EDMONTON -- Will Brisbin's first acting gig was Tiny Tim in a Christmas Carol at the Citadel Theatre when he was just seven years old. But the now-15-year-old actor has received an early holiday present after being cast as one of the voices in the upcoming Paw Patrol movie.
The Grade 10 student said the announcement, made on Instagram, caused quite the scene at Bev Facey High School in Sherwood Park.
“People were coming up congratulating me and I never felt this before. It was just a feeling I will never forget,” says Brisbin.
Brisbin will join a cast that includes Kim Kardashian West, Jimmy Kimmel and Tyler Perry.
The young actor had learned months earlier he was cast, but wasn't allowed to reveal it.
“I’ve been holding on to this secret since March,” he told CTV News Edmonton.
It’s no secret how popular Paw Patrol is. The Canadian-made series is the most-watched show for pre-schoolers, and generates an estimated $7 billion in retail sales of its merchandise.
“I’ve gotten a few messages saying that their three-year-old brothers want autographs and stuff,” Brisbin said with a laugh.
Although he can't reveal who he'll play, he can share that he earned the role after sending in an audition tape, then being invited to perform for executives, producers and the director over Zoom.
“I was in the booth alone. I couldn’t see anybody. There was just an iPad beside me and I would do my lines and look over me and there was just a robotic version of the director.”
His mom says she’s happy he got the part, because acting is her son’s passion.
“He walks around the house doing monologues and singing from musicals he’s been in in the past,” says Lisa Brisbin.
The teenager says all of the years on stage in Sherwood Park and Edmonton is paying off, and he hopes landing the part makes him a positive role model for other young actors.
“I think the message is you don’t have to have a place in Vancouver or L.A. Anybody can make it. You just have to work for it.”
The Paw Patrol movie is scheduled to be released in August 2021.