Twins land acting jobs; talent scouts take notice.

ACTOR ZAC EFRON of Hairspray and High School
Musical 2 fame is flanked by twins and child actors
Maria (left) and Mario Cassem of Centerville Township.
Mario Cassem appears with Efron in the film 17, which
also stars Matthew Perry.

Some children dream of what they want to be when they grow up. But 11-year-old twins Mario and Maria Cassem of Lake Leelanau are already living the dream.
The fourth graders are home for the holidays after spending the past four months working in Hollywood.

“It’s been like a bomb … a good bomb,” Maria said of the months working in the entertainment industry.

The twins and their mother, Maggie, have been living in Glendale, Calif., a Hollywood suburb, since September when they signed a 3-year contract with a manager. Children’s contracts offer an out after one year, allowing an opportunity for release.

“If they don’t like it … can’t find work or have difficulty adjusting, it allows them to be released,” Maggie explained. “Usually, it takes about a year to get work. But they blew that right out of the water.”

The twins have been very busy auditioning and landing roles in commercials, a “webisode” for the book The Timer Game; as well as lead and feature parts in short films produced by classes from University of California-Northridge.

Most notable, however, is that two days prior to returning to northern Michigan for Christmas and New Years, Mario wrapped up shooting his scenes as a cast member in 17, a film starring Matthew Perry of Friends and Zac Efron, of Hairspray and High School Musical 2.

The movie plot involves Perry’s character having a midlife crisis of sorts and returning to high school (in disguise) to receive his diploma and resume a basketball career that had been cut short when he became a teenage father. Mario plays the role of an Indian boy, a smart-aleck who plays chess against Perry’s son (Efron) via Bluetooth, a wireless technology.

The film, which is scheduled for release in 2009, is a breakthrough for the young actor who a year ago was a third grader at St. Mary School active in 4-H and scouting.

All three of the Cassem children — Mario, Maria and older sister Kaitlyn — have participated in local theater productions here and in Howell before making the move to Leelanau County four years ago. But it wasn’t until a year ago that they began taking acting classes in Traverse City through Barbizon Acting and Modeling.

“I knew they had a chance of doing well when the very first day the director said they were ‘Disney material,’” their mother said. “I guess I didn’t realize their potential until we did the classes in Southfield.”

The twins, Kaitlyn and their mother traveled to downstate Michigan two weekends a month for six months for acting classes, which culminated in a talent competition in New York City the last week of July.

“It was awesome,” Mario said of the trip to the Big Apple, which included among other activities a tour of the Statue of Liberty, FAO Schwarz, Chinatown, Central Park and The Today Show.

The week-long trip began with a day of acting classes in preparation for the competition in which 4,000 young actors and models participated. There to witness the aspiring actors were also 400 agents and managers who recognized Mario’s talent before the competition even began, in private auditions.

“By Sunday night, we were getting calls and the competition hadn’t even begun,” Maggie said.

All three of the Cassem children fared well at the competition. Maria and Kaitlyn took home five awards apiece, with each girl shining in their own areas – Maria for commercial print, and Kaitlyn, a high school senior, in monologue. Mario earned six awards, including first-place recognition in “cold reading,” or reading the part of a character with little or no preparation or rehearsal.

There were auditions and call-backs. By the end of the week, all three Cassem children were under contract with a manager. Mario and Kaitlyn have a Los Angeles manager, while Maria’s is New York-based.

The young actors and their mother returned to their Centerville Township home to contemplate the futures. There was a lot to consider: both Mario and Maria had become a part of the community at the St. Mary parish and school and were ready to begin fourth grade. Kaitlyn was ready to begin her senior year at St. Mary and everything that goes with it.

“For a couple of weeks, we questioned whether they were ready to do this,” Cassem explained. “They said, ‘Why do you keep asking us? We know we want to do this.’”

So with the blessing of their father, Ardy, a mechanic at the Road Commission garage in Maple City, the Cassems packed their bags and headed for Hollywood.

“What really helped in making the decision was Kaitlyn’s encouragement,” Maggie said. “There she was, the person who got them interested in acting, telling them to go on without her. She stayed here to finish school at St. Mary.”

A typical day for the working actors includes a minimum of three hours of educational instruction from their mother or a certified teacher on the set. Ironically, the first roles they played on film mirrored their life experience as Guatemalan orphans. Mario and Maria were adopted by the Cassems from Guatemala when they were less than a year old.

“We were supposed to run around and pretend to be playing tag,” Maria said of their roles in a “webisode” of The Timer Game, based on a novel by Susan A. Smith. “And when there were guerrillas in the orphanage, we’re supposed to be scared and cry. We got away from (the guerrillas) by sneaking out the window.”

The “West Coast” Cassems keep in touch with home by talking three or four times a day. Kaitlyn’s airline tickets are already purchased for her spring break trip to California to visit her mother, brother and sister.

And although Mario will be receiving his biggest check to date for his work in 17, he is required by law to put aside 15 percent that he won’t be able to access until he’s 18.

Meanwhile, Mario and Maria say they’re just happy to do what they love: act. And it will also make them happy to lend financial support to Safe Passage, a humanitarian group that assists families living in the Guatemala City Dump. Maggie and Kaitlyn traveled to the Central American country last year as part of an outreach program.

“That’s what Maria wants to do,” her mother said. “She’s got a special spot in her heart for those kids.”