In most industries, the people in charge of hiring people wouldn’t even consider employing a child. However, in Hollywood, it is completely normal for people to hire child actors. Of course, that doesn’t mean that finding the right kid for a role is an easy task. After all, finding the right actor for any part can be like finding a needle in a haystack and it is only made harder when it comes to kid actors. After all, a lot of child stars go on to struggle in life, so responsible producers try to find kids who are more likely to handle the pressure well.
Thankfully, the producers of Young Sheldon managed to find Iain Armitage, a child actor who is perfect for their show’s titular role and seems like a really good kid. Given how amazing it is that they seem to have found the perfect youngster for their show, that begs an obvious question, how did Armitage gain their attention?
A Major Project
In the television business, whenever a show becomes a hit, everyone does their best to recreate that success. In a lot of cases, that means making a slew of series that are similar in tone and format to the popular series. For example, after The Office became popular, a long list of documentary-style comedies went into production and some of them went on to enjoy similar success. Of course, the most direct way of trying to recreate a show’s success is to put together a spin-off series. Unfortunately, a lot of spin-offs fail, and some of them are canceled before they even go into production.
After more than a decade of being one of television’s most successful shows, it became clear that The Big Bang Theory was coming to an end soon. Wanting to recreate their ratings juggernaut, CBS decided to produce a TBBT spin-0ff.
Once it became clear that CBS was going to move forward with Young Sheldon, the search was on for the right child actor to play the titular role. Since The Big Bang Theory was such a colossal hit, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the producers of Young Sheldon were under a lot of pressure to get their show right. For that reason, the show’s producers saw a lot of different young performers during their search for their main star.
Hitting The Jackpot
Even though the producers of Young Sheldon held extensive auditions, that process doesn’t always work as intended in Hollywood. For example, when Kaley Cuoco auditioned for a role in The Big Bang Theory, she wasn’t trying to land the role she would ultimately go on to play. Similarly, Iain Armitage wasn’t chosen to star in Young Sheldon after he took part in a traditional casting process.
During an interview, Iain Armitage revealed that when he was 9-years-old, he was visiting his Grandma during Christmas break when his agent reached out to him. Given a three-page monologue to read, Armitage took a few days to memorize his lines and then sent off a recording of him performing the speech to producers.
Once Young Sheldon’s producers saw Iain Armitage’s recording, they were blown away by how perfect he was for the role. In fact, Chuck Lorre has spoken about how excited he and the show’s other producers were by the recording. “We looked at it and went, ‘We can’t possibly be this lucky.’ He was just spectacular.”
After catching the eye of Young Sheldon’s producers, Armitage flew to California to audition again, this time in person. “They asked us to come out to California and do it in person. So we did it again, and they asked me to talk a little bit about myself, and I did. And when we were flying home, my mom got a text that I had gotten the part. And I thought, 'Why are we flying home? That just seems like a waste of money!'”
New Found Fame
When Young Sheldon debuted on television in 2017, it is very safe to say that CBS had high hopes for the series. Thankfully for fans of The Big Bang Theory and everyone involved in Young Sheldon’s production, the series has gone on to be a massive hit. Before the show’s debut, Iain Armitage was a part-time actor who reviewed theater online so it is safe to say that fame was a very new experience for him. Fortunately, from all accounts, it seems like Armitage is handling his newly found notoriety very well.
During interviews, Iain Armitage has been asked how his life has changed now that he is a TV star. For example, during a news.com.au interview, Armitage said "I try to stay away from things like splurging, I don't like that, no. Probably the biggest thing I've bought is a $3 bottle of water." Additionally, when talking about interacting with fans, Armitage claimed that only happens “occasionally” and he enjoys it when it does. "People are very nice about it and I love being part of something that makes people feel so good. So then if I make people happy, that's my job!"
