So imagine this:
You’re sitting and eating lunch, minding your own business, when Rosie O’Donnell approaches you and tells you got a face that ought to be in pictures.
And so you go to the audition and guess what? You’re actually cast!
That’s exactly how 17-year-old Philip Johnson scored the lead role in the Lifetime network movie America.
The film is based on a young adult novel by E. R. Frank about a kid who slips through the cracks of the foster care system, and learns to cope with his demons with his therapist, played by O’Donnell.
RoRo said she found “a soulful kind of stillness” in Johnson.
Co-executive producer Larry Sanitsky said that even though Johnson has never acted before, he did “an absolutely fantastic job.”
Lucky break!
[Image via Mavrix Online.]