Jackson Brundage may be still be a child but he’s accomplished a great deal in the Hollywood industry despite the fact he is only 12.
At 7 years old, he starred in an episode of NBC dramedy Las Vegas, and soon after Brundage was cast on The CW’s teen drama One Tree Hill, which he stayed on until 2012. He currently stars as Scott Baio’s young son on the Nick-At-Nite sitcom See Dad Run. TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Sari N. Kent had the chance to talk to Jackson about acting at such a young age, what it’s like working with Scott Baio and what he does for fun off the set.
SNK: What made you get into acting?
JB: I started doing a bunch of commercials and I got a role on Las Vegas then I did five years on One Tree Hill. So, it’s been pretty cool.
SNK: As you said, you were on The CW’s One Tree Hill, for five years. What was that like?
JB: One Tree Hill was amazing. All of the people were just great. Playing ‘Jamie’ was so awesome and being on the east coast, being in North Carolina, all the funny stuff. It was so cool.
SNK: How do like working on See Dad Run?
JB: Being on See Dad Run is great. I watch a lot of shows on Nickelodeon and it’s so much fun and it’s really awesome to be working with Scott Baio and being on the show is so cool.
SNK: Scott Baio, was a child star too. Has he given you any advice since you’ve been working with him?
JB: Umm… not much. We all hang around and we talk to each other a lot ... and we joke around. So, not much advice, just a lot of joking around.
SNK: Any differences between doing See Dad Run and One Tree Hill?
JB: The biggest difference, I think, is we have a live audience. We film on Fridays. On One Tree Hill, we didn’t have that. We were on an enclosed set. Nobody could get in. But the audience is fantastic.
The other difference is See Dad Run is multi-camera, which is four cameras going at the same time, and they get everybody in the shot. Where on One Tree Hill it was a single camera and we always had to turn around and stuff like that.
SNK: Which do you like better, comedy or drama?
JB: Probably comedy because I love to joke around. It’s kind of inspiring to me and I just like to be funny.
SNK: What kind of things do you do for fun off-camera?
JB: We recently got a basketball hoop on set. So, everybody’s been playing. I love sports. I love basketball and football. I like to hang out with my friends a lot and do things outside with them. I just love to play sports.
SNK: How do you get along with the two girls who play your sisters on the show, Ryan Newman, who plays your older sister, Emily and Bailey Michelle Brown, who plays your younger sister, Janie?
JB: They’re so awesome! They’re like my real sisters. I mean we're all on the show, kind of look alike so we could be related and we all have so much fun. Bailey Michelle is the cutest little thing. We all just have a lot of fun together. We all go to school together, we have a schoolroom on set. So, working with them is really cool.
SNK: You recently presented at the Nickelodeon 2013 Kids Choice Awards, what was that like?
JB: The Kids Choice Awards were really cool. I went the year before, but this year was better because everyone was really awesome. All the people, all the celebrities who were there were really awesome. It was much better than last year.
SNK: See Dad Run has just been picked up for a second season, what can we look forward to seeing?
JB: You can expect to see a lot more advice from David [Scott Baio’s character] to all of us kids and stuff. You can expect to see a lot of laughing and it’s going to be a great season.
SNK: Before One Tree Hill, you were on an episode of NBC’s Las Vegas. What was that like?
JB: It was great working with Josh Duhamel. He was really funny, he was always joking around and stuff.
SNK: Do you have a dream role in a television show or movie?
JB: I would love to be in a movie, like a comedy/action movie.
SNK: You just finished some voice-over work on Einstein Pals. What did you think of voice-over work versus in-person acting?
JB: Voice-over work is pretty fun because you can go in your pajamas if you wanted, I didn’t. *giggle* It’s really not that much work. You just get to lounge around most of the time, then you get up and do a couple of lines. It was fun because I’d never done it before.
SNK: What’s next for you, any possible guest roles lined up or anything like that?
JB: Nothing right now. I’m just going to be working on the second season of See Dad Run and hopefully I’ll get a movie soon, which I would absolutely love. So, just See Dad Run right now.