When Shadow LaValley ’14 was competing in the 2023 Amateur Players Golf Tour, he proudly sported a SUNY Morrisville baseball cap. Working on his golf swing is still a work in progress, he said, but he finds it a good distraction from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles city life.
The LA actor and filmmaker became a fan of the sport during his Hollywood downtime during union strikes. After completing his performance in Ben Stiller’s “Escape at Dannemora” in 2018, he moved to LA where he has been acting, producing, writing and working in a variety of roles in the entertainment industry, including set construction, directing and video editing.
He has amassed more than 125 nominations and 80 awards for his work. Among them are multiple awards for his short film, “The Can,” including Best Actor, Best Filmmaker and Best Director. Co-directed by Danielle Purdy, an American film, television and theatre actress and makeup artist, LaValley wrote, produced and acted in the film he describes as a loose take on his own struggles.
“From the very start, I wanted to create works that showcase a part of my life experience. To allow the audience to see that they are not alone in their struggles, whatever they may be,” he said in a statement after his film took numerous wins at the prestigious Las Vegas-based Film Festival, Vegas Movie Awards.™
Being on the red carpet, whether for one of his films at film festivals/award shows, or for award shows in general, is both a humbling and exhilarating experience for LaValley. “Seeing all the amazing people come together to celebrate and promote their amazing work in the industry is always a blessing for me.”
In addition to acting, LaValley is producing and shooting a short, live-action film called “Good Boy.” At just eight minutes long, the film will feature the story of two characters who find an unlikely friendship to show the powerful impact of the family-friend dynamic.
But it wasn’t always glitz and glimmer for the Emmy-award winning actor. The SUNY Morrisville baseball cap is a reminder of how the college played a role in his rise to fame in Hollywood.
Chasing the NASCAR dream
LaValley describes himself as a scrawny, shy kid in school who was more into NASCAR than theater. In fact, his post-high school plans were to work in the stock car industry. Late in his senior year of high school, his mom asked him to play the role of Will in the musical, “Oklahoma.”
“The student who originally was cast in the role dropped out because he realized he had to kiss Ado Annie,” he reminisced. “My mom was a teacher at the school and approached me about doing it. She said I could end high school with a bang.”
It took some convincing, but he agreed, thinking it might be his only time on stage. After graduation, LaValley applied to multiple mechanical engineering programs and ultimately chose SUNY Morrisville.
He dropped out following his first semester then briefly lived in Ohio. After falling on some very difficult times and suffering devastating loss in his personal life, he later found himself struggling with alcoholism, depression and suicidal thoughts.
LaValley set out to change the trajectory of his life, packing up and moving to North Carolina in 2008 to work as part of a Driver Development Program for a NASCAR Truck Series team in North Carolina. Since childhood, he had been an avid fan — specifically of Dale Earnhardt.
“It finally hit me at the Martinsville Speedway how money played a big role in the success getting to where I wanted to be,” LaValley said. “I saw that was out of reach for someone who didn’t have that money aspect. I got discouraged, got out and moved back to New York.”
Moving home in 2009 also granted him the opportunity to help his mom care for his grandmother, until her passing. The trio watched countless episodes of the television series, “NCIS,” starring Mark Harmon as Special Agent Gibbs, whose character experienced tragedies and struggles. LaValley began studying Gibbs’ character and loosely incorporating certain traits into his own life to overcome the demons that were still chasing him.
“By watching this character trudge through these struggles and slowly turn them into positives, I was able to restructure my life into the positive it is today,” he powerfully states on his website.
At about the same time, his former high school choir teacher asked if he would accept the role of Jonathan Brewster in “Arsenic and Old Lace.” He readily agreed and fell in love with performing. He soon saw his purpose in life as helping audience members make positive changes in their lives, just as he experienced watching Harmon perform.
“I have met many people throughout all fields in the entertainment industry, but none who have had such a positive impact in my growth and development like Mark Harmon has had,” he said of the actor who he has never met in person.
Heading back to school
In 2012, LaValley re-enrolled at SUNY Morrisville’s Norwich Campus in the liberal arts program, with sights set on then transferring into the SUNY Oneonta Bachelor of Science in theatre program.
“With this SUNY Morrisville extension in Norwich, New York, I was able to learn, up my GPA, help my mom take care of my grandmother and also work a full-time factory job all at the same time,” he said.
He doubled up on classes during a four-week winter session completing night classes around work.
“Having those classes four weeks straight helped with the organizational aspect and being able to plan things out, get things done and refocus my mind,” LaValley said. “I still find myself doing that when I’m getting ready to produce a film. All of my ducks have to be in a row and all of my tasks have to be done before the lights go up. I make sure I do my due diligence and research the character I am performing to find out exactly who this person is within the story that is being told. I attribute that to my time at SUNY Morrisville.”
I make sure I do my due diligence and research the character I am performing to find out exactly who this person is within the story that is being told. I attribute that to my time at SUNY Morrisville.
LaValley graduated from Morrisville with honors, transferring to SUNY Oneonta, where he cemented his passion for acting. While there, he played Howie in “The Rabbit Hole,” a play in which the plot line centers around parents losing a child in a car accident.
“I was able to bring emotion to my character and, as a result, make the audience feel that same emotion as well, which is very inspiring for me as an actor,” he said. “It made me realize that I can actually help people get over something that my character is also getting over and have them find a way out of those situations as well.”
On the big stage
Being involved in the entertainment industry offers endless opportunities for LaValley to live his dream and create meaningful works of art for the screen and the stage. Living the dream of being an actor and filmmaker isn’t always easy, he admits, but if it hadn’t been for college — or Morrisville — his life would have been much different.
“At the end of the day, higher education elevated my thinking process and overall knowledge of life to a whole new level,” he said. “It has given me the power to perform the critical thinking that I need every day to accomplish my goals as an actor, a filmmaker and, most importantly, as a human.”
The short film, “The Can” (called “the little short film that could”), is the recipient of the Best Drama Award of Excellence at the prestigious Las Vegas-based Film Festival, Vegas Movie Awards.™ The Can won another nine awards at the Vegas Movie Awards™ and ended up with a total of more than 125 nominations and wins overall.
