Hi, I’m Ed and it’s nice to meet you.

As you have clicked on ‘about’ I am guessing that you want to know a little more about me. So here goes. Basically I am Director, Photographer, Visual Artist and obsessive traveller. Need proof of all of this, just keep reading.

People call me Ed

My full name is Edward Thomas Francis Gregory and yes I do know that I have four first names. I was born in the small town of Chesterfield (somewhere in the middle of England). You may have heard of the ‘Chesterfield’ sofa (thank you 4th Earl of Chesterfield, 1694) and yes my parents had one in the house when we were growing up. I am the youngest of three and spend my life striving to be as wonderfully awesome as my older brother and sister, Bobbo and Briebrie (Not their real names).

Now to my story

I was born in 1983 and my first real passion started when I was about 3, ballet (thanks Amy). In fact I did a whole range of dance styles including classical tap, ballet and jazz for over 15 years. I stopped doing this at the age of 19 when I moved to London to study Contemporary Theatre at ‘East 15 Acting School’. I left with a BA degree in 2004 and started my whirlwind story of travel, acting, photography and general craziness.

Professional Acting

I had no agent and didn’t want one, I wanted to do everything myself. So I started my own theatre company (with two awesome guys, Matt and Stu) called ‘Next on Theatre’ and wrote a show ‘Painters’. We sold out at the largest arts festival in the world, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, achieving recognition with great reviews and ‘pick of the fringe’. From here we took the show on tour in the UK ending with a run the the Pleasance Theatre, London. All a wonderful success. This all ended when I moved to New York.

I stumbled upon and audition for Blue Man Group. With no musical experience (apart from grade one piano at the age of 11) I showed up and did a terrible audition. five days later I was hired (they sent me to drum school first). I have been with Blue Man Group since 2008 and have performed in New York, Berlin, the European Tour as well as opened their show on the NCL ‘Epic’ cruise ship. It has been an awesomely wonderful experience performing on enormous stages in front of massive audiences. If you haven’t seen the show or know what I am talking about just YourTube it.

Whilst in London I also did lighting design for the BAC, sound design at the National Theatre and the BBC as well as producing and stage managing shows throughout London’s fringe scene. I had my fingers in a lot of pies which has ultimately given me the tools to not fear any creative boundaries.

Travel

Throughout the past 10 years I have travelled to a lot of countries, over 30, and not just for a week or so at a time. Sometimes it was a holiday but many times it has been to live. Since leaving home at 19 I have lived in London, Berlin, New York, Mexico City, Switzerland, Sydney, Kota Kinabalu (Borneo) and most recently Las Vegas.

I gave nearly a year of my life to charity where I lived in the Jungle in Borneo.

I had a travel blog www.thekidtravels.com whilst I went through SE Asia. Here are a few of my favourite stories.

Cambodia School | Singapore | The day I set a world record

Charity

This has ended up being a major part of my life. It all started on Christmas Day as a child. I would wake up with my family excited to open all the wonderful gifts that had been delivered to me. But first there was something more important to do. I would have breakfast and my wonderful mother and I would drive to the local hospital and give a gift of a cuddly toy to every inpatient in the children’s ward. It would take a few hours but seeing the smiles on peoples faces, on this day that is for spending with our family, was just magical. I saw the importance of giving, of care and of human interaction.

A number of years ago I arrived back to the UK after working for Blue Man Group and saw a documentary about people in the UK living below the poverty line. The next day I went to the storage unit to retrieve my belongings and gave most of it away to charity. I kept my personal memories but I don’t think anyone wanted those anyway. A few months later, after some travelling I decided I wanted to give my time to charity as well. I flew to Borneo and worked for the amazing charity Raleigh International.