It’s a Family Act

From Left to Right: Paige & Ben Roberts (seated) Mary, Wyatt, Sam, Truett, Whitney and Emmett Roberts and then Bradlee Roberts Ching & Enoch Ching

While being filmed by an 8-foot drone was cool and filming in a velvet period costume in the height of July was not, it’s Walt Disney World that is Paige Roberts’ favorite part of background performing. Locals to Ocala, the Roberts family of nine have been making the trek to Orlando to work as extras in Disney and Universal productions since 2008. 

The Roberts first stepped foot into the acting world when Paige followed a friend’s suggestion and registered herself, her husband, and their kids with an Orlando based background company, FrontRunner Casting. Since Paige homeschooled the kids, they had the flexible schedule productions needed from their extras that most other children lacked. 

Since then, every member of the Roberts family has worked as a background performer for ads or films—some more than others. Emmett, now 16, was 4 years old when he pulled his first all-nighter, filming background in a commercial from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. in the morning. 

“Of my children he is the one who has had the job the longest,” Paige Roberts said. “Sam has worked the most as a little kid—as a 5 to 8-year-old, he worked more than anybody.” Sam (12), the youngest, started when he was 5.

While FrontRunner works with different production companies, the primary one is Disney. The Roberts do background for a multitude of Disney productions, including commercials, promotions and game shows. 

“We’ve also done background for movies and sitcoms,” Paige said. “Anything that is owned by Disney.” 

Between the nine of them, the Roberts worked around six to eight jobs a year before COVID-19. When the kids started, they could make $65 in a five-hour block of time; currently, the going rate is anywhere from $100 to $225 for a 12-hour day. 

“Rarely does just one child work.” Paige said. “Between the three of them (Emmett, Wyatt (14), and Sam), they have over 50 principal and extra gigs under their belt as of July.”

For the majority of background roles, there is no audition—you just have to fall in the right age demographic and be available to work the odd hours. 

Because they commute to Orlando, the Roberts’ routinely hop out of bed at 2 a.m. for a 4 a.m. call time. 

“My kids consider a late call time to be 6 a.m., which still means we have to be in the car at 4:30,” Paige said. 

Sometimes, you film all day and don’t make the final cut. When they filmed background for the 2020 award winning film The One and Only Ivan, Paige said they “filmed two minutes of the movie and spent all day long and probably took 40 takes—for us not to be in it. Our scene is in the movie, but you can’t see us.” 

On the other hand, sometimes you land a gig that results in your scene making the trailer, like Wyatt and Sam did in an episode of Black-ish (2016). The two boys landed a feature part where they were clearly seen behind the main actor and for a millisecond can be seen in the trailer for the promo as well as in the behind-the-scenes. 

Paige joined Wyatt and Sam in 2019, along with their sister Whitney (25), to film background for The Right Stuff (2020) on the Disney Channel. Paige, Whitney, Bradlee (26), and Truett (23) also shot background for the 2021 Netflix film Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher. 

Wyatt’s favorite experience was meeting Ariana Greenblatt (the young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War) on the set of filming The One and Only Ivan and Sam’s favorite memory was filming a Disney cruise ship ad with Kevin Quin from Bunk’d.

The job is fun, but Paige counts the experience her kids have gained through background performing more worthwhile. 

“They’ve learned how to be respectful and polite beyond their years, I think,” she said. “My kids know when they go on set, they thank everybody when they leave, they are polite, they do what they’re told, they don’t whine and that’s what gets you the opportunity to come back.”