ACTING REVIEWS
[+ Show ]
ACTING REVIEWS
By The Bog of Cats with Holly Hunter
San Francisco Chronicle
Pert, intense...ACTING REVIEWS
By The Bog of Cats with Holly Hunter
San Francisco Chronicle
Pert, intensely attentive Jillian Lee Wheeler is a pint-size relation as Hester’s daughter whether bonding with her mom, brightly mimicking her meddlesome paternal grandmother or simply teetering across the stage in communion dress and white parasol in one of Near’s most arresting stage images…Above all, the wise-innocent delight of Wheeler’s little Josie keeps our focus on what’s at stake…the magnetic, vital bond between Hunter and Wheeler adds chilling resonance to her howl: “Will someone not come and save me from myself before I do worse.”
The Irish Herald
Hester’s daughter Josie is so unforgettably acted by Jillian Lee Wheeler that you literally weep for her (and fear for her).
Bay Area Entertainment Report
Holly Hunter (as Hester Swane, the protagonist) didn’t overshadow the rest of the principal players – in fact, I thought Jillian Lee Wheeler, who played Hester’s daughter, carried the play along as much as Ms. Hunter did.
San Jose Mercury News
Jillian Lee Wheeler is a wondrous bundle of emotional richness and childlike energy as Hester’s daughter, Josie. Her performance in the play’s unspeakable final moments are beyond heart-crushing.
Talkin’ Broadway Regional News & Reviews
The young daughter of Hester, played by Jillian Lee Wheeler, is a gem of acting.
The Mandrake Root with Lynn Redgrave
The Oakland Tribune
The men’s parts are good, but this show belongs to the women. Jillian Lee Wheeler plays young Sally beautifully.
San Jose State Observer
Child Sally (Jillian Wheeler) flitting thought the scenes wonderfully recreates our minds remembering past moments that affect-perhaps even determine-present experience. The acting, too, is superb. While Ms. Redgrave is, of course, both grand and glorious, the rest of the cast holds its own against her powerful Rose—especially Cynthia Mace and Jillian Lee Wheeler.
KLIV 1590
In its current production, The Mandrake Root, the San Jose Rep has a real winner… Redgrave fashioned juicy roles for other members of the cast. Cynthia Mace is splendid as Redgrave’s estranged adult daughter and Jillian Wheeler is delightful as the daughter as a child.
The Sound of Music, American Stage Festival
Screenplay News
The von Trapp children were wonderful and simply adorable. They all had excellent voices and acting ability. At such young ages, the two smallest sisters, played by Krystal Lee Muccioli and Jillian Wheeler, already had well-formed voices and demonstrated maturity on stage. It was easy to understand why Maria always wanted to hold both of them, they were both so cute! The scenes I enjoyed the most were the ones with Maria and the von Trapp Children.
Jillian Named World's Fair for Kids Spokeskid
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JILLIAN WHEELER BECOMES THE FACE OF THE
WORLD’S FAIR FOR KIDS
The World’s Fair for Kids has nam...JILLIAN WHEELER BECOMES THE FACE OF THE
WORLD’S FAIR FOR KIDS
The World’s Fair for Kids has named WhizKidz Recording artist, Jillian Wheeler as the official “Spokes Kid” and co-Master of Ceremonies for the first annual World’s Fair for Kids in 2006. With this appointment, Jillian Wheeler will be the shining face of what is guaranteed to be the largest interactive kids and family event in history, in the #1 family vacation destination in the world - Orlando, Florida.
The World’s Fair for Kids debuts April 15th – 23rd 2006. It will run for nine consecutive years during Spring Break, and is the first U.S. World’s Fair since 1984 and the first World’s Fair in history targeting a specific demographic: kids and their families.
As the official WFK “Spokes Kid”, Jillian will be seen in an extensive World’s Fair for Kids media and marketing campaign, including ads in major publications such as Disney Magazine Publishing’s FamilyFun Magazine, along with several major broadcast and web-cast appearances. Ms. Wheeler is also scheduled to perform on the City of Orlando/World’s Fair for Kids float during the 2005 Citrus Bowl Parade with an expected six million viewers.
With more than $5 million in national media, promotions and public relations efforts, the World’s Fair for Kids, and Jillian Wheeler, are poised to reach hundreds of thousands of families across the U.S. in the next year.
Jillian Wheeler is primed to achieve mass exposure on multiple levels through venues where kids and families congregate, (family fun centers, skating rinks, camps and malls, etc.) and numerous promotional appearances across the country, including a planned Radio Disney/World’s Fair for Kids sponsored tour of the Southeast. Jillian Wheeler will be everywhere!
Through media and national school programs, Jillian will promote the World’s Fair for Kids, and make a call for aspiring artists to send their demos to WhizKidz Records in hopes of being selected and signed to a recording deal. Wheeler may be the beginning of WhizKidz Records, but she most definitely is not the end – WhizKidz Records plans on bringing listeners quality entertainment – for kids and their parents – for years to come.
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World’s Fair for Kids Spokes Kid/Page 2
The song, “One World,” from Jillian’s WhizKidz Records debut CD Beautiful Things, will also be the theme song for the World’s Fair for Kids in 2006. The song will also serve as the title track for the first World’s Fair for Kids CD compilation, which will feature artists performing at the World’s Fair and reach a projected audience of 250,000 kids and parents, combined.
It is this multi-platform approach that will bring the World’s Fair for Kids, WhizKidz Records and Jillian Wheeler, into the hearts and homes of millions and millions of families across the country, and the world.
Sponsors interested in participating in this one-of-a-kind event should contact the World’s Fair for Kids sales and marketing office at
919-654-4513. More information is available on the Internet at www.wfkids.com.
# # #
Contact:
Lisa Hanlon Anne Albanese
Southard Communication World’s Fair for Kids
(212) 777-2220 (203) 438-5662
lisa@southardinc.com aalbanese@wfkids.com
Manchester Union Leader Article
[+ Show ]
JILLIAN WHEELER is prone to easy laughter. She loves hanging with her friends, ice skating, shopping...JILLIAN WHEELER is prone to easy laughter. She loves hanging with her friends, ice skating, shopping at the mall, eating cheesecake and going to Chunky's Cinema where her favorite movies are the really scary ones — all standard stuff for a 13-year-old.
She is so high-energy, you can almost see the sparks.
At something short of 5 feet and barely more than 70 pounds, Jillian is a powerhouse of talent with a resume of credits most actors and singers only dream about.
Last week, Jillian was soaring at home in Windham after two weeks in Los Angeles, where she recorded her first full-length CD for WhizKidz Records. She has also recorded two shorter CDs.
With a clear voice that already conveys emotion and wisdom beyond her years, Jillian has begun studying voice with Bristol Studios in Boston.
The new, untitled album will include a mix of old and new songs, as well as two ballads Jillian nonchalantly mentioned, "I wrote with the guys in the band out there."
Although she plays piano and bass guitar, she left those jobs to the studio musicians this time around.
It can't hurt that Elliot Easton of The Cars dropped in to help.
"He played a guitar solo and that was really cool," Jillian said, leaping about in untied tennis shoes to mimic a producer's excitement about working with Easton.
Double threat
Jillian presents a disarming combination of wound-up young girl and show-biz pro — and a pro she is.
Among her many stage roles, Jillian played Holly Hunter's daughter in "By the Bog of Cats" at the San Jose Repertory Theatre.
Lynn Redgrave, whose director had seen Jillian perform, called personally to ask Jillian's parents if she could appear in "The Mandrake Root," a play Redgrave wrote and starred in.
"I think we still have the answering machine tape," said father Gary Wheeler.
No stranger to films — eight so far — Jillian played Laura Linney and Sean Penn's middle daughter in "Mystic River," for which Penn won the 2003 Academy Award. She'll next be seen in a thriller "The Legend of Lucy Keyes," which is due out next year.
She has also appeared in commercials and on television shows, including "All My Children" and "Unsolved Mysteries."
"She performed (singing) in more than 50 shows last year," said Gary Wheeler. Touring primarily in the Northeast, Jillian has shared the stage with the likes of Hilary Duff, American Idol's Justin Guarini and Chubby Checker. She also sang the national anthem at Celtics and Red Sox games.
Her new CD is due to be released in the summer. In the meantime, the search is on for a band.
"Now that she has a record label behind her, it makes it practical to put a band together for touring," her father said. "We want great musicians, but we care more about who the kids are and their lifestyles. We're going to be looking closely."
Role models
Jillian gives good reviews to the big names she's worked with, including Sean Penn, who was "really nice; always cool."
"Holly, Lynn and Laura (as in Hunter, Redgrave and Linney) were all so friendly and I loved working with them.
"Holly really taught me to work with improv. Every night she would change the script by bringing in something totally different, and I'd have to respond."
"Lynn was just so nice and kind; it's good to see someone who has done so much with her life be so modest," she said.
Jillian's travel has made home schooling the best option, and according to her dad, she's a good student. Although at least five years off, she has plans for college.
"I'd like to go college for hospitality and business management and maybe culinary arts. I love to cook."
Then her face brightened.
"I could be like Arnold Schwarzenegger and have my own little restaurant in Venice (Calif.)."
A normal kid
Jillian found it impossible to settle on a single influencial performer.
There's more local news in today's Derry-Londonderry edition, the hometown daily paper for those two towns, plus Chester, Sandown, Danville, Hampstead, Plaistow, Atkinson, Salem, Windham and Pelham.
"I like so many people," she sighed. "I like Kay Hanley (from pop/rock group Letters to Cleo). She has a really cool voice, and she's always keeping it real, being herself. She's not superficial; I admire that."
Jillian admits "keeping it real" in the entertainment world could be a challenge.
"You have to keep yourself separated from that," she said. "Once you get into that, then it's going to take you to more and more dimensions of superficiality. You just have to be yourself in whatever business you're in."
Gary Wheeler is confident his daughter will keep her head on straight.
"Most people describe her as an old soul," he said. "She has a strong will and maturity about her that I don't see very often in kids her age. She has strong opinions and strong values. ... She doesn't treat her friends or family any differently. If anything, she's shy about it."
Friend Dani Dery doesn't think much about Jillian's professional life.
"She's just a normal person and acts like everybody else. She's really sweet and she always makes me laugh," Dani said.
Choreographer Devon Smith is on the same page.
"She's about as much of a kid as you could possibly get," Smith said. "I don't think any of this stuff has fazed her at all. She acts just like any other 13-year-old," until it comes to work. "It's interesting to watch. One minute she's goofing around and the next she is completely professional. She has her goofy side, but she's also very mature."
Jillian commanded attention even as a toddler, said her father, who has videos of his 2-year-old perched on a step stool singing her heart out.
"I knew she could really sing when she was 7," he said. "She played the part of Molly, the little orphan, in 'Annie.' That was the first time I heard her on stage. I thought, 'This can't be my kid.'"
When tucking her in that night, she explained in no uncertain terms that she wanted to be a star.
"I want to be up there my whole life," he recalled her saying. "I said, 'I guess I'd better take this a little more seriously.'"
Family matters
If there's been any career pushing, Jillian insists it has been her own doing.
"They've never pushed me to do anything," Jillian said. "It has always me pushing them. They've always just supported me to help me live out my dreams."
Jillian said she and her sister, Alyssa, 15, have mutual admiration.
"Alyssa is an amazing sister," she said. "We have so much fun. She comes to a lot of my shows."
Jillian is just as excited about Alyssa's interests. At the time of this interview, Alyssa and the girls' mother, Mary, were at Disney World where Alyssa's champion baton-twirling team, the Red Star Twirlers, competed in the Twirl Mania Invitational.
"She's amazing," said Jillian. "Every time I see her, it's just like, 'wow.' She just got good so fast. She's only been doing it for two years, and she's caught up with the other girls. I'm so proud of her."
On March 6, both girls will take to the Celtics' court as Jillian opens with the national anthem and the Red Star Twirlers perform at halftime.
Next up for Jillian is waiting to find out how she faired in the International Songwriting Competition that, according to her father, had 11,000 entries. Jillian's entry is one of 11 finalists in the teen category.
Yes, 13.
supersonic
