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Lo Graham, a Lafayette native making her mark in the film and television industry, joins Discover Lafayette to discuss her starring role in Unhuman, a Blumhouse Productions horror movie, premiering digitally on June 3, 2022. You can rent the movie anywhere you get your streaming services.
Unhuman follows a group of high school students whose school bus crashes on a field trip. The press release states, “Relationships are tested once they realize they are being stalked by an attacker who intends to drive them out and straight into a horrifying fight to survive.”
The movie was filmed in New Orleans in the heat of the summer last year. While most of the actors were from LA, the majority of the crew supporting the movie were talented professionals from the New Orleans area.
As part of an ensemble cast of young actors, Lo comes face to face with evil in this roller-coaster romp. Lo says “It’s like the Breakfast Club meets the Walking Dead,” with the typical stereotypes found in horror movies, and she plays the mean, popular girl. “Lots of comedy and action. It was so much fun making this teen movie with a twist of horror that Blumhouse does best.”
While Lo has found a niche as a “scream queen” character since her earliest role in Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, she embraces her love of acting and is ready to branch out into a wider variety of roles.
Lo Graham has also made her mark on television with roles in CBS’s NCIS: New Orleans, Fox’s Scream Queens, a recurring role on Fox’s primetime series Filthy Rich, and in the Columbia Pictures film, This Is The End. She has worked with stars such as Kim Cattrall, Juliette Lewis, and Seth Rogan.
Lo is a graduate of Lafayette’s Ascension Episcopal School and LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communications in Broadcast Journalism. She first began modeling and pursuing acting roles through Images Model & Talent Agency as a young teen and fell in love with it. She recounted that her first speaking roles came about in Sci-Fi movies while filming in Lafayette with Ken Badish’s Active Entertainment who helped her get her start in the industry.
Louisiana is a great draw for filmmakers. Lo has been fortunate to be able to balance her work between Los Angeles and Louisiana. Louisiana lures many productions due to our generous film industry tax credits. “People love to film horror sci-fi in Louisiana because of the landscape here. In New Orleans and surrounding areas, we have so many spooky, historical elements.” As an example, right before we filmed this interview, Curmudgeon Films, led by Griff Furst, filmed a Morgan Freeman movie entitled 57 Seconds here in Lafayette.
Acting coaches have taught Lo to get in tune with the “child-like” version of herself with an active imagination. This is a critical skill in today’s modern film industry which operates virtually until filming begins. “Whenever I’m acting, I’ve learned to put myself aside and play. Be that character and think like that character. Especially in auditions. Today, auditions are all self-taped and happen at your house. People used to go into an office to audition for a casting director. Now people tape themselves with a reader off-camera giving you their lines; you record yourself and send it off.”
While she was auditioning for Unhuman, Lo said she had to imagine the plot of the whole movie as she was initially taping her audition so that she could get in character to scream realistically. While the initial phase of earning parts has changed, the industry is so virtual today that actors can live literally anywhere and just send in audition tapes for a role. This has made the industry more inclusive for a wider range of actors.
“It’s so important to take care of yourself while filming given the crazy hours. When I would get home from filming, I’d literally go to sleep at 6 pm so that I could get enough rest. You have to make sure, especially when on location, that you have food and water in your hotel so if you get off at 1 am and nothing is open, you can take care of your health and be as well-rested as you can.”
Roxanne and George Graham, Lo’s parents, have been a blessing to her. “My family’s support means everything to me. That’s 100 % of why I’m where I am today. They have always supported me and believed in me. They have helped me see that no goal is too big. They taught me that you have to believe in yourself or no one else will.”
We look forward to watching the career of Lo Graham continue to grow and blossom. Best wishes on continued success!
