“There were six of us there,” Mroz, 16, recalled. “I was lucky I didn’t have to dis-enroll from (G-Star) or take online school. G-Star really helped me.”
Mroz was in Miami to film I Am Frankie, Nickelodeon's latest daily scripted series about a teenage experimental android who must hide her true identity to avoid an evil tech company from finding her. The show, originally produced as Yo Soy Franky by Nickelodeon Latin America in Colombia, currently airs daily at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Nickelodeon USA, and is currently rolling out on Nickelodeon channels and programming blocks globally.
In the series, which started airing in September, Mroz, an 11th-grader, plays Robbie Turnbull, sort of a misfit teenager who doesn’t have many friends.
The cast of Nickelodeon's I Am Frankie
“It was really weird because when I got the role in December, I couldn’t tell anybody,” Mroz told myPalmBeachPost. “That was really hard because it was the holidays. We traveled with family and everybody is asking, ‘How is your acting going?’ and I say. ‘It’s doing good,’ but in the back of mind, I’m saying, ‘I wish I could tell you I booked a TV show.’”
Mroz’s mother, Natalie, remembers getting the call when her son got the role.
“I was teaching and just started screaming without making any noise and jumping around the classroom,” she said. “He finally achieved the first step in his dreams.”
Mroz remembers auditioning three times — the main audition, the call back and the screen test.
“The first one is always the most nerve-wracking because it’s your first exposure you have with the casting director and the first time you have to make a good impact,” Mroz said.
A few weeks later, he got a call back.
“Now it’s down to me and 100 other kids,” Mroz said, laughing. “Same thing happens, you go in, they say ‘good job’ and then you leave.”
Then, Mroz got called for the screen test.
“It was me and one other actor,” Mroz said. “My first thought was, ‘How good is this kid?’ I thought it was going to be tough going after a role with another person who’s the same age as you and you looks like you.”
Mroz said he was expecting one person with a camera.
Instead, Mroz found three tables of network executives in suits.
“They were just looking at us while we were acting,” he said. “That’s scary, but I got some snickers out of people, then two weeks later I heard I got the job.”
Natalie, who’s fiftysomething, said it’s been an experience for her.
“It’s a little surreal to turn on your TV and there’s your kid on television,” she said.
For Mroz, the show is his first. He said he’s learned so much about teamwork.
“I wasn’t sure if I could do that,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people work on a scene that has two lines.”
Mroz actually started his career about seven years ago where he performed a monologue in front of agents and casting directors.
“I was so happy doing it,” he said, “I just felt like it was normal so I thought it would be cool to be on a TV show.”
Mroz’s favorite actors are Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey. He actually worked as an extra with Freeman on Dolphin Tale 2.
“One of my scenes was to read a pamphlet to my mom,” Mroz said. “In that scene, Morgan walks and sits down next to me and we have a nice conversation.”
Mroz finished shooting 20 episodes of the show’s first season in March. He said all his friends have been very supportive.
“No one is taking advantage of it,” he said. “I’m being treated like a normal kid, which is what I like.”
Follow Jayce on Instagram and Twitter, and watch Jayce in I Am Frankie, weeknights at 7:30pm ET/PT on Nick USA, and on Nickelodeon channels around the world very soon. Watch full episodes of I Am Frankie at nick.com/frankie and on the Nick App.
More Nick: Nickelodeon USA Premieres "Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library", Original TV Movie Based On Best-Selling Book, Monday, Oct. 9, At 7:00 P.M. (ET/PT)!
Additional source: Wikipedia.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon and I Am Frankie News and Highlights!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have your say by leaving a comment below! NickALive! welcomes friendly and respectful comments. Please familiarize with the blog's Comment Policy before commenting. All new comments are moderated and won't appear straight away.