Mini-Biography
Brandon Tyler Russell, his mother’s favorite Christmas gift, was born December 25, 1995 in Lake Forest, Illinois. Whereas nurses typically wrap newborns in a blanket prior to handing them back, Russell arrived in a red stocking. Six months later, he booked his first of many print auditions – Evenflo Dual Face Carriers.
At age three, Russell began repeating lines from films and TV. Red Lobster had a few red faces when the toddler entered the restaurant and shouted, “Show me the money, because I like black people!” Russell spent the next few months with a barrage of requests to his mother: “How do I get in the T.V.?” and “I wanna be in the T.V.” For his fourth birthday, mom gave Russell a special gift – a talent agent.
Russell booked his first of two-dozen commercials three months later. For “Donley’s Wild West Town,” he enjoyed shooting cap guns and assumed that this amusement park visit was just a fun, non-working venture. Russell also strutted catwalks including Jayne Seymour’s 2003 Carson Pirie Scott product line promotion in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Due to Russell’s height, Seymour matched the small seven year-old with a five year-old girl.
Russell shot his favorite commercial at age nine. In the “Orange Communications” spot (U.K. version of AT&T), the excited young “Star Wars” fan worked with Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca). Mayhew and Russell have since run into each other several times. Continued
