High School Hollywood

By Jennifer McKenzie (@ImJeej)

(Photo credit: Vincent Sandoval Photography)

You’ve guest starred on so many shows from Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters, to The Office and Zeke and Luther. Which has been your favourite and why?

Every show is so different and I like them all! I love the things we get to do on the set of Big Time Rush like having snow ball fights and swimming in the pool. My favourite show to be on is Good luck Charlie though! Everyone is really nice and we all get to hang out together! We play games during lunchtime. Every Tuesday is a theme day like slippers day, pajamas day, hat day, so that’s fun too!

You’re currently appearing in Good Luck Charlie, what’s been the highlight of this role and who do you like working with best on set?

Every time I am on Good Luck Charlie it’s great! I like working with all the kids, and the mom and dad are so funny. It’s fun to work with baby Mia too. When I first started on the show during the first season she was so little she didn’t really talk. Then she remembered me on the second episode I was in. Last season she was like a little kid and we’d bribe her to say her lines with snacks.

Do you ever mess around on set and play pranks on each other?

Yes we do! One time on Big Time Rush we all wore fake mustaches when we walked into a scene. On Good Luck Charlie, Bradley, who plays Gabe, and I have a lot of fun. One time I was running out of a scene and hit the wall and bounced back and fell on the floor. Everyone kept trying to do their lines even though they were laughing. I fell down the basement stairs one take as well. The bloopers are the best part, like when we say the wrong word. I always mess up and call Gabe ‘Jake’ which is my character name.

You recently appeared in Treasure Buddies, which in the ‘Buddies’ film series is your favourite?

I like Spooky Buddies the best because in that movie I played Bartleby, who is Budderball’s owner. We got to spend a lot of time with the puppies and other animals and I love that!

The Buddies series focuses around puppies, if you could be any animal, what would you be and why? 

I would be a panda bear! I love pandas and they seem to have a pretty good life lying around eating bamboo all day!

You’re appearing in the summer film ParaNorman, what was your favorite part of making this film?

It was so much fun to be the voice of Neil in ParaNorman! We recorded the lines over a two year period and they gave me really great lines to say. The movie is going to be so funny! One time the director couldn’t get me to say ‘pppsssttt’ right (like I’m whispering to get someone’s attention). I didn’t really know how to say it, so the next time we recorded the director wrote the word PISSED on a notecard and then I got it! My favourite part was when they would change the lines from the script and give me new lines they made up on the spot. Those were some of the funniest lines!

Is acting something you think you’ll always do, or do you have other interests you’d like to persue as well?

I really like acting and making people laugh. I would like to do this when I get older but I have other interests too.  Maybe I will be a director or producer.  I love the musical instrument the Ocarina, so maybe I will own an Ocarina store!

Even though you’re only 12, you’ve already started your own charity. Can you tell me a bit about it?

It’s actually my brother, Patrick’s, charity that he started when he got Leukemia when he was 10. He started Driving For Donors, which was a national marrow donor drive. We drove around the country for two summers in an RV with my mom and did marrow drives all over. We added over 30,000 new donors to the National Marrow Donor Registry to help people who need marrow transplants.

So many celebrities are ambassadors or patrons of various charities; would you consider supporting another charity? If so, which charities/causes do you like best?

I support www.dosomething.org right now. Do Something encourages young people to get involved and take action to make the world a better place. They mainly target kids 18-25 but I wanted to help get younger kids involved. I started a campaign with them where I make video’s with my friends to encourage middle school kids to ‘Do Something good’.  So far I have made fun videos with Noah Cyrus (Miley Cyrus’s little sister) and Madison De La Garza, Demi Lovato’s little sister. The blooper videos are the best because we mess up A LOT!

Catch Tucker on Good Luck Charlie from June 24; ParaNorman is hitting theaters on August 17 in the US and September in the UK.