Theater Professor Featured in Disney Animated Movies

Every day, we walk around campus not knowing who we are actually smiling at or greeting along the way.
However, would many people ever think that the person they walked by was a well-known actor or singer?

Many have probably have walked past Theater Professor Amick Byram at some point. Byram, along with directing a number of theater productions at Vanguard, is a full-time professional actor and singer.

He sang in over 100 films, including the singing voice of Moses in “The Prince of Egypt,” as well as singing in “Shrek,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “Hercules,” “Mulan,” “The Road to El Dorado” and “The Matrix.”

He also acted on-screen in numerous TV shows, including “Frasier,” “Friends,” “Saved by the Bell,” “Superior Court” and he played the role of Ian Andrew Troi, the father of Counselor Troi in “Star Trek: the Next Generation.”

Every few weeks he still gets “Star Trek” trading cards in the mail from people asking for his autograph.

The costumes are kept in a safe under lock and key.

“The best part about being on ‘Star Trek’ was actually being able to put on a ‘Star Trek’ uniform,” Byram said.

After graduating from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Byram moved to Hollywood and began his career by taking professional acting and on-camera classes.

He soon got an agent, sought out auditions and tried out for every small opportunity or production he could find, including unpaid roles. Little by little, he began being involved in as much as he possibly could and, over time, got to know people in the business and worked his way up.

“The more you work the more work will come to you,” Byram said.

Along with his film career, Byram has been in a number of theater productions both on Broadway and in L.A.
He has performed in “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Les Miserables” as characters Marius and Enjolras and “Sunset Boulevard,” where he played the role of Joe Gillis opposite actress Glenn Close.

Byram also released an album, Encounter, and was nominated two years in a row for a Grammy award for best vocal jazz album.

Currently, Byram is working in show business doing voice-overs, acting in and directing commercials for companies such as Mercedes-Benz.

He is also involved in a variety of other things, including singing for the Fantasmic show for Disneyland, Tokyo and frequently singing in “The Simpsons” TV series.

“You can find yourself in dangerous situations in the professional artistic business. You have to know for sure that God wants you to be in the business and be willing to do a lot of hard work. It’s not the kind of thing that just shows up at your doorstep. You have to put in a lot of effort in order to succeed,” Byram said.

Byram has been involved with the Vanguard theatre department for five years now and is directing and putting together the Theatre department’s upcoming show, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which will be opening on Friday, December 3.