Most families made up of all boys are thrown into the busy schedule of the sports world, and this Madison family sure is running their boys to a million places but instead for auditions, rehearsals and opening nights.
One of Kellie Bosarge’s sons led the family down the path to being in front of the camera. Bosarge remembers that, at five years old, all Cannon wanted to do was be in a play. She said it obviously wasn’t easy to find that opportunity for a five-year-old, but she signed him up for camps to get him started. By seven, Cannon was acting in plays and performing in two a year. His passion for the stage hasn’t slowed down as he grew older — he performed in Madison Central’s “Shrek” this past weekend. However, he isn’t the only one in his family with performing arts talents.
Chris and Kellie Bosarge have three boys: Reagan, a freshman at Mississippi State; Cannon, a senior at Madison Central; and Payne, their sixth grader. The entire family has dabbled in film as they followed Cannon’s lead. He had already landed some acting roles when James Franco’s “As I Lay Dying” began filming in Canton. Cannon and one other boy made it to the final two for a role and, while Cannon didn’t get the final part, his dad ended up with a role just by accompanying Cannon to auditions.
“My husband looks a lot like James Franco,” Kellie said. “It was crazy how much he looked like him. So he became James Franco’s stand-in in three different films. Cannon is really the one that got us into film and then my husband kind of followed and then we all as a family started doing just little things just as a hobby.”
Kellie said her family has done over 20 commercials — local and national. To name a few, Reagan was in a BankPlus Super Bowl commercial with Eli Manning and got to spend two days just playing football with the famous quarterback. Cannon has been in several Cartoon Network commercials, and Payne did an Airhogs commercial. Kellie said, oddly enough, her family has done a lot of hunting commercials, including Cabela’s.
Kellie said, while she comes from a musical family, none of it got passed on to her. As for her husband’s family, they were huge into sports with little interest in performing arts.
“It is hilarious that his kids are such big performing arts people,” Kellie said. “He loves it too but, yes, he had to have one kid that is an athlete to appease him.”
Payne is their one sports kid but even he ventures beyond commercials. Payne has also been in movies and films like Cannon. The pair was in Patsy & Loretta two years ago, and Payne has a movie coming out in June: Where the Crawdads Sing.
However, he hasn’t taken an interest in theatre as his two older brothers did. Reagan, the oldest, did some theatre but mainly focused on showchoir throughout high school and now gets to perform through his fraternity fundraisers in college.
“My children were in the Wiggles generation and watched a lot of Wiggles,” Kellie said. “Honestly, that really probably had something to do with it — not giving the Wiggles all the credit but just the musical type thing. We listen to a lot of music.”
Kellie said it brings her family closer together to have this common interest in the performing arts, and it has definitely been a fun experience together even if it is just a hobby.
“We have to prepare together,” Kellie said. “You have to do it together and go audition together and you have to have a common vibe there.”
She said her boys have gotten to have really cool experiences through their interest in performing arts. Kellie said, while they aren’t famous, they have had just enough exposure to give them the bug to keep doing it and take it seriously.
“It is so fun to be on set and experience the film industry,” Kellie said. “They are very professional. Payne had four auditions last week, and he memorizes his lines and performs. They are just so professional — all my children are. They learned so quickly and early on. It is impressive to me.”
For her as a mother, it is a special experience to watch her boys perform on stage and in front of the camera.
“It is awesome and so fun,” Kellie said. “Honestly I get so nervous. I was so nervous last week for Cannon even though he wasn’t. He doesn’t get nervous at all. I’m completely freaked out the first show. It is just a really cool experience.”
Cannon is considering studying pre-med when he heads to college next year but theatre won’t be a thing of the past. He is considering majoring in theatre and will still be involved — even if he doesn’t want to make a career out of it.
“Acting just kind of became a hobby for all of us, but Cannon is definitely the one that has done the most and is most passionate about that,” Kellie said. “He is very well-rounded, but that is his thing. I have a feeling he will always do it.”
