Nintendo Wanted Someone with a Visible Disability to Star in their New Commercial
Aaron Waddingham, a young 16 year old boy with Down syndrome, landed his first acting gig in a new commercial for the Nintendo Switch. Aaron wants to be a professional actor, so he has been taking drama classes, honing his skills and has an acting coach in Vancouver where he and his supportive parents now live.
Sue Robins, Aaron’s mum, had this to say:
Nintendo very specifically wanted somebody with a visible disability. It’s very exciting to us that there will be more representation in the media of all sorts of different kinds of people. I think it’s very smart of them to look for that. It feels like there’s going to be more roles for people with disabilities coming up… Things are changing, which is awesome.
In regards to the process that Aaron undertook, Sue shared:
It was pretty cool because it was a rehearsal to play a video game. They trained him how to play the Nintendo game, which I think you already knew how to play, because you’re a 16-year-old boy. He was in a small room with three other boys and it was packed full of people and the director was there and the camera was right in his face.
Aaron loved the chance to feature in his very first commercial, especially for video games (I mean, who wouldn’t?!). This is what he had to say:
Being in a commercial is really cool. I want to be an actor.
Congratulations Aaron and here’s to your future career in acting!