Middletown North Student Interviews Mark Wahlberg

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — This week, a sophomore at Middletown High School North, and a member of the student newspaper there, landed a very special interview: Mark Wahlberg.

The student is Brandon Chuisano, 15, who lives in Middletown.

Chuisano hosts his own YouTube show, "Ciao for Now." Chuisano started out doing food reviews and reviewing local restaurants on his show (named in a nod to his Italian heritage), and it was actually Middletown North social studies teacher Jonathan Scala who approached the teen and suggested that it was the perfect kind of content to host on the North student newspaper website, The Lion's Roar.

When Chuisano got the interview with Wahlberg, Scala even contacted the local media (including Patch) to get exposure for the teen.

According to Chuisano, Wahlberg has been a good friend of his father's for the past thirty years and, when he asked, the actor agreed to do the interview for his show.

"At 6 a.m. last Saturday morning we got on a Google Meet with Mark," said Scala. (Jacquelyn Mannino is also the North student newspaper advisor). "He did an unbelieveable favor for Brandon and for our school district. The fact that he got to interview an actor who may go for an Academy Award this year is just an awesome opportunity."

Listen as the Middletown teen and Wahlberg talk about Wahlberg's most recent movies, “Uncharted” and “Father Stu." In the latter, Wahlberg plays an injured boxer who falls for a Sunday school teacher and goes from being a lifelong agnostic to wondering if he should become a Catholic priest.

Wahlberg told the Middletown teen it was "the most important film of his career" and the "most challenging" role he's ever taken on.

Chuisano said when he grows up, he would like to be a politician, a lawyer or "in the movies." But now he loves doing interviews so much that he would like to host a radio show or TV show. He credits Mr. Scala with pushing his interest in media.

"Mr. Scala is an awesome teacher," said Chuisano. "I'm not even in his class, but I go by his classroom a lot to visit my friends and he and I started talking about my YouTube show, media, etc. All the kids here say he's a really awesome teacher."

"My dream interview would be Tom Hanks," the teen continued. "People always told me I should read more instead of watch movies, but my dad and I used to watch movies in our basement together and that was how we would bond. So I'm a really big fan of the movies. Or I would like to interview someone really funny like Kevin Hart."

"Brandon conducted himself with class, poise and a sense of likeability throughout the interview," said Skala. "Our school is very proud of Brandon. What a unique experience."

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