Heather Laura Gray beat out four other entries, including herself for the Nickelodeon film Snow Day
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Vancouver choreographer Heather Laura Gray can now be referred to as “Emmy winner Heather Laura Gray.”
Gray earned that title this past weekend when she won the Emmy Award for outstanding choreography at the recent Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.
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Gray landed the Emmy for her work on the Vancouver-shot Nickelodeon/Paramount+ movie Monster High: The Movie. She beat out four other entries, including herself for the Nickelodeon film Snow Day.
“I was not expecting anything. Then it was, OK, it’s go time,” said Gray about hearing her name read out loud. “I have never experienced anything like that before. So the adrenalin is going. You just hope all the words come out of your mouth … I feel like I got to convey my appreciation.”
Presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the awards honour the best in American children’s and family-oriented television programming.
“I think one of the things that was special about Monster High was this layering of the monsters, what they look like, then being able to bring them into the physically of the dance,” said Gray. “I had a lot of fun with that.”
Besides Monster High: The Movie and Snow Day, Gray’s resume includes the films Monster High 2, Needle in a Timestack and The J Team. The JoJo Siwa vehicle also earned Gray an Emmy nomination.
Before the films, Gray, who has been a professional dancer and actor, gained a name for herself as a choreographer with her work on the TV series Riverdale.
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“Doing a musical with a week of prep is just beyond. My strategy was to develop a skill and set and my instincts and work quickly with people. I was really forged in that fire,” said Gray, who started working on Riverdale in 2018 and choreographed six musical episodes, as well as other dance scenes throughout the show’s run.
Raised all over the Lower Mainland, Gray still calls Vancouver home and is happy that the industry here offers so much work. Work that, of course, is just starting to gear back up to full steam after the writers’ and actors’ unions strikes.
“I’m excited for the New Year to hear what is coming to Vancouver. So many people I have talked to are ready, ready for anything,” said Gray.
Now at home with her Emmy, Gray has a bit of time to reflect on her career going forward.
“It definitely feels like a new chapter of going higher, finding different challenges,” said Gray, who hopes to direct one day and build a career like American dancer, choreographer and director Debbie Allen.
“She is a huge inspiration to me,” said Gray, when asked about the three-time Emmy winner and Kennedy Center Honoree. “She was my idol growing up.”
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