From Medicine to Music Videos: Grant Rivers on Reinvention and Storytelling Across Generations
Grant Rivers has lived two full careers in one lifetime. Born in New York City, he spent nearly five decades as a physician, treating patients and pioneering in vocal health before making a bold late-life pivot into acting. Now in his eighties, Rivers is a sought-after performer in music videos, commercials, and independent film, and co-runs Grant Rivers Productions with his wife, Chanel. In this conversation, he reflects on how medicine shaped his approach to acting, what success looks like today, and why bridging generations through storytelling drives his work.
You’ve built two distinct careers in one lifetime. Which feels more defining for you—your years as a physician or your work now as an actor and producer?
They are both totally different (as you can imagine). Being a physician is totally outward helping. Being an actor is more inward satisfying. Being a physician means you are on other people's schedules since they do not know when they are going to get sick or when you are going to get a call to the emergency room. Being an actor, you have more schedule flexibility.
At this stage in life, how do you measure success differently than you might have in your 30s or 40s?
Success in my 40s was running a good medical practice and helping patients. In my 80s, it is pleasing the audience, and also the other actors.
How do you take care of your voice and body differently now, given both your medical background and your current career demands?
Don't yell. Don't shout. Low wine intake. And don't smoke.
Looking back, what skills from your medical career have unexpectedly helped you succeed in film and TV?
I do not get scared or alarmed at all when acting. There are no life and death situations.
What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken so far with Grant Rivers Productions, and how has your definition of risk evolved as you’ve reinvented yourself?
I spent $200,000 producing Helen and Harold: Wrong Turn, with no return so far. I do not spend this kind of money anymore.
When you and Chanel run the company together, what strengths do you each bring, and how do you divide creative versus business decisions?
I have the project vision, and she is able to bring me down to earth with reality.
If your production company had a mission statement in one sentence, what would it be?
Bridge the gap between generations with sharing and truth.
What does Grant Rivers Productions do differently from other independent outfits?
We hope to enable the different generations to smile and laugh at and with each other.
What kind of stories do you not want to tell under your banner?
I don't love bloody horror films.
You’ve said you enjoy working with actors — what qualities do you look for when casting?
That they do not look like they are acting. That they are able to take direction.
You’ve jumped into commercials, shorts, music videos, and now features. Which medium feels the most creatively satisfying?
I really like music videos, particularly with the stars I have been fortunate enough to work with.
Commercials, music videos, shorts, features — what do you learn from working across so many formats?
A good actor bridges each format by staying true to himself or herself.
If you had unlimited funding tomorrow, what project would you greenlight first?
One of my feature films: Finders Keepers, a teenage adventure story. Or Second Chance at Love, a Texas Hollywood love story. Or It's Time, a world-saving adventure into the past.
If you could collaborate with any filmmaker or comedian working today, who would you pick and why?
Steven Spielberg. Excitement, excitement, excitement!
What excites you most about where Grant Rivers Productions is headed next?
The most exciting thing is that I do not know what is coming next.
For more information on Grant, please visit: grantriversofficial.com