Hometown Celebrities

As a moderately sized town, what Lake Charles lacks in population it makes up for in talent. Many artists, writers, actors, and singers trace their beginnings to the fifth most populous city in Louisiana. While SWLA has its own vibrant arts and culture scene, numerous locals have realized a significant amount of success nationally and internationally. In the following pages, Thrive profiles four exceptional individuals who have made the world their stage.

LAUREN DAIGLE: Singer & Songwriter

by Kerri Cooke

Lauren Daigle is one of the hottest names in contemporary Christian music, combining pop with zydeco and blues, but few know she was born in Lake Charles before growing up in Lafayette.

Daigle grew up singing and her mom nicknamed her “the music box.” However, she didn’t consider music seriously until she fell ill with cytomegalovirus at age 15. The sickness kept her homebound for the next two years. Daigle explained feeling so tired that all she could do was lie on the couch, watch TV and sleep. During this time, Daigle decided to take voice lessons. Once Daigle recovered, she graduated school and had her eyes on earning a degree in the medical field. However, she took a gap year and did mission work in Brazil.

Daigle competed in American Idol for two seasons between 2010-2012 but never made it to the finalist cut. She then attended LSU for child and family studies, where she led the choir, but eventually left college to pursue music full time.

Daigle released an EP (extended play) How Can It Be in 2014 and her debut album How Can It Be in 2015. The record quickly climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart. Her singleHow Can It Be won Song of the Year at the 2015 Dove Awards.

A holiday album, Behold: A Christmas Collection followed in 2016 in which Daigle put her own unique Louisiana spin on Christmas classics.

Daigle’s third album, Look Up Child was released in 2018. This record led Daigle to earn the distinction of highest-charting Christan album by a woman in more than 20 years. Four of the songs on Look Up Child reached No. 1 on various charts, including Billboard Christian Airplay and Hot Christian Songs. The album was certified platinum 2x and named Best Contemporary Christian Music Album in 2019. The single You Say received the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song and was certified platinum 6x.

Daigle also founded The Price Fund in 2018 to honor her grandfather. The nonprofit uses donations to help support at risk children and elderly. The foundation has since expanded to support those in the arts.

Lauren Daigle, Daigle’s latest album was released in 2023. In total, Daigle has won two Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards, four American Music Awards and 12 Dove Awards

PAUL GROVES: Opera Singer

by Madelaine Brauner Landry

Considered one of the great American tenors of his generation, Lake Charles native Paul Groves was recently appointed as the new general director of Opera Louisiane. His remarkable international career includes appearances on the stages of the world’s most prominent opera houses, as well as many prestigious concert halls.

His Grammy award-winning career has taken him across the United States to the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Los Angeles Opera. His journey did not stop at the shores of this country, however. Groves has also performed internationally at La Scala, Opéra de Paris, Royal Opera Covent Garden, and the Salzburg Festival, just to list a few. There have also been his outstanding collaborations with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, among others.

Born in 1964, his opera career began when he studied at LSU under Professor Robert Grayson. This inspired his dedication to giving back. He has served as a faculty member at LSU, mentoring talented students, demonstrating how resilience plus talent can take one to places never before imagined.

“I was very fortunate to have teachers and mentors in my career that loved the operatic art form as much as I do,” recalls Groves. “I have realized the only way to keep this art form going is to give back by sharing wisdom and advice to our young talented singers. I remind my students regularly that not only are they learning from my successes, but even more from my mistakes.”

Groves won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1991, which resulted in his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House a year later, starring as Steuermann in Der Fliegende Holländer. The Met has granted Groves many career encores, including roles as Camille de Rosillon in The Merry Widow and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Imagine! A boy from Lake Charles performing alongside legends like Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, and Susan Graham. He says, “When I first got to the Metropolitan Opera, I was in awe of the singers I shared the stage with. I am still in awe most of the time, but nothing compared to the awe I felt singing next to Pavarotti. It was another one of those ‘How did I get here’ moments, of which I’ve had many. He was very kind to me, we became friends, and in my opinion, he was the greatest tenor of all time.”

What can Opera Louisiane expect from Paul Groves’ leadership and extensive artistic experience? “As the general director of Opera Louisiane I will bring the same passion and hard work as I have for my 37-year singing career. I didn’t realize this until I started as a traveling singer, but Louisiana produces many classical singers. My vision is to use our talented local artists and bring in international singers for some of the roles. I’ve made many friends in the opera world and I plan on calling upon quite a few of them to help us grow the company, to produce exciting performances to delight our audience.”

TONY KUSHNER: Playwright & Screenwriter

by Kerri Cooke

Although nationally acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner was born in Manhattan in 1956, he spent much of his childhood in Lake Charles. His father William served as conductor with the Lake Charles Symphany for 40 years. Kushner’s mother, Sylvia, taught at McNeese State University and starred in productions with both the Lake Charles Little Theatre and ACTS Theatre. Kushner says seeing his mother perform “intense, dramatic roles” from a young age spawned his interest in theatre.

Kushner fondly reflects on his bucolic childhood in Lake Charles. Even though he was both Jewish and gay, Kushner says there was a general attitude of laissez-faire in SWLA. “My parents told me that if anyone had a problem with us being Jewish it was their problem not ours.” Kushner also recalls how school integration began during his first year at Lake Charles High.

Kushner returned to New York to attend Columbia University. He attended the theatre regularly. Kushner says, “I was fascinated with it as an art form. I began to wonder if I had what it takes to be a playwright.” He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in medieval studies in 1978 and was awarded his master’s degree from NYU in 1984 in theatre directing.

Kushner’s big break came when he wrote Angels in America, a two-part play on the AIDS epidemic. The play saw immediate success when the first part premiered at Eureka Theatre in 1991 in San Francisco. The second part was completed and staged the following year, and Angels in America was shown on Broadway. The play would win Kushner a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize.

Angels in America was followed by other works including Slavs! in 1994; Homebody/Kabul in 1999; and Caroline, or Change in 2004, which takes place in Louisiana during the Civil Rights Movement. The play has been performed locally by both the McNeese theatre department and ACTS Theatre.

Kushner is also well-known for his screenplays, working closely with Steven Spielberg. He collaborated on the script for Munich in 2005; wrote Lincoln, which premiered in 2012 and won a New York Film Critics Circle Award, a Boston Society of Film Critics Award, and a Chicago Film Critics Award; and adapted West Side Story for the 2021 movie. Kushner and Spielberg co-wrote The Fabelmans in 2022, which received a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars in 2023. He also adapted his play Angels in America for the 2003 HBO series of the same name.

“Playwrighting and screenwriting are two completely different processes,” Kushner says. “When I write a play, I own the copyright. I’m paid to write a screenplay. I don’t own it. A screenplay isn’t a thing unto itself. I give it my best shot and it will continue to change. A production of a play opens and closes. The play is still there, and you still own it. It’s still out there in the world. Each production is a different interpretation. With theatre you’re seeing something that will only happen that night. It’s less reliable, a little scarier. You don’t quite know what’s going to happen. It’s a very, very human experience.”

Kushner often explores the impact of loss and change on a person’s psyche. Kushner extols the benefit of exploring the world saying, “The larger the concentration of people, the larger the metropolitan area, the more heterogeneous the population—cultural, ethnically, and politically… you learn more and grow in a cosmopolitan setting. It’s important not to be afraid of other places or other people, or other.”

Kushner has won a plethora of awards and was presented with a National Medal of Arts Award in 2012 by President Obama.

AMY BRASSETTE-MCKEON: Sketch Comic, Author, Voiceover Artist, TV Host

by Kerri Cooke

Amy Brassette-McKeon is an accomplished actor, voiceover artist, sketch comic and TV host who was born and raised in Lake Charles. She credits interest in her career with being part of the Barbe High School speech team. “Speech team was a training ground where I took chances, played, pushed my skills, honed my comedic timing and learned how to control a room,” Brassette-McKeon says.

Upon graduating from Barbe in 1997, Brassette-McKeon spent a year at Northwestern State University studying theatre. She then transferred to McNeese State University and performed with two improv and sketch comedy troupes started by comedian and filmmaker Jeff DeRouen, a.k.a “Jeff D,” every Wednesday night at Dagostino’s Bistro on Broad Street, owned by Joanne Devito.

Brassette-McKeon realized a career on Broadway was no longer her dream and decided to move to Los Angeles in 1999, where she would reside for 11 years. She produced a 24 character 30-minute demo tape edited by her friend Farrah Higginbotham and created a modeling portfolio with the help of Victor Monsour to pursue work in TV and film.

Otto Models signed her, which led to work in music videos and commercials. Her demo tape was seen by the William Morris Agency, with whom she signed a contract, and Brassette-McKeon became a series regular on Cedric the Entertainer which ran for 22 episodes. She also obtained a two-year holding deal with Twentieth Century Fox.

Brassette-McKeon was featured in the first Apple iBook and the first Apple iPhoto commercials. Other work by Brassette-McKeon included an episode of Duck Dodgers in which she was able to work with Bob Bergen and Henry Winkler. She also did some voice work on The Simpsons.

Brassette-McKeon worked in the southeast market after moving to Baton Rouge in 2010 and then to Orlando two years later. While in Baton Rouge, she did photography for commercial and editorial clients, including 225 Magazine and In Register Magazine. She also signed with an agent to do film and TV work, primarily in New Orleans.

Brassette-McKeon worked with the likes of Brendan Fraser, Matthew McConaghey, Kristen Bell, Arnold Schwartzeneggar, and Mila Kunis and filmed movies such as Maggie (2015), Hypnotized (2015), Smothered (2016), and Race To Win (2016). She had a leading role in the first film written and directed by John Schneider and starred in True Detective on HBO with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConahay. Brassette-McKeon also hosted a dating show called My Amazing Cheap Date (2021) in which couples compete by going on an all-day date with a $50 budget. Lake Charles native Jeff D. co-wrote Brassette-McKeon’s jokes for the show, and local SWLA boutiques credited in My Amazing Cheap Date include Suzanne Johnson’s Olive & Indigo, Ashli Waldrep’s Wardrobe Mobile Boutique and Kaysie Bolton’s Bayou Blend.

Moving back to Lake Charles in 2014, Brassette-McKeon continued auditioning and represented video production companies before moving to Colorado after Hurricanes Laura and Delta and the May flood of 2021.

Since settling in Colorado, Brassette-McKeon has a voice over studio in her home and narrated an audiobook for Audible with over 40 characters titled The Big Free, is writing creative projects, doing on camera coaching for nonprofits and focusing on her family with hopes to host and do more sketch comedy in the near future.