Escher Holloway
“Spider”
At 17, Escher Holloway knew he wanted to be an actor -- and he knew why. Co-starring with Steven Weber in Choose Connor, a 2007 political drama directed by Luke Eberl, the Port Townsend, Washington native was fascinated by the process of exploring and understanding the dynamics and inner forces driving his character. Subsequent roles in CSI: NY and the romantic comedy Getting That Girl, in which he starred opposite Gia Mantegna, only reinforced his belief that acting was not only a journey into the character’s mind but also a fascinating process of “getting so comfortable in one’s own skin that the camera and the outside world just fall away.”
It was this commitment to bringing his entire self to the role that moved director Tjardus Greidanus to cast Escher in the lead role of Spider in A New York Heartbeat. “He changed the temperature in the room the minute he walked into the audition,” says Greidanus. “I was looking for someone who’s fueled by fearlessness, with that indefinable top-dog swagger of a natural leader. Escher built that character from the ground up. He has a raw unpredictability that stems from hair-trigger impulses, yet there is a containment that’s very arresting.”