‘Avalon High’ Star Chris Tavarez Opens Up About His Career, Goals, Family
Chris Tavarez—star of the Disney Channel’s upcoming made-for-TV movie, Avalon High, has a plan. The 18-year-old actor is also passionate about football, an activity he had just finished practicing when we spoke. Ask him which activity he would give up, and he just can’t answer.
“I started football and acting around the same time, when I was eight years old,” Tavarez told TheCelebrityCafe.com. “They are my two passions. It would be so hard to choose. People ask me that all of the time.”
Tavarez does have an idea of how to give each possible future a fair shake though, and he explained that he’ll go to college on a football scholarship and go “full force” for those three or four years and later decide if acting is in his future.
The safety from Westlake High School roots for NFL teams like the Giants (his dad’s from New York) and Redskins (fan of Donovan McNabb), but right now, he is getting ready to celebrate the premiere of his starring role in the Disney Channel movie on Nov. 12.
Tavarez plays Lance, a character he describes as a “stud, star wide receiver of the football team.” Everyone in the community loves him, but problems arise when he falls for his best friend, Will Wagner’s (Gregg Sulkin) girlfriend, Ellie (Brittany Robertson), while the two are trying to win the state championship for their community.
Avalon High also mixes some history into the fun and acts as a kind of retelling of the classic King Arthur tale.
“That’s what I love about the movie,” Tavarez explained. “It brings in the education part, teaches you about King Arthur and the Medieval times. It’s a reincarnation of King Arthur and his court.”
And the Disney family is not a bad one to be a part of, just like another film and television group Tavarez works with, Tyler Perry Studios.
Tavarez is about to start work on the TV series, Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, which airs on TBS. He will portray Logan Browning's character, Brianna’s boyfriend.
After that, he begins work on another Tyler Perry DVD series, Georgia Sky. Like his Avalon High role, Tavarez plays a football player (running back, specifically) named Dakari Graham, who has trouble being constantly compared to his stand-out older brother.
“He has a lot of trouble in school, and it’s really him dealing with that,” explained Tavarez, who can relate on a certain level with his character, as he balances school, acting, football and family. But his family is “100 percent” supportive of his full plate.
“There was actually a time with the chaos, school, football and acting—a time when I wanted to drop acting and go on a break,” Tavarez revealed. “I didn’t want to do acting, and my dad was really the one that explained it to me that being a man is hard work, and it takes strength and persevering.”
So he continued and has already appeared in a major motion picture film opposite Martin Lawrence and Nia Long, when he was 12 years old, playing Ryan in Big Momma’s House 2.
“One of the first things I heard from a lot of older actors was it can take millions of year to get on the big screen, and I did,” said Tavarez, who started his acting career after winning a modeling competition in Atlanta.
Tavarez draws inspiration from popular and critically acclaimed actors like Denzel Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio, and after looking up to many performers, he has sound advice for those wanting to be in his shoes.
“Whenever you see these big actors in movie theaters and you look at them [on the big screen] and hear so much about them, don’t ever feel like you can’t be up there with them one day,” Tavarez explained. “Look at me now, acting with some of the best!”
Avalon High premieres on the Disney Channel on Fri., Nov. 12 at 8pm, and for more information on Chris Tavarez, visit his Twitter and his Facebook page.