Wednesday, 10 February 2010
He’s back. But this time on cable TV.
Local celebrity Paul Cram can be seen in “Contract Killers” airing on Starz, The Movie Chanel and Showtime Extreme in February. by Elyse Kaner Staff writer
He’s back. But this time on cable TV.
Local celebrity Paul Cram can be seen in “Contract Killers” airing on Starz, The Movie Chanel and Showtime Extreme in
Paul Cram, a local celebrity with a knack for landing nerdy and neurotic roles in Indie films and on local television commercials, can now be seen on Starz, The Movie Channel and Showtime Extreme.
The networks are airing the 20th Century Fox Studios’ award-winning movie “Contract Killers” through the month of February.
Cram, a 30-year-old who could pass as a teenager, has a small part in the movie. He plays a klutzy, but genius computer techie/CIA agent. By default, he unwittingly becomes part of a sophisticated government conspiracy.
The 2008 movie is written and directed by Justin Rhodes and it earned Best Feature Film award from the 2008 Orlando Film Festival and Best Picture award from the Big Bang Film Festival in Philadelphia.
‘Deal or No Deal’
If you’ve watched any TV, you might recognize Cram. A while back, he starred in a series of funny commercials for The CW channel promoting the TV show “Deal or No Deal.”
In one of the spots, the nervous, dweeby-looking character is at the alter with his fiance. When the big time comes, his girl says “I do.” He says “deal!”
The whole thing has led to instant celebrity status for Cram who could not go out of his house without being recognized while the commercials aired.
Once he was in a thrift store and a woman started yelling “deal, deal, deal!” Cram said.
He wondered what all the ruckus was about when he realized she was referring to him “I chuckled,” he said.
The Columbia Heights resident has also done commercials for the Minnesota lottery.
He was a shepherd
Cram got his start acting in church pageants at the age of four when he played a shepherd. So far, he has appeared in about 40 independent films and is equally at home performing on stage. He has acted in the Guthrie theater’s “The Great Gatsby” and “Edgardo Mine” and has appeared in “Peer Gynt” at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
He also has a part in a new film “Peacock” (release date pending), starring Susan Sarandon, Cillian Murphy and Ellen Page. In the movie he plays a – no surprise here – nerdy store clerk.
For Cram, the best part of acting is pretending to be somebody else. “I love that I do it convincingly,” he said.
For now, he is a part-time Web designer with his brother, Tim. But he hopes to land more parts in major motion pictures
in the future.
“I want to continue learning and cultivate a broader range, not just the awkward characters,” he said.
For viewing times of “Contract Killers,” consult the Starz, Showtime and Movie Channel’s official Web sites.
Elyse Kaner is at elyse.kaner@ecm-inc.com