Brant Brantley is just like any other 11-year-old living in Baton Rouge. He plays basketball with his friends, loves to golf, makes YouTube videos with his brother, and fishes and swims during the summer. But he also has a secret. This time last summer, he was in Wilmington, North Carolina, playing the part of young Jeremiah Fisher in the hit Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty.
And until now, only a handful of people knew he was part of the project. The child actor wasn’t supposed to let anyone in on the secret until this week, with the release of the first flashback episode of the show early this morning.
“It is the biggest project I’ve been on,” Brantley says. “It surprised me how long it took. A five-minute scene in the show took five hours to finish because you’re shooting it over and over again.”
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Brantley is represented by FameAgency in New Orleans. But he doesn’t book everything he auditions for. His mom, Kerri Brantley, says that for every 50 auditions, he might book one gig. “You have to love auditioning just as much as booking the part,” she says.
Luckily, Brantley enjoys the audition process and usually completes at least two auditions a week. He stays positive and calls his attitude about auditioning “actor’s grit.” That’s not to say he isn’t over the moon about a casting success. Brantley cried on the phone with his agent when he was told he’d been cast as in The Summer I Turned Pretty. Jenny Han, the author of the book-series-turned-TV-series, directed the three scenes Brantley filmed, although Kerri says you never know what might make it into the show.
This year marks a change in Brantley’s life with acting—he’s been super busy with showbiz and even missed some school this year, his mom says. Keeping the secret about his casting was incredibly difficult for the whole family. She says Brantley has been crowded sometimes at school and other public places with people asking if he was in the hit series.
“It’s like wildfire when one person finds out,” Kerri says. Brantley wasn’t even invited to the season premiere in New York’s Bryant Park because the show execs wanted to keep the child actors’ identities under wraps until the episode debuted.
This isn’t Brantley’s first gig, though. He’s been acting since he was 5 years old, after visiting some film sets with his dad and taking an obvious liking to drama. The young actor’s most recent project was a Raising Cane’s commercial featuring rapper Snoop Dogg.
“Usually I think of adults having jobs, but I had a job when I was 5 years old,” Brantley says. “It’s bananas.”
Brantley loves trying new things with auditions and creating content in whatever way he can. He began singing lessons last year and took part in some local theater. At a school talent show only a few months ago, his teacher took a video of him singing “Eye of the Tiger.” The clip went viral with 170,000 views. Brantley’s always loved the spotlight, and it was clear to his family from the start.
“I’ve always been dramatic and creative,” he says.
Looking to the future, Brantley plans to continue exploring opportunities in acting and singing. He says he would love to be in a horror film or even try out voice acting for an animated character.
For now, Brantley’s big secret is out, making him an actor to keep an eye on in the Red Stick. Catch him in the Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty, releasing episodes every Wednesday now through September.
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