JDCHS graduate chosen for worldwide commercial

Tillie Garcia

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Gerry Garcia competes in the 2013 Solo and Ensemble Festival. Photos courtesy/Tillie Garcia

SALT LAKE CITY — Gerry Garcia, a 2013 Juan Diego Catholic High School graduate, will appear in a Foundation for a Better Life soccer commercial that will run worldwide next year.

Garcia, a member of Saint Ann Parish, is an aspiring actor who was hired for the commercial after submitting an audition tape, said the casting director.

"I’ve known Gerry for about 15 years," said Jeff Johnson, casting director for Foundation for a Better Life. "I knew he was a really talented soccer player, so I emailed him to say I’d love to see him audition for the commercial. He sent me a tape and the director said, ‘Hire him.’ He looked at his pictures and looked at Gerry playing soccer, and it was that quick. Gerry has been working in the business for a long time."

The Foundation for a Better Life began to promote positive values, according to the website values.com. The foundation creates public service campaigns to communicate values such as honesty, caring, optimism, hard work, and helping others. It communicates its message through television, outdoor advertising, theater, radio and the Internet.

Garcia’s mother, Tillie Garcia, said her son has found his niche. "He just loves acting, and he loves soccer, so he put the two together."

While auditioning recently for a film in Salt Lake City, Garcia met Larry Thomas, best known for his role as the "Soup Nazi" from the Jerry Seinfield Show.

Garcia began acting when he was 5 years old and signed with an agency, he said. "I’ve been getting a lot of jobs over the years," Garcia said, adding that soccer, lately, has been taking a lot of his time.

Gerry is "precocious, and wanted to get into acting because his older brother was doing it," said his mother. "He got involved in some workshops and then in the sixth grade at Kearns-Saint Ann School he played Frederick in the Pirates of Penzance. He wasn’t going to try out, but his teacher said she had been waiting for 15 years for a student who had perfect pitch, and that was Gerry, so I encouraged him to try out."

Garcia also began playing the piano when he was 3 years old. He won the Joy Baldwin Piano Competition in 2003 at JDCHS and the University of Utah Summer Arts Piano Competition in 2004. He has won various other competitions throughout the years and recently took first place in the 2013 State Solo and Ensemble Festival for JDCHS.

Garcia has also acted in some learning videos, a photo shoot for a Toyota ad that appeared in National Geographic, and in a "Dr. Strange Water" commercial – "We all live down stream." He also has been an extra in some commercials, such as for Steven Henager College, and done voice-overs for Franklin Covey.

"The agency I am signed with offers classes for different fields, including television, movies, radio voice-overs, and I attend them when I can," Garcia said. "I attended a class taught by a voice-over engineer and he selected me."

Garcia also was an actor in plays at Juan Diego, including an ensemble member in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and Joe Hannibal in "Curious Savage" as a freshman. He played the herald in "Cinderella," and a knight in "Once Upon a Mattress" as a sophomore. The musical his junior year was "Crazy for You;" he played Harry the bartender. He was one of the gangsters in "The Drowsy Chaperone," as a senior.

Acting on the stage is more demanding because "if you make a mistake, people will see it," said Garcia, adding that it is fun because it gives him energy to be whatever he chooses and people like it. "Film is the same concept, but you have to do it over and over for editing purposes."

Garcia is a freshman at Westminster College, majoring in music, and he is working on composing music for television commercials.