A 15-year-old Sherwood Park boy has been cast in one of 2021’s biggest summer blockbusters: “PAW Patrol: The Movie.”
Will Brisbin has known for months that he will play a role in next summer’s animated flick, alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. His name will be on the marquee with Kim Kardashian West, Jimmy Kimmel, Randall Park, Tyler Perry, Yara Shahidi, Dax Shepard, Iain Armitage and Marsai Martin.
“It’s been a super great experience so far and it’s one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me as an actor,” Brisbin said from his Sherwood Park home Sunday evening.
“I’m not allowed to say what character I’m playing because Paramount is going to release that at a later date.”
Brisbin has been part of the project since February, when he sent in his first audition for the voiceover role. He attended a callback in Toronto in March, two weeks before the initial COVID-19 shutdown. About three weeks later, he received a call saying he got the role and he’s been working in an Edmonton studio in secret ever since.
Only he and his parents knew about the role until last Thursday when the full cast was officially announced.
He was sitting in English class when the casting announcement was made on Instagram.
“I knew that the news was coming out at 11 a.m. so I pulled out my phone and the first thing on my Instagram feed was from PAW Patrol,” he said. “And I was looking through the cast list and I started shaking and I dropped my phone. I couldn’t believe it. Everything just went blank, it was like a haze. I couldn’t remember anything. I was like, ‘What is going on?’ I just couldn’t breathe. This is so crazy.
“When my siblings found out my sister was like, ‘Oh my God, you’re in PAW Patrol.’ It was crazy. My brother is a fan and he is still kind of star struck.”
Brisbin grew up doing theatre and film; this is his first voiceover role. The teen started taking acting classes at Festival Place when he was seven years old. He was cast in his first role at the theatre in Grade 2 in “Oliver! The Musical.”
“That was kind of where I got the acting bug.”
Over the next few years, he starred in other roles at Festival Place and the Citadel Theatre, playing Tiny Tim and Young Scrooge in the Citadel’s production of “A Christmas Carol,” to name a few.
Brisbin starred in his first film in Grade 3, in a movie called “Forbidden Playground.” He hopes this new opportunity opens doors to other roles.
“Everybody in acting talks about ‘your big break’ and this is a pretty big role and I hope that it will lead way to other roles that can make me a very good actor and I can learn much along the way.”
“PAW Patrol: The Movie” is scheduled to be released in August.
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