Hi, my name is William, but everyone calls me C.J.,

I am 12 years old and I live with my dad, mom, two older sisters, Naomi and Kendra, and a guinea pig named Sugar.  I live in the northern suburbs of Chicago, but I like to visit my family in Wisconsin often.  My mom grew up in Wisconsin so we love to go there and do things that we don’t normally do – like ride a 4 wheeler, shoot a BB gun, see the eagles, go to the county fair, go to a parade, attend the air show, and watch fireworks.

I have been involved in theatre since I was 6 years old including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, College of Lake County, and other community theatres.  I’ve performed stand-up comedy at our community’s festival and sung with the children’s choir at church.  When I’m not performing, I'm involved in football, Christian Youth Theatre, and kids programs at my church.  I love to travel and have been to England, Canada, Mexico and my favorite place-Disney World!

When my mom told me I was cast on INTO THE OUTDOORS, I was crazy excited and ran to my sister to tell her I was cast on the show! She was also very excited for me and she said she couldn’t wait to see me on TV.  I make movies in my basement with my family’s video camera and I never imagined that I would get to experience a real deal TV shoot!

I didn’t realize that there were so many cool things happening around Wisconsin.  I think it’s important for kids, like me, to learn about the environment and the world around them!

Q: How did you get picked to be on Into the Outdoors?

A: I worked hard learning a portion of a script and then auditioned in Milwaukee.

Q: How do your friends and family feel about you being a host on Into the Outdoors?

A: They are very excited and can’t wait to see the show.


Q: What is the best part about being on Into the Outdoors?  And the coolest thing you’ve ever gotten to do on a shoot?

A: The best part is the sheer fun of the shoot.  What could be better than going on an actual shoot outdoors and talking about nature and God’s creation?   I think the coolest thing about filming the show was just learning about the process of putting a show together.  It was actually very interesting.

Q: Did you learn anything interesting on your shoot that you didn’t know before?

A: Lots.  I learned things about totem poles, canoes, maple syrup, bogs and birds.  It was almost like a cool field trip for science class.

Q: What did you learn about the shooting process of Into the Outdoors that you didn’t know before you did it?

A: I couldn’t believe how big the camera was.  It made my family video camera look like it was a toy.  I also learned how difficult it is to shoot in just the right lighting.  If a cloud moves into the path of the sun, it messes up the lighting.  You need to have consistent lighting throughout the shoot.  Unfortunately, it was a very cloudy day when we shot.

Q: What is a normal shoot for you like?  Do you get to travel?

A: First we recorded my voiceovers for the show.   They put me in a soundproof room with a big microphone in front of me and had me wear headphones so I could hear myself talk while I was speaking into the microphone.  It was actually pretty cool.  It was almost like I was an astronaut in a space shuttle and mission control was talking to me.  Next we went INTO THE OUTDOORS to shoot my segments on camera.  They took me and my mom around to different locations to shoot my on camera segments.  That was also exciting.

Q: Do you have to wear make-up or special clothes?  Who decides these things?  Do you hang out with the crew?  I have so many questions I don’t know where to start… tell me everything?

A: I didn’t have to wear any make up and I just wore regular clothes.  I got to hang out with the crew for lunch and that was fun to talk with them and learn about other shoots that they had worked on.

Q: Is it hard to make up school work when you have to miss class for an Into the Outdoors shoot?  When do you make up the work?  And, would your parents still let you be a part of the ITO cast if your grades started to go down?

A: My parents make sure that I make up the time and keep up in school.

Q: How many Into the Outdoors episodes have you been in?

A: I’ve been in one so far, but I hope to be in lots more.

Q: What do you do for fun when you’re not shooting Into the Outdoors?

A: I love to build Lego sets and create ships, buildings, space shuttles, movie sets and lots more.  I also like to shoot movies in my basement with my friends.  I like to play basketball with my friends, football with my dad and video games with my sisters.  One of my passions is space so I especially like collecting and building things related to space like space shuttles, astronaut figures, satellites, and Kennedy Space Center items.  I’ve even attended the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis and gotten to hear the sonic boom when Discovery landed for the last time.  I’m hoping to go to space camp someday.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to?  And do you listen to it between shots or locations on a shoot?

A: I like lots of different kinds of music: Toby Mac, Disney movie music, Christian rock music, and gospel.  I didn’t really have time to listen to any music on my first shoot because it went relatively quickly.

Q: What is your favorite movie and why?

A: love all of the Star Wars movies because they have lots of action, adventure and, of course, they are space related.

Q: Have you done any acting before? If so, what has been your favorite role(s)?

A: I have been in lots of theatre shows but I think my favorite has been performing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  I’ve done quite a few operas, but I think my favorite role was playing Scipio in Porgy and Bess.

Q: What kind of activities do you participate in at school and in your community?

A: In the past I’ve participated in football, baseball, community theatres, acting classes, and church programs.

Q: If you could be ANYTHING in the world when you grow up, what would it be?  What’s so cool about it… and is that what you’ve you always wanted to be?

A: Since I was about 6, I’ve had a passion for engineering because I like to build things.  Engineering is really cool because it is so important to everything that we do and it can help the world in the future.