By Kenn Gold

Dynamic.  In one word that would describe the lead in Shorts, Leo Howard.  Coming off of a very good month in which his kid fight role in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra as young Snake Eye’s is critically acclaimed, along with the larger starring role in Shorts, Leo took the time out of filming his latest feature, Logan, to speak with MediaBlvd, a couple of days before the premiere of G.I. Joe.  Leo is also well known for his spot in the Disney Channel short features Leo Little’s Big Show.  This is one of Hollywood’s youngest and brightest stars on the rise, and one to watch as he climbs the ladder to becoming a household name.

MediaBlvd> It sounds like you are having a pretty big month here with the premieres of GI-Joe and Shorts.  Are you pretty excited?

Leo> I’m so excited for the premiere.  I feel so nervous because I’m not sure what it’s going to be like, but I think it will be awesome.  It will be pretty cool.

MediaBlvd> So you are going to go to the premiere and watch the movie with everybody else?

Leo> Yes, Dennis Quad, Marvin Wayans, it should be pretty exciting.

MediaBlvd> Tell me about the role in G.I. Joe.  Who are you playing, what does your character do?

Leo> I play young Snake Eyes.  The guy who plays him as an adult is Ray Park.  He was Darth Maul, and Toad in X-Men.  Basically it sets up the history between the two characters, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.  They hate each other and you don’t why, so this kind of shows you why they hate each other.  It starts out when they are kids and they fight for this certain reason that I’m not going to tell you, but they start fighting and it sets up the history.  It’s kind of an important part of the movie. 

MediaBlvd> I noticed in the IMDB credits for G.I. Joe you’re listed really high, like the fourth or fifth person.

Leo> Yeah, that made me excited too!

MediaBlvd> Did you get to use any of your martial arts in the film?

Leo> I did actually.  It’s a fight scene, and it’s supposed to be an unprecedented kids’ fight scene.  It’s already been critically acclaimed. 

MediaBlvd> How about Shorts, that comes out this month too, right?

Leo> That comes out August 21.  I’m really excited to go to that.  Robert’s like my favorite, he’s awesome.

MediaBlvd> Tell us about that film and your role?

Leo> I play Laser, who is one of three brothers; Lugi, Lug and Laser.  Laser is kind of the more conservative older brother of the three.  Lugi wants to wish for things like a car, and stuff that he would really want.  My character is more practical and wants to wish for world peace and stuff.  He is always trying to wish for more practical things.  I think that sums up the character right there.

MediaBlvd> I took my son to the movies this week and he saw the preview for it, so he’s really excited to see it.

Leo> That’s good to hear!

MediaBlvd> Which of these movies are you looking the most forward to?  I know G.I. Joe is probably the bigger blockbuster, but you probably have a much bigger role in Shorts, right?
Leo> I do, yeah.  That’s really, really tough.  I don’t know, they are both pretty much the same.  I’m so excited to go to both of them.

MediaBlvd> Let’s talk about your martial arts.  I’ve seen the youtube videos of you performing, and it’s pretty incredible what you can do.  How did you get started in that?

Leo> Thank you.  That has been basically a passion since I was little, little.  One of my friends had started martial arts before that, and he liked it.  I was just going crazy and my parents finally let me go in.  I’ve just been going, going ever since with different styles and everything.  It’s totally just been a passion since I was little.

MediaBlvd> Tell me about the Side Swipe Performance Team?  You go out and do performances with the martial arts?

Leo> Side Swipe is a performance team and we do acrobatic martial arts.  We go all over the world performing for different people.  Some of the team’s currently in Dubai right now performing.  We’ve been to Guantanamo Bay, all around.  We mix all types of martial arts and dance into one.  It’s like punch, punch, flip and sweep.  It’s really cool.  It’s a lot fun to do and it’s totally crazy.  We were in the St. Louis Arch a few minutes ago, I’m in St. Louis filming a movie.  And I videotaped myself flipping inside the arch.  It’s kind of cool.

MediaBlvd> So this is Logan that you are filming now?  What is that about?

Leo> It’s about a kid who is an outcast.  It’s my first drama and it’s going really well.  It’s about this kid who is an outcast and who doesn’t have any friends.  He is just trying to make it through school.  It’s more of a normal kind of movie.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

MediaBlvd> It’s probably quite the change from G.I. Joe and Shorts, two kind of fantasy movies.  Is it pretty different?

Leo> Yeah, it’s a drama, so it’s definitely a lot harder.

MediaBlvd> How did you decide to go into acting?  How did you get started? 

Leo> Acting has been another passion for me.  A few years ago we were doing tournaments and my mom said, “We can’t keep doing this forever.  It’s just too much.  You just win trophies.”  So she was like, “What do you want to do?”  I said, “I want to be an actor.  She was like, “Really?”  I told her yeah, I wanted to be like Bruce Lee and be in the movies.  We just started through that and we got an agent.  My dad made a deal with me, “If you get something in the first six months we’ll keep going, and if you don’t, we’ll stop.”  I said alright, and got something in the first month.  He was totally amazed, and that’s been about three years ago.  Now I’m just going, going, whatever I can.

MediaBlvd> I know a lot of people out there go years and years before they get something, so that’s pretty impressive.

Leo> Yeah, thank you.  I worked real hard, and still am.  It’s turning out to pay off though.

MediaBlvd> Let’s talk about Leo Little’s Big Show.  How did you get started with that?

Leo> That was just an audition.  I thought, wow this is big.  It’s a total blessing.  It’s made a lot of people recognize me.

MediaBlvd> What do you enjoy most about doing those celebrity interviews on Leo Little?

Leo> The energy.  It’s like at home, I keep it down.  There I can just totally let it out.  I can let all the energy out and go crazy, and they like it.  It’s perfect!

MediaBlvd> How long does it take to film each segment there?

Leo> We film about four episodes in nine hours, and they do it on Saturdays.  So I don’t have school.  It’s so much fun though. They’re awesome.

MediaBlvd> Do you just go to regular school, or do you have a tutor on set or do home schooling?  How does that work?

Leo> I’m home schooled.  I have been since third grade.  I was missing a lot of school before, so now it’s totally helping me a lot.  Some of these jobs I have, I couldn’t be working if I was regular schooled.  So that’s great.

MediaBlvd> What do you want to do when you’re older?  Do you want to keep up with the acting, or the martial arts?  Or do you want to do a mix?

Leo> Absolutely.  My 100% goal is to make it big.  And so far I’m going on the path that I’d like to stay on.  I’d like to get famous and get known.  Even though it might not happen, I want to keep going for awhile.

MediaBlvd> You’ve got a pretty good start at your age.

Leo> For sure!

MediaBlvd> What do your friends and family think about your success?

Leo> My family is one million percent supportive.  Some of my friends, I kind of found out who was really my friend and who wasn’t.  But all of my friends right now are just totally supportive and awesome. 

MediaBlvd> Do you get recognized on the streets now with totally random people coming up and wanting to talk to you?

Leo> Yeah, some of these kids see me and ask, “Are you Leo Little?”  They get pictures and autographs and stuff.  It’s really cool!

MediaBlvd> What do you find the most enjoyable about acting?

Leo> I don’t know what it is, but just everything about it.  It’s totally enjoyable for me.  Craft services!  No, just kidding.  Everyone I’ve worked with so far is just excellent so that’s a blessing also.

MediaBlvd> What kind of hobbies do you have?  What do you do in your free time, or do you have any free time?

Leo> I’m actually aspiring to be a magician.  I can do a couple of tricks and I’m just learning more and more.

MediaBlvd> Do you have a mentor helping you out, or do you just go through books?

Leo> Yes, his name is Bart and he is the AD.  He’s totally teaching me these awesome magic tricks.  We’re actually at a magic store right now.  It’s awesome.

MediaBlvd> If there was any show on TV that you could guest on, what would it be?  What do you like to watch?

Leo> Oh, that’s a tough one.  That’s hard.  Probably Hannah Montana, because it seems like most people watch that, and it would be a lot of fun to do. 

MediaBlvd> Kind of the same question, are there any actors that you’d really like to work with?

Leo> Absolutely.  Jack Nicholson.  That’s been my dream for awhile to work with him. 

MediaBlvd> Let’s go back to Shorts for a minute.  Is there a particular scene that we should be watching for that you just found really enjoyable?

Leo>  They had this one scene where all the kids are trying to fight for the rock which grants wishes, and they are all chasing me, so to get it away, I wish for long arms.  Instead of CGI’ing it, they did have some of the arms.  They were long PVC pipes with silicon hands on the end of it.  And I was wearing long sleeves so I actually got to hold them.  I put them on for the takes, and that was so cool.  It was so much fun, I ran out of the house and all the kids were just ducking because they would fly behind me.  

MediaBlvd> What do you have coming up after Logan, do you have anything scheduled yet>

Leo>  Yeah, we are actually filming Leo Little’s Big Show in Orlando, which should be pretty awesome.  They are flying us out to Disney World to film.  I’m not sure what I’m doing yet, but it’s going to be awesome.