Authentic #ActuallyAutistic Representation in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood

Q & A with Israel Thomas-Bruce!

In 2019, a friend who works in children’s television contacted me because Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood was casting a role for a young Black autistic character and the show was committed to authentic representation. Did I know any students who might be interested in auditioning? I immediately thought of Israel, my fun-loving student who lights up the room during roleplay activities and who passionately talks about Star Wars, basketball, and video games to his friends in our class. So, I sent an email to his mother: “I'm not sure if this is something you or Israel would be interested in, but I thought I'd pass it along …” 

Israel playing Dungeons & Dragons with me and our class.

Israel didn’t skip a beat. He prepared for the audition, submitted his tape, and then waited. A little birdie told me he did great on his first audition and not long after, Israel heard from the production team - he was called back for an in-person audition! Less than a week later, he found out he got the part! 

Israel missed a few of our weekly classes to go and record in late 2019 and early 2020. We missed him, but the entire group was so excited for him and eager to hear about how it went when he returned. It takes a long time for animated tv episodes to come out - over a year - which our class was surprised to learn. (I’m excited to show them a clip from the episode that was just released!) 

Israel has recently been featured in press releases and articles on People, Respect Ability, and in major news outlets because of his wonderful accomplishment. He’s also scheduled some future recording dates (hot off the press!). I’m very lucky that Israel granted me an *exclusive* interview about his experience being cast as Max in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. 

Q: What was the experience like auditioning for Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood? 

A: It was a lot of trial and error. I had to face a lot of mistakes that sometimes happened in what I did, like having any background noise that you could accidentally make and having your voice not correct - too quiet or too loud. I handled those things very well. I got help from the people.

Q: Did you ever think you would land the part?

A: I was not completely sure. I’ve never tried something like voice acting before. 

Q: Why did you take that chance?

A: Because you recommended me.

Q: Aww. I’m so glad you did! How did you feel when you heard that you got the call back audition?

A: I pretty much knew what to do so it wasn’t really that much of a challenge - it was just fun I guess when I got the call back.

Q: What was the recording process like? 

A: It was a very clean and quiet studio. I had to wear headphones. The script was in front of me. Sometimes they’d stop at every line and sometimes they’d just continue throughout to other lines. It was just a lot of retakes and some analysing of my voice. They gave me a lot of positive feedback.

Q: Did you and your family celebrate afterwards?

A: No, haha, we just went home. But we were glad we were able to do the show!

Q: I don’t know if you remember after all this time, but it’s something I will never forget. You were very thoughtful about how you were going to spend your first paycheck. What did you spend it on?

A: I got a new computer because my old one was broken. This one is better than the old one and I can play games. I also got my class a pizza party. I did that because I just felt kind and I felt like I needed to do that because they were my friends.

Q: It was so thoughtful of you to do that to thank the group for their support! You didn’t need to, but we all appreciated it! Now, how did you feel when you saw your character on screen for the first time?

A: I watched the episode on YouTube (since it’s not out yet in Canada). I honestly thought - I didn’t really know how my voice would sound like on screen but it sounded the same as in the studio. It was pretty cool to see my acting come to life! My mom was very excited and could not stop talking about it - for HOURS.

Q: What advice do you have for other autistic kids? 

A: Don’t doubt yourself because a positive mindset can get you much more places!

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It has been a blessing to cheer Israel on from the sidelines and to see the impact this opportunity has had on his self-confidence and future plans. Not long ago, our class was playing a guessing game where we shared facts about ourselves and the group had to decide which facts were true in a virtual session. I’ll never forget the feeling of hearing Israel say,

“I am an actor.” 

I’m so proud of you, Israel!