Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ethan William Childress from the TV series, Mixed-ish on ABC. Here is the inside scoop.
SOME BACKGROUND ABOUT ETHAN WILLIAM CHILDRESS
- How did you first know you wanted to act?
My parents took on this audition for the chance to participate in this showcase put on by Adrian R’Mante. I went really to see what it was all about. But the minute I stepped into the room to perform, something just clicked in me and I was so anxious that night waiting to see if I got picked or not. It’s probably one of the times I was really nervous.
- When did your career take off once you began acting?
I am actually super blessed in that I was able to be cast in Mixed-ish within my first year of acting. My mom had me do background work just so I’d understand what it was like to be on set. The expectation, the pace. Then I was able to do a couple of short films which were fun and a different experience. I did go on a lot of auditions in that first year which because I still was living in Las Vegas all the time, meant a lot of road trips. When I got cast on Mixed-ish it really was a dream come true because it just doesn’t really happen like that for actors.
- In your free time, what do you enjoy doing?
Right now, I can only really play video games. I play on my PC, online. I have a few friends that I play with. Before Covid, I liked being able to go home and play soccer and flag football. I had to give up playing competitively when I was started acting so I miss it. But I’ll go play around with my friends when I can. And I really like when we get into Nerf gun wars with my brothers and sister. There’s bullets flying everywhere as there’s no teams. We’re all 4 against each other. I don’t enjoy having to clean up all the bullets when we’re done. And we never find them all.
- What actors and or actresses do you look up to?
Daveed Diggs, Kevin Hart, Will Smith, Michael B Jordan, Dwayne Johnson. I think they’re all very accomplished in what they do and how versatile they are. I’ve also heard really great things about them from other people who have worked with them. I want to be the type of actor that people like to work with and people say nice things about me to other people.
- Can you give us a sneak peak into what this season of Mixed-ish will look like?
Well because of Covid things for the Johnson family look a little different. Like you won’t see any school scenes this season. I did think it was really great that they brought back Rainbow’s friends in a very unique way with the phone calls. All the kids are growing up so they are facing different challenges and have new experiences. Johan is of course having himself all kinds of new adventures like the whole skateboarding thing.
- Is there a memorable moment that you remembered happening while being on set of Mixed-ish?
There have been a couple of scenes with Mykal-Michelle and Christina and myself that left the whole crew cracking up. Like when we were filming tag for the Spades episode. Anytime they allow Christina to go off script laughter is sure to follow. Or one scene where they filmed the whole scene, it was like the perfect take and then someone noticed that Christina still had her face shield still on. It was a lot different this year though as we didn’t get to just hang out with everyone.
- What is your character’s role on Mixed-ish?
I play Johan, Rainbow’s little brother. He’s a fun loving, adventurous kid. He can be a little gullible at times too. But he tends to see the best there is to see in things.
- What do you have in common with your character, Johan Johnson on Mixed-ish?
I would say that we are both adventurous and like to have fun. We both don’t always get along with our siblings but family is everything so we will always be there for each other. And we’ve both been mistaken for being Mexican. My mom has a friend that when she’s with us, everyone thinks she’s my mom.
- What is a big challenge you might of had to overcome being an actor?
Getting in touch with certain emotions is a challenge for me. I’m still young so I don’t have all these life experiences to draw from. But that’s why you have to take classes and work on being able to bring something to life whether you can relate to it or not.
WHAT IS NEXT FOR ETHAN WILLIAM CHILDRESS?
- Being a young actor like yourself, what will you hope to accomplish in the near future?
The next thing I’d like to experience is being in a feature film, to see how that differs from TV. I really want to be able to experience all aspects of being in front of the camera. And then as I get older I may like to start looking at the behind the camera stuff. But right now I’m really just enjoying what I am doing and still being a kid.
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Images provided by Paul Gregory
