Michael acts the part of faith-filled youth

Charles Roman likes to say that his nine-year-old son Michael "came into the world with all the energy of the cosmos."

Since making his debut during a dramatic snowstorm that "sent utility poles flying" in October 1987, Michael has achieved cosmic success as a child actor, starring on nationally televised programs as well as in more than 30 commercials for many of the world's largest corporations.

In addition, Michael is a straight "A" student at Christ the King School in Westmere, prompting Grade 3 teacher Cassandra Kiszkiel to remark on his most recent report card: "It's true! One can balance a career and school work."

Altar and TV

To date, Michael, who is also an altar server at Christ the King Church, has represented such corporate giants as Campbell's, Disney, General Mills, General Motors, Kodak, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, and Sears. Commercials for Sears and Wendy's will be airing soon.

His other credits include a role on "One Life To Live," co-starring in a made-for-TV movie with Melissa Gilbert, and appearing in a skit on "Late Night With David Letterman" in which he played the talk show host's son.

In a recent interview with The Evangelist, Michael spoke about his favorite roles -- not all of which take place in front of cameras! Having been selected to do a reading from the Acts of the Apostles at his parish on Easter Sunday, he was especially excited since others scheduled to join him on the altar included his 15-year-old brother, Tom, and 13-year-old sister, Sarah.

Pushing kids

It was Michael who put a bug in his pastor's ear concerning the possibility of involving more children in Mass-related activities.

"One day, I asked Father Pat [Rev. Patrick J. Butler], `Can I be an altar server?'" he recalled. "Then every week, I did that (by myself) until a girl came up and asked `Can I do that too?' The next thing I knew, the whole class was doing it. The same thing happened with the readings for Mass. I did a reading one day, and now everybody is doing readings for Masses. It's great!"

Michael's father Charles, a Niagara Mohawk lineman, and his mother Marilyn, are adamant that Church and school work take precedence over everything else in his life.

In the words of Mr. Roman: "Mikey has been blessed with a very special gift, and we all know that it comes from up above."

Special talents

Mr. Roman, the youngest of 11 children (including a brother, Rev. Paul Roman, pastor of St. Mary's Church in Oneonta) said he and his wife are doing their utmost to ensure that Michael puts his God-given talents to positive use.

"All three of our children have been given special talents and gifts, and we're proud of each one of them," he said. The key difference is that Michael's talents have literally put him in the limelight.

"Part of our job as a family is helping him keep everything in perspective -- and, believe me, there's nothing like a couple of older siblings to help a kid keep both feet planted firmly on the ground. He owes much of his balance to them!"

Early signs

"To tell you the truth," reflects Mr. Roman, "we didn't know what to do with Mikey when he first started demonstrating his giftedness. He was really young, I'm talking one, two, three years old, when the only way to describe him was `a character.'

"He loved music and had a real gift for memorization, and his facial expressions -- well, they were something else! I remember we kept saying to one another: `We have to do something with that boy!' We just didn't know what."

Finally, around Michael's fourth birthday, Mr. Roman phoned another older brother, Frank, who is a music teacher in New York City. "I asked Mikey to sing into the phone for his Uncle Frank," he recalled. "The very next day, there was a knock at the door. It was Uncle Frank. He'd come all the way up to Albany to see this kid for himself."

Frank Roman told his brother and sister-in-law he believed there were only three or four kids in the whole country who could come close to their son in terms of "range, tone and the capacity to sing."

On the air

Armed with a list of talent agencies, Michael and his mother took what was to be the first of hundreds of trips to New York City. Michael's very first assignment entailed memorizing lines for a regional commercial for a major hospital group in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. By the summer of 1994, he was awarded the role of Al Holden on "One Life To Live," an ongoing part that lasted 10 months.

Not long thereafter, Michael earned what may be his most famous part in a Disney commercial shown at the start of millions of "Lion King" videos. It depicts two brothers packing their suitcases for a trip to Disney World. In it, Michael tells the younger child "Larry" that as diminutive as a certain animated Disney character appears on TV, "in real life, Goofy could beat up Dad."

A highlight of shooting that commercial, Michael told The Evangelist, was flying to California and being presented with a huge seventh birthday cake by none other than Goofy himself!

Fun and work

Asked whether acting was fun or hard work, Michael said it was a mixture. Costumes are sometimes uncomfortable and he "can't wait to get out of them" -- as in the case of a space suit he recently donned for an upcoming Wendy's commercial. On the other hand, he got a kick out of wearing "nerdy glasses" for the part of "Bruno the Kid" in a different Wendy's commercial.

His favorite role so far? It's a tough call, but Michael found making a Toys 'R' Us commercial with the chain store owner to be a dream come true. Not only was the set full of toys, but the owner proved to be an especially nice gentleman.

"For the most part, I've got to say that I really love what I do," he said. "I've gotten to work with some great directors, and I've made friends with a lot of kids I would never have met otherwise. I guess you could say I'm really lucky to have work outside of school that's so much fun. But outside of my job, I'm really a normal kid who enjoys doing a lot of the same things as other kids my age."

(04-17-97) [[In-content Ad]]