"Center stage is where I've always been"

For me, it's home. I feel safe and extremely happy when I'm there. There was never that specific time that a light bulb went off and I said, "I want to be an entertainer." Creating and performing were a necessity for me. I just think it's how I am wired. The music in my head, the intense imagination, you know it's just something that needs to be let out. The feeling I get from an audience is such a high and I guess I knew that at an early age.. so maybe there was a light bulb.

My first audition was for a Target commercial. They were looking for a boy who could dance. They asked everyone to audition in bathing suits because it was a beach scene. I walked into the waiting room packed with beautiful, tall, hot women in bikinis (and oh yeah and there were tons of kids there too)! After about an hour I was finally called in with a group of three other boys. We walked in and they put on music and said, "Let's see what you got." I started doing some of my signature moves. This kid next to me froze like a deer in headlights and just started laughing at me. I just did my thing and the audition came to an end. The next day I was waiting in the doctor's office with my dad and my mom called and told me I booked the job.

But one of my favorite audition stories was when I was about 15 and I was auditioning for a Kmart commercial. Right before they called me in I thought I'd pop a Listerine Pocket strip into my mouth to freshen my breath. Little did I know but this was not Listerine at all, it was the Costco version that my dad bought. For some crazy reason the strip wasn't dissolving and was stuck to the roof of my mouth. The casting director asked me my name and it came out sounding like "Kului Prife," like I had the worst speech impediment. The look on the casting director’s face was priceless!