Waterdown girl drives home first acting role with Volkswagen commercial
After only two years of training in the dramatic arts, 12-year-old Samantha Mason landed her first professional role in a car commercial.
It was really cool because it was just meeting all these people and everyone was so nice and friendly," said Mason, a Waterdown resident and student at CBY Music and Performing Arts.
Represented by Premier Artists' Management, Mason auditioned last spring for the chance to appear in the Volkswagen (VW) commercial, which required her to pretend she was getting into a car.
She received a call back and was cast in the commercial, which saw Mason take the role of one of two children with their parents going car shopping with their family dog.
The vehicle featured in the clip was the VW Atlas. The commercial is geared toward a social media audience. They were all just looking at the car," she said of the commercial, which had no dialogue.
In the ad, Mason and the young person cast as her brother engaged in sibling rivalry while their parents communicated with looks. Because we weren't supposed to talk, basically it was just like looks, you know how you send each other death glares," explained Mason.
To get to the set in Toronto, meant an early morning for the Waterdown resident. They have to get the whole set ready so it takes a while before you actually get to do the commercial," said Mason of the daylong shoot - her first commercial.
Making her experience even more rewarding were her co-stars, including her onscreen dad Nick Atef, who was very supportive and talked her and her onscreen brother through the process. He was just really nice and really friendly," she said.
Most of the time he would just tell us what's going to happen or just really show us what's going on so that we don't get confused, but at some points he would tell us what it's like actually being an actor and it was really cool." One of the tips she received was to never look into the camera and try to be a little bit laid back."
For Mason, landing her first professional role with a company like VW wasn't something she expected. If she landed a role, she figured her first would be an extra in the background. I was just expecting really small commercials if I even did get one," she said.
Now, Mason is looking forward to her next yet-to-be-determined gig. She's been auditioning for roles, including speaking roles in cartoons and is optimistic about the future. She's hopeful her next on-set experience will be just as positive as her first.
They were so nice, it was just a really fun environment."