Whiz Kid of the Week: Owen Campbell, Professional Actor

Name: Owen Campbell

Age: 16

Grade: Junior

School: Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

Accomplishments:

Owen’s performance as the Frankenstein monster in elementary school so impressed his drama teacher that he asked him to try out for the Piper Theatre Company, where, in short order, he snagged the role of Macduff’s son and various apparitions in a production of Macbeth. 

The following year, at 14, he played the leading role of Puck in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" – the only child actor among an adult ensemble.  Last summer he appeared in the play, "Nocturnes," dubbed “a chilling evening of thrills and mystery, inspired by the book of ghostly tales by John Connolly.”

In fact, Owen seems to specialize in creepy and off kilter characters.  He has been featured in a short horror film playing a kid who kills his zombie father and the director of White Lightnin’ cast him as the young, Jesco Light, a tap-dancing, lighter fluid sniffing, hillbilly outlaw.  He was murdered in "Bitter Feast," an indie horror flick about a celebrity chef who exacts revenge on a food blogger who torpedoed his career.

While he established himself in independent, low budget, B movies, Owen now has his own talent agent, has appeared on episodes of "Law & Order" and in a star studded feature, "Conviction," and came close to landing the main part in Marley and Me. 

Owen is happy to act, but mainly he wants engaging work whether that’s screenwriting, directing, making his own films, or creating his own business or non-profit organization.  His sophomore year he started a writers’ workshop at school.  “I want to be creative, have freedom, and work with friends I trust to do what I love.”

This week he starts filming "Perks of Being a Wallflower" where he plays a depressed young man who kills himself – a worthy addition to someone who’s already impersonated a monster, ghosts, zombie-killer, murder victim, and drug-addicted Appalachian outlaw.

Key to awesomeness:

Ever since he was a little kid, Owen has “loved listening to, talking to, and watching people, and has been absolutely consumed with stories and the idea of stories” says his father, Don Campbell.  “He reshapes them to his own person and can be friends with everybody.”

Know a Prospect Heights Whiz Kid?  E-mail adam.rabiner@yahoo.com.