Greg Sestero

Gregory Sestero (born July 15, 1978) is an American actor and author best known for his role as Mark in the 2003 cult film The Room, as well as for his memoir The Disaster Artist, about his experiences making The Room, which itself was later adapted into a 2017 film.

Greg Sestero
Sestero in 2011
Born	Gregory Sestero July 15, 1978 Walnut Creek, California, U.S.
Education	Monte Vista High School
Occupation	Actor, model, writer, producer
Years active	1997–present
Notable work	The Disaster Artist (book) The Room (film)

He also appeared in a minor role as the Fiancé in the 2020 miniseries The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Early life

Sestero was born in Walnut Creek, California. His mother is of French and Italian (Sicilian) descent.[1] He was raised in Danville, California, where he attended Monte Vista High School.[2]

Sestero wrote a sequel to the then-recently released 1990 film Home Alone at the age of 12, titled Home Alone 2: Lost in Disney World, which included a leading role for himself alongside Macaulay Culkin's Kevin McCallister.[1] He said that he submitted the screenplay, along with a provisional poster, soundtrack suggestions and a request for a cross-promotional deal between 20th Century Fox and (its eventual asset holder) Walt Disney Pictures, to Hughes Entertainment, and eventually received a commendatory letter from John Hughes, whose gesture, Sestero says, inspired him to pursue a professional acting career.[1][3]

During his junior year of high school, Sestero began modeling, working in Milan and Paris for designers such as Giorgio Armani and Gianfranco Ferré. He returned to the United States to focus on acting, enrolling in the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. His signing with Hollywood agent Iris Burton prompted his eventual move to Los Angeles.[1]

Career

Sestero's early acting work included minor roles in the television show Nash Bridges and the films Gattaca (1997) and Patch Adams (1998). In 1999, Sestero was cast as the lead in Retro Puppet Master. He followed this with a one-episode role on the television soap opera Days of Our Lives.[4]

The Room

Sestero's best known role to date is as Mark, the best friend to Tommy Wiseau's character Johnny, in the 2003 cult film The Room. Sestero met Wiseau at an acting class in 1998.[1] Wiseau told Sestero that if he was able to raise the funds to make the film, he would hire him as his co-star; Sestero arrived on set, only agreeing to work behind the scenes and help Wiseau with auditions and casting. However, Wiseau wanted the original actor cast as Mark out of the film, and formulated an elaborate plan to replace him with Sestero.[1]

Sestero has said that he made the film assuming no one would see it and that it would go direct to video.[3][5] The film was immediately lambasted by critics and fared very poorly at the box office. In Sestero's book, The Disaster Artist, he revealed that Wiseau had sent a copy of the film to Paramount Pictures to gain wide distribution and was denied by the studio within 24 hours (the typical response time is two weeks).[1]

Ross Morin, an assistant professor of film studies at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, called it "the Citizen Kane of bad movies",[1] and Entertainment Weekly referred to Wiseau as "the Orson Welles of crap".[6] Despite the poor showing, Sestero remained humorous and usually deflected much of the criticism of the film.[7][8]

The film quickly began to receive attention from audience members because of its poor production values rather than in spite of them; it soon became a "cult classic" with late-night showings at theaters around the United States. Audience members typically arrive wearing wigs resembling their favorite characters, interact with the dialogue on screen, and throw plastic cutlery and footballs around the theater.[1]

This attention grew into what was dubbed The Room's 2010–2011 "Love is Blind" International Tour, and the film was screened in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Australia, France, and India, among other locations. Sestero appeared at many of these events, posing for photographs with fans and often addressing them before the screenings.[9]

The Disaster Artist

In June 2011, it was announced that Sestero had signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to write a book based on his experiences making The Room, Tommy Wiseau, and his experience of trying to become an actor. The book, titled The Disaster Artist, was released in October 2013.[10][11][12]

On November 23, 2014, The Disaster Artist won Best Non-Fiction at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The judges praised the book, stating "The Disaster Artist is not only a hell of a good read, it will make a great film if ever adapted. It's equal parts Ed Wood, American Hustle and demented Citizen Kane—with a dash of Monty Python thrown into the mix."[13] On February 11, 2015, The Disaster Artist audiobook, narrated by Sestero, was nominated for Best Humor Audiobook at the 2015 Audie Awards.[14]

In 2014, Seth Rogen's production company, Point Grey Pictures, acquired the rights to a film adaptation of Sestero's book. In the film, also titled The Disaster Artist, Dave Franco played Sestero,[15] and James Franco starred as Wiseau and directed,[16] for which he won a Golden Globe. Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote the script.[17] New Line Cinema produced the film, and distribution rights were later acquired by A24.[18] Shooting began on December 8, 2015.[19] The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2017[20] and began a wide theatrical release on December 8, 2017.

In December 2017, The Disaster Artist made its debut on the New York Times Bestseller List for Paperback Nonfiction.[21]

Other works

In 2006, Sestero appeared in the television series Fashion House and had an uncredited role in Accepted. In 2010, he appeared in Miranda Lambert's music video "White Liar," which won the Country Music Television and the Academy of Country Music award for best video and song of the year; the video was also nominated for best video at the 2010 Country Music Association awards. Later that year, Sestero was featured in the 5-Second Film End Zone, directed by Michael Rousselet, one of The Room's original fans who helped propel the film to cult status.[1][6][22]

Sestero starred with NYC comedians Jason Saenz, Nick Turner, and Travis Irvine for a sketch comedy video in which Sestero turned into the "new" Jason Saenz via jaw surgery.[23] The July 2010 edition of Diablo magazine labeled Sestero as one of the "Best of the East Bay Stars and Standouts."[24]

In July 2011, Sestero teamed with comedian Patton Oswalt in You Got Mail, a 5-Second Film that features Oswalt as a mailman and Sestero waiting for his suspicious delivery.[25]

On November 12, 2013, Sestero made a cameo appearance on an episode of the Nostalgia Critic internet review show, which had previously reviewed The Room, reprising his role of Mark.[26] Sestero continues to model and has appeared in ads for Tommy Hilfiger, Armani, and Ralph Lauren, among others.[7]

Sestero costarred in Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) from the creators of 5 Second Films. The film also stars Patton Oswalt and Andrew W.K. The film premiered at Los Angeles Film Festival on June 13, 2015.[27]

Sestero teamed up with Wiseau again for the film Best F(r)iends (2018), written by Sestero, inspired by a road trip he took with Wiseau in 2003.[28]

He will collaborate with Wiseau for a third time on Big Shark, also written with Wiseau.[29]

In October 2020, Greg Sestero guest stars as Jack, the fiancé in the Haunting of Bly Manor, the follow up to Netflix's hugely successful Haunting of Hill House.[30] In 2020, he also starred in the horror comedy film Cyst, which premiered at FrightFest in 2020. He also wrote, directed, and starred in a cultist-themed horror film in early 2020, and is currently writing a UFO film where he will star alongside Tommy Wiseau.[31]

Personal life

Sestero lives in Southern California.[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Gattaca	Gattacan Citizen	Uncredited[32]
1998	Patch Adams	Jaime	Uncredited[33]
1999	Retro Puppet Master	Young André Toulon
	EDtv	Roach	Uncredited[32]
2003	The Room	Mark	Also line producer
2004	Homeless in America	Himself	Documentary Also executive producer
2006	Accepted	Frat Guy	Uncredited[32]
2009	Alien Presence	Ash
	The Pit and the Pendulum	Alicia's Boyfriend
2015	Dude Bro Party Massacre III	Derek
2017	The Disaster Artist	Casting Agent	Cameo[34]
	Best F(r)iends	Jon Kortina	Also writer and producer
2019	Lukewarm Christian	Himself	Cameo[35]
2020	Cyst	Bill
2021	Big Shark	Georgie	Also writer[36]
TBA	Untitled cult horror film	TBA	Also writer and director[31]
TBA	Untitled UFO film		[31]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Days of Our Lives	Jules	1 episode
2006	Fashion House	Model	2 episodes
2013	The Blessed Ignorance of Men	Fr. Mark	Pilot
2020	The Haunting of Bly Manor	James	2 episodes

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	How Did This Get Made?	Himself	Episode: "The Room: Director's Edition"[37]
2013; 2018–2019	Nostalgia Critic	Mark, Himself, Tommy Wiseau	Episode: "Dawn of the Commercials", "The Most HATED Nutcracker Movie Ever Made", "Best F(r)iends"
2014	Shut Up and Talk	Himself	Talk show
2018	Nerdist Presents	Batman	"Tommy Wiseau's The Dark Knight"[38]
2019	Rhonda: The Birth of a Queen	Himself	Cameo[39]
	SpaceWorld	Drogol (voice)

References

1. Greg Sestero; Tom Bissell (October 2013). The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made (First Hardcover ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1451661193.
2. Hicks, Tony (March 14, 2017). "Franco's Disaster Artist has many Bay Area connections". The Mercury News. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
3. Kozlowski, Carl (August 27, 2009). "'The Room' to Improve". Pasadena Weekly. Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
4. Greg Sestero at IMDb
5. Heisler, Steve (February 23, 2010). "The Room's Greg Sestero, best friend extraordinaire". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
6. Collis, Clark (December 12, 2008). "The Crazy Cult of 'The Room'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
7. Hicks, Tony (October 5, 2010). "'Worst movie ever' — 'The Room' — is best move of Alamo actor's career". The Mercury News. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
8. "Five questions with Greg Sestero from the Room". Popgun Chaos. October 5, 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
9. "The Room Official Movie Site". Theroommovie.com. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
10. Collis, Clark (May 26, 2011). "Greg Sestero memoir The Room". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
11. "CNN Entertainment (extended cut)". YouTube. CNN. February 1, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
12. Turner-Dave, Kieran (February 15, 2013). "Understanding 'The Room': An interview with the stars of 'the worst movie ever made'". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
13. "2014 Winners - 7th National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards" (PDF). Los Angeles Press Club. 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
14. "20th Annual Audie finalists announced in thirty categories" (PDF). Audio Publishers Association. February 11, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 7, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
15. Sneider, Jeff (October 12, 2015). "Scott Haze, James Franco Discuss Their New LA Theater, Upcoming Projects (Exclusive)". TheWrap. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
16. Fischer, Russ (May 8, 2014). "James Franco Likely to Play Tommy Wiseau in 'The Disaster Artist'". /Film. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
17. Fischer, Russ (September 8, 2014). "'The Fault in Our Stars' Screenwriters Scripting 'The Disaster Artist'". /Film. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
18. McNary, Dave (May 15, 2017). "James Franco Comedy 'The Disaster Artist' Gets Award-Season Release From A24". Variety. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
19. Kroll, Justin (October 29, 2015). "James and Dave Franco's 'The Disaster Artist' Headed for New Line". Variety. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
20. "The Disaster Artist (Work-In-Progress)". South by Southwest. 2017. Archived from the original on August 14, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
21. "Paperback Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - The New York Times". Retrieved 2017-12-23.
22. Collis, Clark (July 30, 2010). "Greg Sestero from 'The Room' stars in new '5-Second Films' comedy short". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
23. Turner, Nick (October 2010). "Here You Have It Folks! The Brand Spankin' New Jason Saenz!". Yourfreecomedy.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
24. Crooks, Peter (June 22, 2010). "Best of the East Bay - Stars & Standouts". Diablo Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
25. Collis, Clark (July 13, 2011). "Patton Oswalt and Greg Sestero team for five-second movie. Watch here!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
26. Walker, Doug (November 12, 2013). "Nostalgia Critic: Dawn of the Commercials". Channel Awesome. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
27. Siegemund-Broka, Austin (June 25, 2015). "'Dude Bro Party Massacre III' Enlists Andrew W.K. for "Bizarre" Slasher Film Send-Up". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
28. Ford, Rebecca (October 12, 2016). "'The Room' Director Tommy Wiseau and Star Greg Sestero Reunite for New Movie (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
29. Russian, Ale (February 7, 2019). "The Room's Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero Are Back with a Shark-Attack Movie". People. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
30. "Greg Sestero On His Cameo in THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR". Nerdist. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
31. Gelmini, David (October 28, 2020). "Exclusive FrightFest Interview: Greg Sestero Talks CYST". Dread Central. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
32. Bacher, Danielle (October 4, 2013). "Remembering 'The Room'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
33. Sestero, Greg (October 22, 2013). "My epic turn in Patch Adams". Twitter. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
34. Florio, Angelica (December 1, 2017). "'The Disaster Artist' Post-Credits Scene Makes One Of The Best Jokes In The Movie". Retrieved January 9, 2018.
35. Thorne, Reace (June 23, 2019). ""Lukewarm Christian"". Yuzoogle Productions.
36. Roffman, Michael (February 6, 2019). ""Oh, hi Shark!" Tommy Wiseau announces The Room follow-up will be a killer shark movie". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
37. Paul Scheer; June Diane Raphael; Jason Mantzoukas. "How Did This Get Made Episode 23: "The Room: Director's Edition"". Earwolf. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
38. Nerdist Presents. "Tommy Wiseau's "The Dark Knight" (Nerdist Presents)". Nerdist's YouTube channel. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
39. Laughing Clown Productions. "RHONDA - The Birth of a Queen (2019) Mockumentary Film"". Laughing Clown Productions's YouTube channel. Retrieved 26 April 2019.

External links

• Greg Sestero at IMDb