Saying goodbye to the cast of 'Once Upon a Time'
Kidsday reporters Alayna Pavo and Matthew Faraci meet "Once Upon A Time" actor Jared Gilmore, center, at a New Jersey convention Oct. 28.
After seven seasons the TV series “Once Upon a Time,” a show where fairy-tale legends collide with modern life, has come to an end. The show has entranced many fans over the years, which was evident at their three-day farewell convention at the Hanover Marriott in Whippany, New Jersey, held in late October. We attended the convention on Oct. 28.
Upon entering the convention, we were surrounded by people dressed in costume, including ourselves. The venue was full of many stars from the show, however there were the only few not in costume. We had the opportunity to get autographs, photographs and even interviews with some of the cast.
We talked with 18-year-old Jared Gilmore, who played young Henry Mills / Prince Henry on the hit series. He was really friendly and talked to us a bit about himself. He mentioned that he accidentally fell into acting, but absolutely loves it after being on television and learning about the industry. He felt growing up on the set of “Once Upon a Time” was amazing. He was able to learn how to be a professional in life and develop emotional maturity from the cast and crew that became his extended family. His passion is to get into voice acting/animation for video games and hang out with the cast of “Overwatch” and work for Blizzard Entertainment. He feels that voice acting gives him the ability to be anyone and do anything.
If Jared wasn’t famous he would probably be playing way too many video games and would be trying to become a professional gamer. Just like any kid, he had to go to school, but his school was on the “Once” set with a tutor. He felt it was tough to switch from an acting mindset to a school mindset when trying to learn from his tutor.
Jared is inspired by his parents and his horseback-riding twin sister, Taylor, but professionally he is inspired by the voice actor Matthew Mercer. He is inspired not only by Mathew’s work, but also by the fact that he is a great person has a lot of respect for. On a more humorous note, Jared shared with us that his favorite Disney character is Ariel and Disney movie is “Frozen.” He also told us about his love for ramen. He hopes that one day he will travel to Japan where he can eat authentic ramen.
We next had the opportunity of speaking with Australian actress Emilie de Ravin, who plays Belle in the series. Emilie was glowing and ready to answer whatever questions we threw her way. As a teen Emilie was accepted into ballet school in Australia and then turned to acting. She is unsure why this switch occurred being she hadn’t even done a school play or any kind of acting. She said she wanted to see how she felt about telling a story in a different way. She feels there are parallels with dance and acting. Emilie recently shot the lifetime movie “Scorned” in Atlanta, which will be airing in November. She mentioned how different the experience was filming a movie over a short period of time as opposed to a six- to seven-year series like “Once Upon a Time” where she is able to develop a character over time. Emilie loves “Mary Poppins” and is looking forward to seeing the new one when it comes out. She loves the princess Belle because she knows so much about her, and she despises the villain Cruella because she is just so mean.
Overall, we had an amazing experience with all of the actors and actresses that we met. We learned so much during the Q and A sessions with the various actors. They even performed their favorite dance moves. Spoiler alert: Colin O’Donoghue, who played Hook, loves Pearl Jam and would have gone into the art field if he wasn’t an actor. He also plays the guitar and he nailed doing his favorite dance move, the worm. Although many fans at the convention are upset about the end of the series, they know that the actors are moving on to play different roles not only in movies and shows, but also in life. After all, they know all good stories come to an end eventually.
If you happen to be going out to California this weekend the very last "Once Upon A Time" convention is taking place: November 9-11, at the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel.
