ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Lynn resident Janet B. Egbe, stage name Gracie Marie Bradley, talks about her career as a film actress, and a fashion mode.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
LYNN — She’s only 17, but Janet Egbe already has a stage name and she divides her time between Lynn and Los Angeles living an actress’ life.
Egbe, who goes by the stage name Gracie Marie Bradley, is also a budding model. She calls Lynn home but her West Coast apartment is near Los Angeles where her agent and manager are located.
Back in Lynn this week, Egbe talked about her nine-year acting career, recalling how she was taunted in school for being “so tiny” and started to overcome the bullying by modeling. By the time she was 14, much of her confidence had been restored.
“(Now), I’m super comfortable with where I am as a person,” Egbe said.
Egbe switched from public school education to being home-schooled at 15 to carve out a schedule accommodating her interest in acting. Egbe bolstered her acting skills with classes, eventually training with Mary Valentine at North Shore Community College.
Her plan paid off: Her first television show was “State of Affairs,” starring Katherine Heigl and Alfre Woodard.
Egbe played a Nigerian girl — a special role in light of her father’s African heritage. When fellow soccer teammates are kidnapped, Egbe’s character plots an escape. The drama was based on a true story and Felicia Moore, Egbe’s mother, said it felt “surreal” to see her daughter playing a role paralleling events portrayed in newscasts.
Egbe has also appeared in “Grown-Ups 2,” starring Adam Sandler. She was in an earlier Adam Sandler film, “That’s My Boy,” when she was in sixth grade. Egbe has also had recent acting roles in the television shows “Grandfathered,” which stars John Stamos, and “Modern Family.”
The same body type Egbe was bullied for when she was younger is working for her in the modeling world. She said she has “really found a home on the runway.” In October, she walked with five different designers at LA Fashion Week. With modeling, she aspires to have a spread in Vogue magazine.
“A lot of models say their lives really changed when they got to grace the cover of Vogue,” Egbe said.
Although Egbe enjoys modeling, her real passion is acting.
“My heart will always be in film,” Egbe said.
Egbe and Moore wrote a children’s book to bring awareness to the problems that bullying creates. Moore said the book was also about finding an outlet for the frustration that bullying brought to them.
Moore said she is supportive of her daughter’s acting and modeling career, and believes “she’s doing what she’s supposed to be doing in life.” However, she knows that it doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan, especially in such a competitive industry.
Egbe said she’s found the solution and plans to go to college for entertainment law. Before making her way to law school, Egbe said she aspires to attend the University of Southern California (USC) or the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for her undergraduate degree. She said both of those colleges also have good law schools.
Egbe said she aspires to be a role model and hopes to inspire people to live their dreams.
“Having that person you can look up to or identify with is important,” Egbe said. “Lynn is built on respect and loyalty. It’s why I am who I am today. I’m hoping I can inspire.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected].
