If anybody’s happy to have some downtime right now, it’s Julian Silva.
The soon-to-be 11-year-old Plant City resident recently performed all over North America in a NETworks Presentations production of “Les Miserables,” playing the part of Gavroche. On top of that, he appeared in a “Duck Dynasty” commercial in July and could be seen on televisions everywhere for three months.
“It was really fun,” Silva says. “I got to meet a lot of new people and make friends with them, get to know how they got on tour.”
For now, he’s back on his regular schedule, singing the national anthem before USF sporting events and working on school. Sure, it’s not a typical schedule for a 10-year-old, but Silva himself is anything but typical.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
Dan and Maria Silva enjoy opera music, preferring the group Il Divo. When their son was 5 years old, they quickly learned that he enjoys opera, too.
They went to see Il Divo perform in Tampa one night and brought some CDs home. It didn’t take long before Julian caught on and started mimicking what he heard. At that moment, Dan says, they knew their son had the potential to make a name for himself in the entertainment business.
When Julian was 6 years old, they began to take him to vocal lessons to refine his voice. His teacher suggested he take up acting, too, and at age 7, he performed in a production of “Aladdin, Jr.” That was when Julian caught the acting bug.
After performances in “Mulan” and “Alice in Wonderland,” Silva was tapped to play the role of Gavroche for the first time in Riverview and Newsome high schools’ productions. His performances as the young, French street urchin, as well as his other work, did not go unnoticed: he won the Overall Child Singer Award at the Actors, Models and Talent for Christ’s SHINE Conference in January 2013, and got the call from NETworks Presentations not long afterward.
ON THE ROAD
The “Les Miserables” tour was Julian’s first and turned out to be a learning experience for the young singer and his parents.
Life on the road, for young actors, is like an incredible balancing act: between school, travel and work, there are enough obstacles along the road to derail anyone without the dedication to continue. But Julian, a natural-born showman, loved it all.
“I got to travel the country, to tour the U.S. and Canada,” Julian says. “But, Calgary was my favorite stop. It was really nice, compared to other cities, and my favorite thing was going to see the Calgary Stampede rodeo.”
He enjoyed doing “Les Miserables” but wants to branch out big-time. If you ask him, he’s thinking Broadway.
“‘Les Mis’ was good, but I would like to do ‘Newsies’ on Broadway,” Silva says. “That, and ‘Lion King.’”
According to his father, Julian will have the opportunity to audition for the “Lion King” Broadway run sometime soon. If that works out, and Julian’s star grows, the young singer wants to be able to travel the world.
“I would really like to go to London and check that city out,” he says. “I want to go because of Big Ben, and because it’s a beautiful city.”
For now, though, he’ll be sticking around Plant City.
JUST CRUISING
Julian only has one more extra project set in stone: Lumber company YellaWood recently contacted him to film a commercial, which he has agreed to do in the near future. Other than that, it’s his regular grind of singing the national anthem at sporting events and hanging out with his friends.
When he’s not on the theater’s main stage, Julian enjoys being a normal kid. It’s not uncommon to catch him goofing around and speaking with an English accent just for fun. He likes to stay active, playing both basketball and Little League baseball. His favorite pastime, though, is playing video games on his Xbox 360 and PlayStation Vita.
“My favorite video game, right now, is ‘Halo 4,’” Julian says. “I love playing against my friends.”
Anyone interested in hearing him sing doesn’t have to look hard. On top of his duties at USF home games, Julian has also performed for Tampa Bay Lightning fans at two of their home games. These performances, according to Dan, have the Lightning considering bringing him on to do Tampa Bay Storm games, too.
If Julian does hit the big time, consider this: Plant City’s next star might have just been sitting on the couch playing video games with some kids from down the street.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
CLOSER LOOK
BIRTHDAY: Feb. 26, 2003
SCHOOL: Home-schooled
TALENTS: Singing, acting
YEARS ACTIVE: 2009 to present
HIGHLIGHTS: Toured North America, playing Gavroche in “Les Miserables;” appeared in nationally syndicated “Duck Dynasty” commercial in 2013; regularly sings national anthem at Tampa Bay-area sporting events