Blaise Garrett Garza (born February 10, 1989) is an American actor and musician.

Acting career

From 1994 to 1996, Garza played the role of Gregory Hudson, the son of John ( David Forsyth) and Sharlene Hudson (

Anna Kathryn Holbrook Anna Kathryn Holbrook (née York; born April 18, 1957) is an American television actress, known for her role as Sharlene Frame Hudson on the NBC daytime soap opera '' Another World'', for which she received Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supp ...

), on '' Another World''. Garza's hiring was the first audition he had ever been on. He later appeared in various television commercials and was the

poster child A poster child (sometimes poster boy or poster girl) is, according to the original meaning of the term, a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters or other media as part of a campaign to raise money or enlist ...

for White House Juice, appearing as "Jimmy Juice". After various commercials and industrials, Blaise was cast in his first feature film, '' Yukie'' (aka ''Solitude Point''), in 1998, playing the grandson of

Bo Svenson Bo Svenson (born Bo Ragnar Svensson; 13 February 1941) is a Swedish-American actor, film director, film producer, published author and award winning screenwriter, known for his roles in American genre films of the 1970s and 1980s. He has appea ...

and

Mitsuko Baisho , is a Japanese actress, whose most internationally known work has been for director Shohei Imamura, from 1979 up to the director's final film in 2010. Baisho has also appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa. She won awards for best actress at the 10 ...

. Blaise appeared in several more commercials before he was cast in his next feature film, ''

All Over the Guy ''All Over the Guy'' is a 2001 American gay-themed romantic comedy film directed by Julie Davis and written by Dan Bucatinsky. Plot The film is told mostly in flashback; with Eli (Dan Bucatinsky) recounting his side to Esther (Doris Roberts), ...

'' (2001), where he played a young Tom (Richard Ruccolo), and later in ''

Drillbit Taylor ''Drillbit Taylor'' is a 2008 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Steven Brill, produced by Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold and Donna Arkoff Roth with screenplay by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen based on an original story by John Hughes ( ...

'' (2008).

Music education and career

Garza completed an interdisciplinary undergraduate music degree at

UCSD The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

in 2011. Upon graduation, he collaborated with the

Museum of Making Music The Museum of Making Music, is a division of the NAMM Foundation of the National Association of Music Merchants, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Carlsbad, California. The museum opened to the public on March 5, 2000. Its mission i ...

—a division of the

NAMM The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

Foundation—on its exhibition "The Sound of Sax: How the Saxophone Won America's Soul". The exhibit featured rare and historical saxophones from the collections of Garza and Rob Verdi and ran until January 2013. Garza's album ''Low Standards'' was released in 2012 to accompany the saxophone exhibit and features the E♭ and B♭

tubax The tubax is a modified contrabass saxophone developed in 1999 by the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim. Although it has the same fingering as the saxophone, it has a narrower bore, smaller mouthpiece, and more compactly folded tubing. ...

and

contrabass saxophone The contrabass saxophone is the second-lowest-pitched extant member of the saxophone family proper. It is extremely large (twice the length of tubing of the baritone saxophone, with a bore twice as wide, standing 1.9 meters tall, or 6 feet 4 i ...

. He also performed with the Green and Rebelution on their "Peace of Mind" tour in 2012 and played saxophone on

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

's 2014 singles "One More Hit" and "Role Model". Garza has been performing with

Violent Femmes Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza (joined 2004 ...

since 2004 and is featured on their 2015 EP '' Happy New Year'', on

bass saxophone The bass saxophone is one of the lowest-pitched members of the saxophone family—larger and lower than the more common baritone saxophone. It was likely the first type of saxophone built by Adolphe Sax, as first observed by Berlioz in 1842. It ...

and piano, as well as the albums ''We Can Do Anything'' (2016), playing contrabass, bass and

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

, and '' 2 Mics & the Truth: Unplugged and Unhinged in America'' (2019), on baritone sax, cabasa and vocals. While touring with the Violent Femmes as part of the

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...

' 2015 "Last Summer On Earth" tour, Garza joined Barenaked Ladies and former

Men at Work Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", " Overkill", and " It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is Coli ...

frontman

Colin Hay Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay's music ha ...

(who was also part of the tour) in performing "

Who Can It Be Now? "Who Can It Be Now?" is a song recorded by Australian band Men at Work. It was released in Australia in 1981, prior to the recording of their 1981 debut album '' Business as Usual'', on which the track was later included. "Who Can It Be Now?" r ...

" every night. One of these performances is featured on the live album '' BNL Rocks Red Rocks'' (2016).

Filmography

* '' Another World'' (1994–1996) * ''Solitude Point'' (1998) * ''

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2008)

Discography

*2004 – ''Genesis Concert'' (with Adam Gilberti and the Central Coast Philharmonia) *2012 – ''Low Standards'' *2014 – "One More Hit" (single) (with

) *2014 – "Role Model" (single) (with Sly Stone) *2015 – '' Happy New Year'' (with

) *2016 – ''

We Can Do Anything ''We Can Do Anything'' is the ninth studio album by U.S. band Violent Femmes, released March 4, 2016. It is the band's first studio album since 2000's ''Freak Magnet.'' “We Can Do Anything” features Boston-based drummer, Brian Viglione, best kn ...

'' (with Violent Femmes) *2016 – '' BNL Rocks Red Rocks'' (with

) *2017 – ''2 Mics & the Truth: Unplugged and Unhinged in America'' (with Violent Femmes) *2019 – ''

Hotel Last Resort ''Hotel Last Resort'' is the tenth studio album by American rock band Violent Femmes. The album was released on July 26, 2019, by Add It Up Productions and PIAS Recordings. The cover art is a picture of the Eastlink hotel sculpture in Australia. ...

'' (with Violent Femmes)

References

External links

Blaise Garza's official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garza, Blaise 1989 births American male soap opera actors American male saxophonists Male actors from California Living people Musicians from California 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians