Kidsday talks with actor Gregg Sulkin

We interviewed actor Gregg Sulkin who stars as Mason Greybeck on the Disney TV show “Wizards of Waverly Place,” at Planet Hollywood in Manhattan recently.
 
Do you ever watch yourself on TV?

My parents, sometimes when they’re in town, switch on the Disney Channel and sometimes watch, but no I don’t really watch myself. When it’s on I’ll watch for a few minutes. No I’m always too busy.
 
Is Selena Gomez your girlfriend. If not, do you have one?

Selena Gomez is not my girlfriend and no I don’t have one. I’m single. I haven’t found the right girl yet. Can you help me?
 
What is like working with Selena Gomez?

Selena’s awesome. She really is. She’s a very talented girl, very down to earth. She’s a really, really sweet girl and very supportive to her friends. She’s just a pleasure to work with.
 
How old were you when you started acting?

I was 13. I was always playing soccer my whole life and then I got a bad knee injury and my mom told me to go to this audition. I had no intentions of going. My mom forced me and my first ever role was the movie “Sixty Six,” where I was the lead role and like I said I was very fortunate because not many people got the lead role in their first feature film.
 
Do you have a tutor for education?

I don’t. I finished school. Tutors are very important. School has a very special place in my heart. Every kid has it and every kid goes through it. It’s a nice place to go and socialize and learn social skills and be academic at the same time.
 
What’s been your favorite role so far?

I have to say Will Wagner in “Avalon High.” I got to play sports, I got to play football. I’m a big soccer player. I can’t find a team in the United States. It’s hard being an actor and trying to play soccer because you never know what the schedule is. One day you can be working 15 hours and the next day you can have off. And when you play soccer, you join a team, it’s very important to commit.
 
Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Yes, I have one big brother, his name is Grant. He did a commercial when he was 4 years old and still to this day he still tells people he does commercials. He’s 4 years old than me.

How did you get discovered?

In English I was very lucky, I did the movie, I guess people heard about my name from doing “Sixty Six.” But discovered, you know, we still have to audition in some stage of our lives, so it’s not just oh, you’re discovered and now you’re the biggest star. You still have to put in a lot of hard work and still have to audition; you have to earn the right for all the roles you get. Then out here, I worked for Disney in the UK “As the Bell Rings” and then I guess the Disney gang saw me and decided to put me in one of their United State shows.
 
How long does it take to memorize your lines?
 
I’m kind of good memorizing lines. Especially almost you get the script and you rehearse with the script in your hands it’s very easy to kind of . . . by Thursday or Friday you kind of know the lines already. Thank God I got that kind of memory. So maybe I look over them a few times I pretty much have them down.
 
Are you planning on going to college?
 
Eventually I want to go back to studying, but at the moment I can’t. I live in America and busy acting. So “Avalon High” comes out on Friday and I’m excited for everybody to see it. It’s very different when you’re on set and look at the small monitors, and they’re playbacks. I’m very critical of myself, so that’s why I’m not going to be watching it many more times. I saw it and they did a very good job editing it and putting it together. I was very happy with how it turned out.
 
Do you live with your parents?
 
No, I live alone. I’m 18. It’s scary. I live in Los Angeles, but my family is back in London. I Skype as much as possible. Thank goodness for Skype because my phone bill would be ridiculously expensive.
 
How long does it take to film an episode of “Wizards”?
 
We shoot an episode a week. So on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we rehearse. We have to read through Monday and then rehearse Tuesday and Wednesday and then there are rewrites off each day rehearsals and then at night time we would get new scripts. Thursday and Friday we shoot the episode. So by the end of — from Monday through Friday we shoot the whole episode.
 
How did you end up on Disney?
 
Every kid’s dream is to be on the Disney Channel. They were so great to me in England I decided to come over here and work for them. And I love acting. It was a great opportunity for me to come and move and live in Los Angeles and enjoy the sunshine and wear flip-flops everyday.
 
Would you rather be in a movie or a TV show?
 
I think eventually I want to do movies. Now I’m happy doing both. I want to go into the theater, I want to go into TV, I want to do movies. So I want to kind of experience all and hopefully when I’m older I want to do movies.
 
How do you like being the new Disney’s “it” boy?
 
That’s very kind of you to say. It’s very flattering, so thank you. But I, my parents didn’t let me get big headed. They always keep me focused. It’s very important to kind of focus on what you are and not go off track. Just focus. Thank you for saying that.