Bigfork native Casey Thomas Brown takes hold of Hollywood

Nailing a new Netflix series is just one reason Casey Thomas Brown is ecstatic about the upward spiral of his acting career.

The Bigfork native has already garnered an impressive resume since graduating from Flathead High School in 2009, having snagged parts in several major TV shows, among them “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “House of Lies,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “Criminal Minds.”

He’s also been in a hefty list of films with some big name celebrities — “Reach Me” with Tom Berenger, Sylvester Stallone, Kyra Sedgewick and Kelsey Grammar, and “Last Rampage” with Robert Patrick and Heather Graham, to name a couple.

Brown recently wrapped up filming the first season of “The Kominsky Method” starring Academy Award-winning actors Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, an aging, once-famous actor who now earns a living as an acting coach, and Alan Arkin as his longtime agent Norman Newlander.

Brown talked with the Daily Inter Lake about the show last week after finishing shooting one of the popular comedy videos he and his creative partner, actress Chloe Fineman, have been posting on Instagram.

“‘The Kominsky Method’ is hilarious,” he said. “Having the opportunity to work with Michael, Alan, Danny (DeVito) and Jay (Leno) made every day a master class. On the first day of filming, Michael’s character gave a monologue about acting and I was pinching myself thinking that there I was, sitting on the Warner Brothers lot listening to him.”

Brown’s particularly excited about being in a comedy.

“I love comedy more than anything. I’ve always wanted to do comedy,” he said, “but I’ve always been cast as depressing characters — psychotic murderers, rapists, serial killers and the like.”

In “The Kominsky Method” he plays Lane, a young, gay actor, one of six acting students trying to make it in Hollywood.

When asked if Lane is a good actor, he hesitated briefly before answering, “I’d say he is progressing. He’s ambitious.”

Chuck Lorre, creator of such wildly successful comedies as “The Big Bang Theory,” “Mom” “Young Sheldon” and “Two and Half Men,” directed “The Kominsky Method.”

“He’s legendary,” Brown said. “The biggest director since Norman Lear. Getting to observe Chuck’s brilliance was just insanely amazing.”

In the five months it took to shoot eight episodes, Brown said the cast grew close, especially the group of acting students.

While the show is definitely comedy, Brown said one of the most impressive things about it is that it’s really about two men’s friendship.

“It’s so rare that we see a story about male friendship that doesn’t take place during a war. It’s the antidote to toxic masculinity. These characters are tender and caring. It’s touching and refreshing.”

While admittedly “there are a lot of prostate jokes,” written into the script, he said the characters share their vulnerability and the challenge of staying connected in spite of the inevitability of aging. In a scene from the show’s trailer, Kominsky philosophizes, “We are passengers on boats slowly sinking,” to which Newlander replies, “Your boat is slow? I’m like when the Titanic was pointing up.”

Brown said most of his own best friends are still the people that he grew up with in the Flathead Valley. He gives ample credit to the mentors who shared their knowledge of their craft while he was growing up — from the Bigfork Playhouse Children’s Theatre and Flathead High School Drama Department to the Alpine Theatre Project.

“I was so lucky to grow up there,” he said, “and have access to such deep character building and training. It gave me a world-class foundation.”

The son of Tom and Katie Brown, well-known longtime real estate brokers in the Flathead Valley, Casey still makes it home two to four times a year from his base camp in Los Angeles. When the upcoming forecast for snow in the Flathead Valley was mentioned, he said he was jealous.

“I miss the valley so much,” he said. “My heart is still there.”

And yes, he’ll be home for Christmas ... and Thanksgiving.

Entertainment Editor Carol Marino may be reached at 758-4440 or thisweek@dailyinterlake.com.