Behind the Spotlight
Meet the storyteller behind the stories.
Antonia Gavrihel writes about the lives we perform, the truths we protect, and the people who know us when the lights go down.
About Antonia
Sometimes dreams simply wait for their cue.
Antonia Gavrihel was born into show business. Her father was a comedian and actor, her mother a big-band singer, and her older brother eventually became a radio executive.
Long before Antonia understood that her childhood was unusual, she was doing homework while her mother recorded an album or taped a variety show—and while her father filmed scenes on a movie set. Her mother put her in front of the camera at a young age, where Antonia discovered a natural home in acting.
Growing up among entertainers also gave her a slightly unconventional view of life. When she told her father she wanted to attend law school, he offered what seemed—to him—the perfect solution.
“Why don’t you get a part in a television show or film and play a lawyer? You could even play a doctor!”
That was classic entertainer logic: Why spend years becoming something when you could simply play the part?
But beneath Antonia’s love of acting was an even more persistent dream—to become a writer. As a latchkey child, she filled her solitary hours with stories and plays, creating worlds of adventure, drama, laughter, and love. Writing became more than a pastime. It became her escape, her passion, and sometimes her salvation.
Back to One began in 1994, when her son was two. After working all day and settling him into bed, Antonia would sit at her brand-new computer and disappear into the lives of Catherine Leigh and Kyle Weston. She completed the manuscript in about a year. Finding it a home would take considerably longer.
For twenty-five years, Back to One traveled among publishers, literary agents, and production companies, coming tantalizingly close more than once. During those years, Antonia worked full-time, raised her son, and ultimately became the lawyer her father had once suggested she merely play. Through it all, the manuscript waited in a drawer beneath her bed, reappearing whenever life became overwhelming. Somehow, revisiting Cate and Kyle always made the world feel right again.
In the summer of 2020, encouraged by her son, Antonia brought the manuscript out once more. She updated the story, rediscovered her passion, and continued Cate and Kyle’s journey. One book became a series—an ever-expanding world of friendship, family, filmmaking, music, and the complicated magic of life beyond the spotlight.
Antonia’s story is proof that dreams do not expire. Sometimes they simply wait for their cue.