CAMERON MONAGHAN Words by STEPHANIE PETIT Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Ever since The Giver was published in 1993, it has been a must-read for youth and adults alike. The long-awaited film adaptation, hitting theaters in Aug. 2015, attracted stars such as Jeff Bridges and Meryl Steep to bring the well-known characters to life. While many actors are intimidated by the thought of bringing such a classic book to the big screen, Cameron Monaghan is no stranger to living up to expectations and working with A-list actors. “I had a ton of energy when I was a kid,” Cameron says. “I had to stand up in the back of the class because I couldn’t sit in my seat for more than a few minutes at a time. I was always a creative kid, and at the time, I guess I was a little bit of a class clown.” Cameron’s mother involved him in the community theater to channel his energy and he found an immediate love for entertainment. At 8 years old, he went to Toronto to shoot his first movie, a television adaptation of the classic musical The Music Man with Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Broderick. Cameron says the movie was the perfect fit, as he came from a musical
theater background and the role allowed him to sing and dance. “I bonded with the other actors,” he says. “I’ve always really gotten along well with adults. When I was younger, I don’t think I saw a distinction between ages. Everybody was just another kid.” After that experience, Cameron’s mother knew acting was something he should continue. A few years later, they moved from Florida to Los Angeles and have lived there for almost a decade now. Cameron has been acclaimed for his work on Showtime’s Shameless, an American adaptation of an awardwinning British series. He plays Ian Gallagher, a gay teenager in a large, dysfunctional Chicago family that includes characters played by heavyweights like William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. After shooting the pilot for Shameless, the cast and crew waited nine months to get picked up before continuing to film the rest of the first season. “We knew when we were shooting it that people were either going to
absolutely love this or hate it,” he says. “Thankfully, it went the way of people liking it. We really had no idea if we were going to get picked up. Every year is still nerve racking, waiting to find out if we’re going to get picked up for the next year because we all like our job and we want to keep doing it.” Shameless is currently in its fourth season and was recently renewed for a fifth. This season has been a big change for Cameron’s character, Ian. While Ian has always been the most stable person in his crazy family, in recent episodes he has been struggling with bipolar disorder and an addiction to drugs. In fact, Cameron says it is almost difficult to describe the character because he is now such a different, erratic person compared to when the show began To prepare for the role, Cameron studied bipolar disorder by watching documentaries and reading about the illness. He also says he has personal experiences with the disorder in his family, so portraying it correctly is very important to him. Playing a character that is goNKDMAG.COM
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