User:Warreneavis/sandbox

Trip Avis (born Warren Edward Avis, III, June 20, 1995) is an American singer-songwriter, filmmaker and actor of the stage and screen. He gained prominence as the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Tetris Saves Lives. The band released three studio albums and received numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award, before announcing a hiatus in 2026. He has also released three solo studio albums, with his 2025 self-titled album earning a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.

Avis has also had a successful career as an actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in Broadway and West End stage productions of plays such as Waiting for Godot, Les liaisons dangereuses, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Importance of Being Earnest, Death of a Salesman and The Glass Menagerie. His performance in Lanford Wilson's Burn This earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

He has directed, adapted, produced and starred in several films, with roles as Jonathan Brand in the independent drama Far Afield (2025), Max Andrews in the dark comedy Sellevision (2026), David in the French-language romantic drama Giovanni's Room (2027), Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov in the historical drama A Gentleman in Moscow (2028), Charles Manson in the crime drama Helter Skelter (2030), DC Comics character Dream in the 2032 film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Randolph Skully in the coming-of-age drama Other Voices, Other Rooms (2033), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Giovanni's Room was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making Avis the second-youngest American director after Steven Soderbergh to win the festival's highest honor.

Early Life
Avis was born in West Palm Beach, Florida to attorneys Warren Edward Avis, Jr. and Deborah de la Gueronniere (formerly Avis, née Kah). He was raised in Palm Beach, Florida and graduated from Cardinal Newman High School in 2014. He has a younger brother named William. His paternal grandfather was entrepreneur and businessman Warren Avis, who founded Avis Rent a Car. Avis developed a passion for music and writing as a child and later participated in his high school choir. He began writing songs and performing at age fifteen. His father died from melanoma when he was sixteen, which heavily impacted him and inspired the song "Proud". His mother remarried in 2014 and the family relocated to Long Island, New York.

He attended Bard College for three semesters, studying film and creative writing. He left school in 2016 and attended a seven-month intensive treatment program for substance abuse and behavioral issues. His experience was later recounted in the memoir Boy at the Bottom of the Ocean. There, he became acquainted with friend and future band-mate Lee Neidich, better known by his stage name Leroy Knightley, who invited Avis to join his already-formed band Tetris Saves Lives. They lived together for several months in 2017 and began writing songs around this time. He moved to New York City in late 2018 to attend The New School. He graduated from there the following year with a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature.

Career
During his first year in New York City, Avis reconnected with Knightley, who was studying at Yeshiva University. They began performing live in small clubs, bars and coffee houses in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the East Village. They occasionally used the moniker "Charlene's Bowl", an inside joke between the two from their time in treatment. Avis also performed solo, covering songs by bands and musicians such as James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, Don McLean and The National. Their performances earned them positive write-ups in music publications such as The Fader, Refinery29 and Pitchfork. Due to their success and growing online presence, the band was signed to Republic Records in September 2019. They recorded their debut album, titled Impressions from late 2019 to early 2020, and it was released on Republic Records on June 20th of that year, Avis' 25th birthday.