'Ghosts' TV Star From New Jersey Teaches Acting To Livingston Students

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Asher Grodman, who currently stars on the CBS sitcom "Ghosts," returned to his alma mater, a private school in Livingston, on Tuesday.

Grodman, who had graduated from Newark Academy in 2006, led acting workshops for kids at the school.

Grodman plays ghost Trevor Lefkowitz on the hit series, which was recently renewed for a third season. His character is the ghost of a stockbroker who died in the 1990s.

While Grodman was a student at the independent grades 6-12 school, he commuted daily from Califon, in Hunterdon County, a school spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, Grodman engaged both Newark Academy Upper and Middle School students in activities, shared advice, and answered questions in the school’s Lautenberg “Black Box” Theater.

“I remember being here and really trying to find my way,” Grodman says. “To come back now, having found some of that way, is really exciting and is kind of a full circle moment.”

Director of Theater Arts Rachel Shapiro Cooper, who organized Grodman’s visit, was eager to provide her students with the opportunity to hear from a professional actor who took acting classes in the exact Black Box theater her students are now learning in.

“This term we have benefitted from many alumni theater students such as Asher coming back to NA and sharing their gifts with the student actors in our program,” Cooper said. “We are so grateful and I am thrilled that the lens continues to widen for our students. That is really what this work is all about— using the arts to enlarge the world in which our students live.”

Junior Delilah Loncar said, “I left with a greater understanding as to what it takes to pursue one’s individual passion. It was clear that Mr. Grodman lit up when talking about anything from the process of getting an audition to educational acting theories, making him a great example for all us."

Grodman joked that he made every mistake an actor can ever make before finally finding his way — the main reason why he is now so passionate about teaching young actors.

“One of the most thrilling things is to be able to teach and help other people not make the mistakes that I did,” he said. “To be able to come back and hang out with students who are doing what I was doing when I was in high school is particularly exciting.”

Newark Academy celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. See www.newarka.edu for more information.