Biography
Xaque (pronounced “Zack”) Gruber was born on a farm in Ohio, and has since lived in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Florida and California. He has written a few hundred articles for The Huffington Post (mostly entertainment-related) and has worked as Theatre Editor for the popular L.A. arts periodical, Venice Magazine. His first love was fine art, and during his time as a student at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, he realized his love for teaching art to children. Immediately after graduating from Pratt in 1991 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing, he moved to Massachusetts to study art education at Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In 1992, Xaque earned his first graduate degree (art education with a concentration in K - 5). Through the 1990s, Xaque taught art in New England to thousands of schoolchildren, primarily in Douglas, Massachusetts, and in the summers, in Concord, Massachusetts at the Middlesex School. In 1999, he was nominated for Massachusetts Art Teacher Of The Year. In 2000, he decided to shift gears and pursue a career writing for TV and film. He was accepted to Boston University's College of Communications, where he earned his second graduate degree (M.S. in Television Production). Xaque drove cross country in early 2002 to Hollywood to pursue a career writing for entertainment. Soon after arriving, he met his favorite movie actress, Sally Kirkland, at a gallery exhibition of her art, and was hired on the spot to be her personal assistant. Several months later, he was hired by Henry Winkler and Michael Levitt to be their on set assistant for the final seasons of Hollywood Squares. Through working for Winkler and Levitt, Xaque was promoted to writer and amassed dozens of credits working in television. His first primetime TV writing credit came with reuniting the cast of his favorite 1980s soap “Dynasty” for the 2006 CBS special “Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar.” Other writing credits include crafting the questions Ryan Seacrest asks the stars on E! Live From The Red Carpet, and numerous awards shows. His love for the state of Rhode Island (where he lived in the 1990s) inspired him to write/illustrate the published book, A Big Adventure In The Smallest State: A History of Rhode Island For All Ages (Author House). In 2013, he began working as Senior Publicist for Andrew Freedman Public Relations representing an array of top film, television and theatre talent. When his hands aren't writing or painting, they are modeling for commercials. He is represented commercially by the Bobby Ball Agency. In 2016, Xaque began working as a reporter and teaching art in Florida. He is a freelance journalist for The Press Journal newspaper, and teaches art workshops at the Vero Beach Museum of Art in Vero Beach, Florida. He is actively developing film and television projects with producers in Los Angeles and Europe.
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