Young hip hop performer catches the acting bug

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At 17, hip hop performer Bronson Pelletier hasn't got his life all mapped out yet, not even what he'll be doing following high school, but he does know he wants acting to remain a part of his future.

Pelletier recently had a starring role in The renegadepress.com, a dramatic television series and e-zine for youth that was produced by Verite Films and aired on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and TV Ontario at the start of 2004.

Pelletier played the part of hip hop artist Jack Sinclair, who with his good friend Zoey Jones (in real life Ksenia Solo) started an underground e-zine that grew beyond their imagination to deliver the goods on what is really going on in the lives of teens. The series The renegadepress.com tackled tough issues such as bullying, teenage plastic surgery and even suicides, and it featured a no-holds-barred advice column. The storylines were modeled on real-life events taken from news stories. Youthful viewers got to express their take on this heady expose of their own most serious issues through an actual Internet newspaper: renegadepress.com.

Pelletier is currently completing his Grade 11 education half days at the Newton Learning Center in Surrey, and is working part-time for a friend's father. As for acting, "I'd like to keep that going," he said.

"I don't really have any big plans yet, but I do know I want to keep acting . . . and obviously I need a Plan B, right?

Pelletier is considering a career in real estate.

His acting career started when his friend Peter Bob, who already worked as an actor, asked him to attend an audition with him.

"The next thing you know, I ended up getting the part. They called me back the same day."

His first acting job was in Vancouver, where he hosted a children's show called ArtsZone for a season. He was part of the cast for a second season, by which time he was already busy with The renegadepress.com.

The director of ArtsZone, a teacher at the Emily Carr Institute of media arts and design, told Pelletier about the call for a lead actor for The renegadepress.com. She gave him a contact, and Pelletier, who is not shy about taking an opportunity when it presents itself, was away.

Director Carole Tarlington asked Pelletier if he could "freestyle" -that is, make up rhymes on the spot, as in rap music. That's what the lead character needed to do, "and that's pretty much how I got the job at renegadepress."

That was last June, Pelletier said. Pelletier beat his friend Bob, as well as Simon Baker of North of 60 fame, for the part.

Since that time, he's had a fair bit of press attention, but has no film projects on the immediate horizon.

"I'm always down for it, though," said Pelletier. His agent Robert Carrier of Carrier Talent is keeping his eyes open for parts, he said.

Pelletier, who is Metis, doesn't make a big deal of his Native identity. He's not particularly involved with exclusively Native cultural events, and he says the only dancing he does is hip hop. But he tries to set a good example for the "little Native guys" in what he describes as his "pretty bad" neighbourhood.

"I try to tell them how it is. I used to be a pretty bad guy myself. I'm chillin' now."