How did your career in TV, film, and theater start? My career started because I loved taking pictures when I was younger. My parents saw that passion and thought getting me into the entertainment business would get me money for college, fourteen years later, here I am! Getting casted as Simba is a big deal for a young boy. Were you nervous about your role in The Lion King musical and what did you learn along the way? I was petrified! However, the casting directors knew how to make me feel comfortable. The experience was great, I learned how important it was to give your all no matter how you feel. The audience doesn’t know that I had a bad day, they are there to enjoy a show they paid money for. I’m obligated to give my all. What was it like to go on tour at such a young age? What is the coolest place you visited while on tour? It was amazing. Visiting so many places and seeing people of different races, socioeconomic backgrounds, orientations and more, really shaped me. My favorite places were Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario in Canada. What is your favorite part about working on a musical?
You currently play Randall along Sterling K. Brown in the phenomenon "This Is Us." Tell us how this role has impacted you. The role has impacted my professional and personal life. Working with such great actors has improved my craft so much. My personal life has changed because it’s given me the ability to take care of and give back to my family after all their sacrifices. How fun is it to work with multiple versions of your character and see him grow up? It is so cool and inspiring. It makes me want to not only kill a scene for myself, but for Mr. Sterling and Lonnie too because they’ve set the bar so high! Do you ever feel like you and young Randall are going through similar things although you live in different decades? I feel like that all the time. Randall and I are the same age, so everything that Randall has gone through I’ve been going through - learning to drive, prom, freshman year of college (I was working on my college essays when Teen Randall read his college essay to the family). Funny story - I had stopped studying for my learner’s permit and then the script came, and Jack was teaching Teen Randall to drive! My mom freaked out because I needed my permit to film this part of the episode. We went to the DMV the next day and I took the test in written form, so I had the best advantage of passing. I stood nervously over the DMV rep while she graded each page. I passed!
My favorite part had to be the feeling I got from singing a song and seeing the audiences smile. When did you realize you wanted to get into acting? I realized I wanted to act at 4 years old when I would audition for commercials and do print modeling jobs.
Bello
issue #192
42
