Psi Chi Honors Sociey recipient in Psychology & an elected Psi Chi president at CUNY- Hunter College BA program, Carson's master thesis on the 'Therapeutic Validity of Drama/Art Therapy', earned him a MA (Summa Cum Laude) at U.Conn, and postgraduate work at Columbia U. Carson presented his research at Georgetown's Drama Therapy Association convention 1985, which was acknowledged as an important contribution to the DT field in NYU's Dr. Robert Landy's book, "Drama Therapy: Concepts and Practices" p.154, 1986.

Wanting to paint in the new electronic technology of the 80's, Carson attended and taught at Pratt University, NYC to enhance his knowledge of computer graphics and digital editing. He worked with innovative companies, as an animator/cg artist/editor/programmer helping to form the late 1980-90's advancements in computer graphic applications using AT&T- NASA software, creating formats for the premier of CD-Rom and internet technology, which applied many color principles Carson helped to develop with a team of artists for NYC companies as: Fusion, Advanced Graphics, Exhibit Technologies, Carabineer, and Ogilvy-Mathers.

Painting on the computer tablet, Carson created animations for the 'Sony's Time Square Video Board'. The Ayer Advertising campaign 'Breakthrough with the Unexpected" animation of an egg cracking to release a butterfly, captured Ad Week's (2-25-91) and business's imagination in CGA as a profitable advertising tool. IBM, Intel, Kodak, DeBeers, Shell and American Express followed suit by asking Carson to create animations for their multi-media identities and exhibitions. National Geographic's 'Interactive Gallery' gave the "Global Access" to many of Carson's images and animations.

For the SIGGRAPH - 1990 convention, Texas, Carson constructed inside the old railroad station, a walk-under suspended cellophane and plastic 3-D hologram mountain installation "Harmony Mountain" (100' x 100') to harness and directed peaceful energy through a twenty foot, five point 'Texas Star Vortex' hung between the massive exterior columns of the Dallas train station, to help project positive energies to the historically tarnished 'Dallas promenade and book depository' and to honor JFK's memory.

Based in NYC, Carson traveled the USA designing multi-media exhibitions, video wall and exhibit installations for fortune 500 companies.

In 1998, asked by Italian director Edoardo Amati to portray his lead character in "Master Shot", Carson's acting career was rekindled. To date Carson has created more than 250 film characters including his recent roles in Robert Munoz's feature film 'Liars and Lunatics" where he played dual lead protagonist roles.

His 'Preacher' character was seen in "The House is Burning" film premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2006 with Wim Wenders 'Chambre 666". The musical film "Summer Dayz" written and directed by the Passero brothers will be released in late 2007, where Carson's baritone voice sings to his film son, "I can't understand why you don't want to work. All you do is go to bars and act like a jerk. You never have any money so you come to me. I give you some to hold you over, but now I don't agree..."

One of Carson's most challenging roles was portraying Howard Hughes (film 'HH" 1999) during Howard's 40's through 60's suffering from paranoia and the drug induced states. "Taking on the responsibility of portraying a real person in history, preserving his genius while demonstrating the vulnerable crumbling of his personality, I researched carefully, and gained great respect for the contributions Mr. Hughes shared with the world.

In this millennium, Carson Grant says: "The Arts, especially film, transcend all cultural barriers, hopefully offering an avenue where all people can find a common place to meet, understand each other, and nurture a safe world for all our children to grow strong within."

For current acting credits, screening information, great archived film photos, demo film scenes and future projects.
visit: www.CarsonGrant.com, IMDB.com/Carson Grant, Youtube.com/Carson Grant