Greyston Holt is a Canadian actor and musician best known for his roles as Ray Prager Jr. on the TV show Durham County, young Emerson Hauser on Alcatraz, and most notably werewolf Clayton Danvers in Bitten. Holt has accumulated over forty acting credits thus far and has been nominated for two Leo Awards.

Greyston Holt Bio: AGE, EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Holt was born as Greyston Stefancsik on Sept. 30, 1985 (now age 37) on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, to Mike and Nancy Stefancsik. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents emigrated from Hungary.

Holt started playing guitar at the age of 12 and started a couple of bands while he was in high school. His foray into acting was much more spontaneous: the result of needing an extra class. “I was going into my final year of high school and I needed an extra arts credit in order to graduate. So there were a few different options, art, there was art history, textiles, and acting was one of them,” he exclusively told uInterview. “I sort of took it on a whim, and I loved it. I had a great time. It was this whole new thing to me, a whole new way to express myself.”

After telling his parents about his newfound passion for acting, his mother happened to speak to a co-worker whose sister was a casting agent in Vancouver. When she offered to introduce Holt, he didn’t hesitate, hopping on a small plane from Salt Spring Island to the city. That same woman has been his agent ever since.

Greyston Holt Bio: ‘INTO THE WEST’ AND ‘DURHAM COUNTY’

One of Holt’s earliest credits includes a role in director David DeCoteau‘s horror flick The Sisterhood in 2004. DeCoteau allegedly discovered him at a model/talent convention in Vancouver. He then soon booked a small part on Stephen Spielberg‘s acclaimed mini-series Into The West. These smaller television credits continued with appearances on Smallville, Blood Ties, and The 4400 until his break-out recurring role in Durham County. Following the exploits of a Toronto homicide detective who moves back to his hometown to investigate a series of murders, Holt played Ray Prager Jr., the self-conscious son of suspected serial killer Ray Prager. The show ran for three seasons and was nominated for numerous awards. Holt was nominated for his first Leo Award for Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series.

Greyston Holt Bio: ‘ALCATRAZ’ AND ‘BITTEN’

Soon after Durham Country, Holt booked a role in the United States on the Fox series Alcatraz in 2012. Following the government recapture of time-traveling prisoners, who disappeared from the infamous prison in 1963, the show only lasted for one season. Luckily, this cleared the way for Holt to be cast as werewolf Clayton Danvers on the Canadian Sci-Fi series Bitten in 2014. The show was picked up by American network Syfy and ran for three seasons. Holt was introduced to a larger audience that was receptive to his performance, with A.V. Club describing Holt’s Clay Danvers as “brooding and dangerous.” He has also picked up another Leo Award nomination for the role.

In preparation for his screen test for Bitten, Holt admitted to really wanting to find the character, after weeks of Skype auditions and taped readings. After reading the novels from which the show was adapted, and learning that a big part of the wolf experience was running naked in the woods, Holt decided to try it out in the North Shore Mountains near downtown Vancouver, he told uInterview. “I went up there to some trails, took a backpack with me, and my buddy’s dog, and I left the trail and went an hour into the woods and stripped down and ran around and howled,” he said. “I think I even freaked the dog out a little bit, but yea it’s not often you get to be somewhere naked and yell and howl as loud as you want. If did that in the city, people would think I’m a F—ing nut job.”

This wasn’t the first time Holt was cast in a role that dealt with non-human characters; he played a vampire on an episode of Supernatural. “That show’s been on basically as long as I’ve been acting, and finally I got a nice little spot on it, so I was very happy to get on the show,” he told uInterview. “It was so much fun, Jensen [Ackles] and Jared [Padalecki], the two leads, are just such great guys.”

Greyston Holt Bio: Personal Life

Holt is currently in a relationship with Italian actress Cristina Rosato, who has appeared on the sci-fi show Helix, and has done voice work for the video game Assassin’s Creed. The two have one child together and he credits her with teaching him Italian. He is also a proponent of yoga and Crossfit and loves to travel.

He has said a dream role of his is to play a period character, specifically one in the sixteenth century. Holt told Starburst Magazine. “I’ve done a couple of Westerns, which were fun. I like stepping into the world of a character with a wardrobe and sets all set-up for that.” Despite playing the serious Clayton Danvers, Holt has also admitted he is more comfortable with comedic roles, as that matches his actual personality.

BUY NOW: ‘Bitten The Final Season’

Read more about: