Actors often go through a rigorous audition process before they land a movie or TV role, but how do newborn babies up on our screens?
Us Weekly reader Eleanor P. from Boston posed this question in the latest issue of the magazine, on newsstands now. “I’ve always wondered how newborn babies get cast,” she asked. “Are they ‘borrowed’ from friends of those working on the production, or are they put into acting that early?”
According to Hollywood experts, there are a few different processes for casting newborns.
“Newborn babies are obviously difficult roles for casting to find,” casting director and Casting Confidential podcast host Rose Rosen told Us exclusively. “We use every means possible. Sometimes it’s a friend who has a perfect newborn. Sometimes we put the casting call out to the agents. Sometimes public billboards on casting sites get the right one. Occasionally, I use social media.”
In Danny Booko’s case, his wife, Nia Sanchez, came across an acting opportunity for their twins on Facebook.
“My wife is in a twins mom Facebook group and somebody on there made a comment that an agent was looking for twins from the ages of three to six months for a big TV show,” Booko — who is an actor himself and also stars on Bravo’s The Valley — told Us exclusively. “My wife thought, ‘Why not?’ From there, we were contacted by the agent who said Isabelle and Zariah were perfect for it.”
That “big show” ended up being Young Sheldon, and Booko’s twin daughters were cast as Baby CeeCee on the series as well as its upcoming spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Isabelle and Zariah — who are now 14 months old — have since worked with Harrison Ford on his series Shrinking, and they were cast on FOX’s procedural drama 9-1-1. Quite a stacked resume for being just over a year old!
Booko says the fact that his girls are twins gives them a major advantage.
“Most shows and movies look for twins because of the labor laws that protect the child to not be overworked,” he told Us. “So they can use two children to play the same role, like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on Full House.”
He added: “We feel very blessed to be in this situation and the girls have so much fun on set.”
Not every newborn baby on the big screen (or small screen) comes from Facebook, though. Casting director Lisa London — who hired Miley Cyrus for Hannah Montana — added that even the teeniest-tiniest actors can come “from agencies such as Central Casting that supply background talent to projects.”