Gracie Terzian Lands 'Role of a Lifetime'

Even as a child, it was tough to suppress the naturally theatrical Gracie Terzian.

When her brother, six years older, performed with his classmates in an elementary school play, little Gracie wrangled her way out of her mother's arms to join the performers.

"It was like she wanted to be on that side," said her mother, Grace. "Getting her back took some negotiating. So early on she was a bit of a character and enjoyed performing. She was just a happy, creative performer her whole life."

Now Gracie, of Oakton, is a second-year student at the University of Virginia with the title role in this spring's production, "Evita." The play opened April 21 and continues through this weekend.

"It is the best role I've ever had. It's very vocally demanding, but, as far as the character is concerned, it's a role of a lifetime," Gracie said. "You get to live through this incredible woman's life, from when she's young to her death. It's quite an experience and a journey."

In her time at UVA, Gracie has had lead roles in "Pippin" and "Urinetown," and regularly performs with a jazz ensemble. She has plans to move to New York City after graduating college to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

But Gracie says she was not always on the show biz career path. With experience all over Northern Virginia throughout her youth — including lead roles at Oakton High and Synetic Theater — she knew she could use her theater background to get into a good college.

"I loved [performing], but I always saw myself doing something else when I was an adult. I did it because it was fun and I enjoyed it," she said. "I was always serious about it, but I was also skeptical about my potential and the reality behind doing it as a career."

Then she started studying performing arts at UVA and realized, why not pursue it if she loves it so much?

Her mother says she could never have known how serious Gracie would get about performing, but she certainly saw raw talent in her daughter when she was young. Gracie always had a creative mind, gravitating toward art and dance at an early age. Grace signed Gracie up for camps and classes at Gracie's request, drove her to rehearsals and saw her youngest child become more focused on her craft.

"I guess you just never know with kids. I just thought, 'Well this is fun and nice,'" her mother said. "And I guess she just started getting more and more serious about it. It's clear now that she will be in this field. There's something in her that's pulling her seriously in this direction."

Both Gracie and her mother credit Lilia Slavova, who has been Gracie's acting coach since she was a child, for helping to get Gracie on a show business career path.

Gracie remembers Lilia asking her if she had an agent after teaching her in a summer course when Gracie was about 8 years old.

"We were just like, 'What? No!'" Gracie said. "But she really became my mentor and coach. She taught me to love theater and sparked my initial interest in it."

But her mother remembers Lilia's influence beginning in a much more dramatic fashion.

"We were looking around in the spring for what Gracie would want to do that summer. Lilia, who is Bulgarian, saw her coming out from some dance class, and Gracie just had her hair up and a sort of leotard with shorts on top of it or something, and Lilia saw her and said, 'Ah! I see ze drama queen!'' she said. "I thought, 'Wow, how did she know?' So we signed up for Lilia's summer program and that's what sort of kicked off this great love for acting."

Gracie may have her dream to perform in New York City, but she's "weirdly very practical" about it, said her mom.

"She knows she'll have to adjust and adapt to be successful," she said. "If she didn't get a role, she would never fall apart. She would just immediately move on. I don't want to say she's thick-skinned, but she takes disappointment well, which is very good if you want to be in this area."

Being a celebrity and being an actor can be two separate things, and Gracie's focus is on the latter.

"I'm definitely not interested in being famous. I want to be successful," Gracie said. "I'm not an actor who is trying to become famous and I don't think I'd even want that. I just want to work in this field because I love it."

Watch more of Gracie's singing on her YouTube page by clicking here.