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Setting the stage
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Times Staff Writer
Brandon Mauro has two ambitions: "Act in a movie with Jim Carrey, Robin Williams or Dana Carvey, and win an Oscar." He's off to a good start. The 12-year-old New Port Richey resident snared a prominent role in tonight's episode of CSI (9 p.m., WTSP-Ch. 10), television's top-rated show this season, seen in an average of 18.8-million homes a week. He plays Erik Branson, the son of a woman fleeing her abusive husband with her boyfriend, Stewart. Erik tells Stewart he is tired of moving around all the time, and the two argue. Stewart ends up dead, and Erik is the prime suspect. The role means a lot of time on camera for the young actor, which doesn't surprise his Los Angeles agent. "Brandon is one of the most natural young actors that exists right now," said Wendi Green of the Abrams Artists Agency. "He is going to go the long stretch; he has what it takes." Green, who has headed the agency's West Coast youth wing for six years, auditions one or two actors a day and signs perhaps one every three months. Her clients are regulars on Smallville, Reba, American Dreams and Boston Public. One is in the road company of The Lion King, which comes to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center this month. In a telephone interview from Los Angeles, Brandon talked with a confidence that belied his years. "I've loved acting since I was a baby," he said. "I told my parents, and my dad went on the Internet and found an agent in Orlando." That led to commercials for Universal Studios, Disney World, Epcot and Mercury Outboard Motors. The clients liked him, so the agent sent him to audition for a futuristic Disney television show, The Out-of-Timers, in Tampa. Disney executives were impressed; they flew him to California for more auditions. Brandon didn't get that role -- the writers changed the character to a 16-year-old -- but he did get the attention of several Los Angeles agents, including Green. The usual procedure is for agents to send an actor to a casting director, who, if he likes the actor, has him perform for the producer. Green sent Brandon straight to the producer of CSI, who hired him on the spot. "He beat out hundreds of kids," said his proud father, Ken. "It happened so quickly." The Mauros rented an apartment in Los Angeles and now take turns staying with Brandon there and with their daughter, Dana, 8, in New Port Richey. Two school experiences fueled Brandon's interest in acting. "Odyssey of the Mind, that jump-started it," Brandon said. His Deer Park Elementary School team won a world championship of the student challenge project when he was in the third grade. "It's not really professional, it's not on camera, but it's a performance that a team of seven kids put on," Brandon said. "They make all the props, the scenery, the music." At River Ridge Middle School, Brandon won superior marks at the Junior Thespian state competition. "He's a phenomenal student, incredibly talented with an incredible work ethic," said his River Ridge drama teacher, Lori Erickson. "He's fearless in terms of creative exploration, a kind and caring young man and a delight to work with. He's very bright, very motivated. He takes his education very seriously and his acting -- it is his love. I'm not the least bit surprised at his success." The whole Mauro family will be home for Christmas. But in January, Brandon and one of his parents will head back to California to audition for upcoming television series. "It's a good year for his age group," Green said. "We're sending him for every pilot out there for every network." Brandon said that he gets "a little homesick" for Florida but that he has made good friends at his Los Angeles apartment complex and through his acting. There's also an ESPN Zone game arcade a half-block away to console him and school to keep him busy. Do his parents push him? "They are not stage parents," Brandon said emphatically. "I want to do this for me, and they support me all the way. They say, 'Get in there and act your little heart out.' They both say that every time." He's philosophical about getting roles. "It's all luck," he said. "You could have the talent and the look that they are looking for. You could have the right talent, but if you don't have the looks . . . if they really, really like you, they might change the look." Four years ago, at age 8, when he was in a summer acting workshop at the Pasco Arts Center, Brandon already had thought a lot about stardom. "A star can be someone or something," he said in a St. Petersburg Times article. "You can be a star by playing basketball or hockey. You can be a star by recycling. You can be a star by doing anything, being your regular old self, just doing what you do."
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