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1.20.2014

Casting Call: Fresh Off the Boat

Do you know any Asian kids who can play the young Eddie Huang?



If you enjoyed chef/restaurateur/provocateur Eddie Huang's memoir Fresh Off the Boat, you'll be pleased to know it's being adapted into an ABC sitcom. But who will play young Eddie? This recently posted casting call is looking for Asian boys, ages 7 to 14, to play Eddie and his younger brothers Freddy and Gary.

Fresh Off the Boat, written and produced by Nahnatchka Khan, is a comedy about an Asian American family that moves from multi-ethnic Washington DC to an all-white suburb in Orlando, and the culture shock that ensues. I know casting has been going on a while, so it looks like they're doing a wider search for the kids.

Here's the casting notice:

COMPANY

20th Century Fox/ABC
Jessica Daniels, East Coast casting dir.; TBD, dir.

PRODUCTION DESCRIPTION

Casting "Fresh Off the Boat," a TV pilot. Synopsis: Based on the memoir by Eddie Huang, an Asian-American family moves from multi-ethnic Washington, D.C. to an all-white suburban neighborhood in Orlando, FL and pretty much everyone is having culture shock.

REHEARSAL AND PRODUCTION DATES & LOCATIONS

Shoots Spring 2014 in L.A.

COMPENSATION & UNION CONTACT DETAILS

This project is signatory with SAG-AFTRA.

SEEKING TALENT

Gary Huang (Lead): Male, 7-9, Asian
to play 9, the baby of the family, a "total mama's boy tattle-tale," a "tiny narc." Note: Series regular.

Freddy Huang (Lead): Male, 10-11, Asian
to play 11, Eddie's younger brother, idolizes Eddie, will do anything for him, even taking the blame for Eddie's bad behavior. Note: Series Regular

Eddie Huang (Lead): Male, 11-14, Asian
to play 12, a well-meaning, likable kid, a recent transplant from Washington, D.C., now living in homogenized, all-white Orlando, FL, where his dad is opening a restaurant, clearly not happy about being uprooted in the middle of the school year, but is trying his best to fit in, make friends and be accepted, so far, it's not exactly working, a first-generation American, Eddie embodies that transition between the old school traditions of his parents and the new school world of strip malls and Air Jordans, a big hip-hop fan, he identifies with the outsider nature of the music and uses it as an anthem in his everyday life, series arc is about Eddie finding his niche in this new place. Note: Series regular.

AUDITIONS

Seeking submissions from: New York, NY; Baltimore, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; New Orleans, LA; Washington D.C., DC; Miami, FL; Orlando, FL; Tampa, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Detroit, MI; Cleveland, OH; Columbus, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; Cincinnati, OH; Nashville, TN; St. Louis, MO; Providence, RI; Stamford, CT; Newark, NJ; Hartford, CT; Trenton, NJ
For further information and submission instructions, go here.

UPDATE: If you know a kid who's interested in submitting, here's some contact information (so you don't have to register/login through Backstage.com):

UPDATE: Sorry, after being told that it would be okay to post this contact information, I am now being told that it's not okay to post, and that all submissions must go "through the correct channels." Sorry for trying to help.

UPDATE: Okay, now I'm being told you can submit directly to: jdanielscasting@gmail.com