By Joe Puccio

It would be completely understandable for a young actor, in their first full length feature film role that just happens to be of the horror variety, to be distracted by the multiple cameras, the abundance of staff on set, and the overall engrossing maiden mission of working on a project that will very likely be seen by audiences throughout the world. Cameron Dawson Gray, the star of the chilling new psychological thriller Family, however, takes it all in stride.

“For me, giving my best performance while being involved in such scary scenes weren’t different things,” Gray explained, during a recent chat with Generation X Wire. “When action was called and the cameras were rolling, I could be as scared as I wanted because I knew that as soon as they called ‘cut,’ I was surrounded by friends, coworkers, and people I knew and trusted. So, I think that environment really helped me focus on being scared and made it easier.”

The haunting movie, written and directed by Benjamin Finkel, premiered at South by Southwest (SXSW) two years ago and is scheduled for both a theatrical and a video on demand (VOD) release by Vertical later this month. Co-starring Ruth Wilson (Jane Eyre, Luther, The Affair) and Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line, The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Murder by Numbers), it tells the tale of a 10-year-old girl named Johanna (Gray) who is convinced that her parents are trying to kill her after moving to a new home to help care for her cancer-stricken father.

While officially given a PG-13 rating, don’t let its seemingly subdued status with the Motion Pictures Association (MPA) fool you. Family is frightening and prioritizes its scares in a disturbing, spooky, and subtle manner as opposed to obtuse, in-your-face gore. It’s a genre that Gray fully appreciates – but doesn’t make a habit of watching. “I have so much respect for horror. But I’m almost never in the mood to watch it,” she laughed. “I’m a die-hard comedy person. That’s what I always go back to. But I do love zombie films, like Train to Busan. They really get to me. Vampires, werewolves, not so much. But zombies truly scare me.”

Gray cut her teeth in a series of critically acclaimed shorts (Midair, Baby Fat, Strawberry Shake) as well as the popular Hulu mini-series Fleishman Is in Trouble (Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes) as Lizzy Caplan’s daughter, Sasha, before nabbing the coveted part in the atmospheric, supernatural picture. While her filmmaker parents assisted Gray in her show business quest (“I took my first acting lessons when I was 7, for my birthday, learning the basics”), they initially tried to steer her away from the difficult profession. “I begged them from the time I was 6 after talking the ear off a casting director at a party. They’d say ‘no’ because they had been actors and felt it wasn’t a good idea,” she admitted. “But a few agents showed up on the last day of classes, and I had an opportunity to speak with one of them. I just felt that it was an environment that I really connected with.”

Although every detail of the entire Family experience thrilled Gray, the budding teenage ingenue was especially delighted to work with prosthetics for the first time. “It’s not a spoiler but there’s a creature in the movie and those scenes in particular were great to film because I got to wear these artificial parts and really see prosthetics in action,” she described. “Honestly, that was a really cool thing to see and do. I took it all in.”

Gray’s already impressive acting skills were on display throughout the film’s 90-minute runtime, as well. One specific sequence, however, involving a poignant moment between Johanna and her friend Stanley (Beau McConnell) perhaps showed off her talent more than any other. Modestly, she chalks up the emotionality to just being part of the job. “It’s difficult but it gets a little easier to do things like cry the more you do it. You have to home in and create a bubble around yourself,” she continued. “You create a separation between yourself and the cameras, which can be a challenge if you approach it the wrong way. You lock in, you start doing the emotional preparation, and you just do your best.”

A horror project at its core, Family is an amalgamation of science fiction, fantasy, and pure drama. When asked how she would describe it to someone who hasn’t seen it, she agrees with its many components. “It’s terrifying and there are a lot of jump scares but it’s not your typical type of terror,” she opined. “It messes with your sense of reality.”

While Gray is clearly enjoying the hype surrounding Family, she also has her sights set on the future. “It’s been a little hard because I’m currently in a difficult age range for casting, but I’ve been getting more auditions and callbacks,” she beamed. “I love to act and I’d like to executive produce another project (Gray acted in and was a producer on 2024’s Everyone Loves Candy). “I audition whenever I can and I love working. Everything’s been fantastic.”