By Amber Jurgensen | Staff Writer
Casey Hamilton sounded like seven different people on the phone. The Plant City High School senior switched between an Irish accent to a posh British accent. His laugh mimicked the voice of his favorite TV character, Peter Griffin, from the show “Family Guy.”
“It just takes practice,” Hamilton says, playing the role of a sun-tanned Australian surfer and then switching to the persona of a southern gentleman.
Hamilton is the president of Plant City High School’s drama club and aspires to be a voice actor. Now a notable comedic character on campus, the rising star only had experience in elementary school plays before his first audition during his freshman year.
“It was terrifying,” Hamilton says about his auditioning experience. “My knees were shaking. I had to pick a song only 10 minutes before.”
Since then, he’s nabbed a major supporting role in “Seussical the Musical,” the leading role in “The Giver,” Sonny in “Grease” and the Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz.” His favorite roles are when he played himself in “Hollywood” and “The Complete History of America Abridged” and when he played the Cowardly Lion.
“The costume was most challenging,” Hamilton says.
During the drama club’s first trip to the Florida State Thespian Festival last year, Hamilton received the honor of best male supporting comedic actor.
“Nothing really amounts to the feeling you get when 400 people are laughing at something you said or did,” Hamilton says.