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You may have just seen Al in his latest movie, 'A Season On The Brink' (ESPN) where he played Delray Brooks, the superstar player of the Indiana Hoosiers! Al's most current movies are 'A Walk to Remember' and 'The Royal Tenenbaums'.
How and when did you start acting?
I started acting about 3 ½ years ago in high school. A couple of my friends were in the school theatre. They kept on telling me that I should try it and I wasn’t too sure about it. I kept on asking them how they memorize all those lines. I thought it was just too much, but then I finally tried it and it was just like “Wow” and I just fell in love with it.
You have done both television and movies, is there a difference between the two and do you enjoy one over the other?
It’s interesting because the television that I have done is mostly hour television series verses ½ television series. There isn’t that much of a difference between hourly television and films though, television is a little quicker. For instance in film you can do 3 scenes in a day where as on an hour drama you would do maybe six scenes in a day. A lot of the setups though are the same, but either way with both it takes a long time verses a ½ television series, which is much quicker.
Television is cool, but film is how I got started and what I mostly do now. I am also more comfortable doing films so I guess you can say I like doing films more.
Of all the roles that you have played, does one stand out most in your mind?
It would have when I guest starred on ‘100 Centre Street’ Sidney Lumet’s show on A&E and having the chance to work with him. He is a really old school director. It’s interesting because the role that I played was this out-of-control teen, a real type of badass.
I was surprised that I even got the part because everybody is always saying “Al, he’s too much of a nice guy he can’t play that type of a role”, but Sidney Lumet gave me a chance to show my stuff on the show and I had a great time doing it. I played the complete opposite of myself with this role and it was great.
Has there been an actor that has been a major influence in your career?
I really don’t have one person that I would say that I would have to go and see everything that they are in. I watch a lot of different people from Morgan Freeman, Adam Sandler, and Jack Black to Danny Glover.
When I worked with Danny Glover that was something that I was definitely like “Wow”. He was so nice to me and to everyone on the set; I just couldn’t believe how nice he was. I played his son in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’, and I had heard before we met that he was a nice guy, but to actually meet him and work with him was just super nice. He was definitely an inspiration to me.
Are there any actors that you would like to work with in the future and why?
I would love to work with Adam Sandler, I feel he is so talented comedy wise or Chris Rock. What would be interesting to me is since growing up with ‘The Cosby Family’ I would love to do a project with Phylicia Rashad playing my mom. It would be the ultimate family; I already had Danny Glover play my dad. It would be cool to have her play my mom.
Have there been any similarities between you and any of the characters you have played?
My character in ‘A Walk to Remember’ and Eric's character had a lot of similarities. He was a joke around type of a guy with a lot of energy, he loved to have fun all the time and that’s me most of the time. He also had the sensitive side to him, like in the movie when he and some of his friends made fun of Mandy Moores’ character in school he had enough sense to go to Shanes’ character and apologize when he found out that she was sick. I am like that as well; I will go and apologize to someone if I know I am wrong.
How was the filming of ‘A Walk to Remember’?
It was a great 2 ½ months in North Carolina. The other teens and I just bonded the whole time. The director Adam Shankmen was very good about that; he made sure that as soon I got there I met Shane because our characters were best friends in the film. He made sure that we got to know each other from the first day we got there so we would start to get that chemistry between us. This way during the filming it would reflect on the screen and we would look like a group of high school friends.
All the cast members became very good friends. I still keep in touch with Shane, Lauren and Clayne. I’ve gone out to L.A. and I’ve stayed with them. We still keep in touch and we are all genuine friends. We go to parties together and people can’t believe that we all still keep in touch.
How was it to work with Mandy Moore?
That was cool; she is a sweetheart that’s a friend for life. I can’t believe that I am friends with Mandy Moore, the girl from the Neutrogena commercial. Every time she comes to N.Y. she calls me and we get together and when I go to L.A. we get together.
One question on the minds of all the TeenFX female users is: what do you look for in a girl and are you single?
Well, you can only look for things in a girl if you are single, and being that I am single, I’m the type of guy that likes a variety of things. One thing, being a good hearted female that is open minded and has her own thing going on because it’s difficult for me being an actor, I can’t be there all the time. I might be out of town for 2 months and you have to be a strong willed female to even deal with that. I would have them come and visit but it is still tough.
I definitely look for someone that has her own thing going on and not just waiting by the phone for you to call, open minded, great personality, humorous, and a big heart, and it doesn’t hurt if she looks good. I am all about pretty smiles, beautiful eyes and all those small intangibles.
How did it feel to be a part of such an all-star cast in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’?
That was a great experience. I couldn’t believe that I was going to be playing Danny Glover's son. There were so many big actors and I come onto the set and I just stayed off to the side. I didn’t want to go up to anybody and slowly but surely everybody started coming over to me. Danny Glover was the first person to introduce himself to me, and was like “Hey how are you doing, I’m Danny, and oh you’re playing my son” and then he turned to everybody and said “Hey everybody look how handsome my son is”. Ben Stiller came over to me and we would just talk and he would be asking me questions, I was just thinking to myself ‘I can’t believe I’m sitting here talking to Ben Stiller'.
Wes Anderson was an amazing director. It was just a great experience. Being able to bring my mom to the set, as the shooting took place in New York, I was able introduce her to Gene Hackman.
You are currently starring in ‘A Season on the Brink’, are you a basketball fan and did you have to go through special training to prepare for the film?
I am a huge Knick fan. It was actually kind of weird because I auditioned for the role on a Monday and they offered it to me on a Tuesday and they tried to fly me to Canada on Thursday. I have never had any film happen like that so fast. Thursday was Thanksgiving though so I ended up going on Friday and then we had that weekend to prep for filming. So it was real difficult to meet these guys that were supposed to be your teammates in the film and have such a short to get to practice together and know everyone’s game and what position everyone was going to play.
The team consisted of me and two other actors and the rest of the guys were Canadian players from the Canadian basketball league and college teams. I thought that the training would be harder, but I had played basketball before and being from New York I had played in a lot of basketball tournaments. It ended up not being as hard as I thought it was.
What are your goals in acting?
I don’t really like to set them too much because in a few months or so, if you set goals you might be setting them too low as far acting is concerned. For me, I just want to work consistently, work with good actors that are going to make me work harder and on good interesting projects.
What advice would you give to a teenager that was interested in pursuing a career in acting?
I would definitely say finish school first. A lot of people get into it and put school on the back burner and then don’t go back to it and you lose focus. You always need something to fall back on especially for a young person trying to be an actor, and don’t get caught up in all the hype. You need to be more of a business person than an actor, you need to be able to know how to get the right people on your side and that have your best interest in mind.
Is there anything you would like to tell your TeenFX.com fans?
Keep your eyes posted on Al Thompson; he’s making a lot of moves. Stay focused and always stick with your real friends because those are going to be the people who no matter what you do will always be by your side. I am real appreciative of my friends who tell me the truth.
'A Walk To Remember' photos by Kent Eanes and courtesy of Warner Brothers Studios.
'A Season On The Brink' photos courtesy of ESPN.
Al, we wish you all the best in your acting career. Thank you too for this really interesting interview for TeenFX ! Keep in touch and let us know which movies you will be appearing in next !
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!Peace out!
the movie a walk to remember it was great he played a great part in in and i just 
