There is a whole new generation of performers with disabilities who have pulled into Hollywood in the last few years, and they arrive with certain advantages. First of all, they are young and fresh; the “industry” rarely grooms new stars from 40-year-olds. They are also savvy from years of media input and unburdened with repeated failure.
Zack Weinstein
Weinstein arrived in Hollywood knowing no one in the business. He found an agency online open to actors with disabilities, rolled into their office, and pitched his talents. Waiting for a call, he landed a commercial through a non-union service called LA Casting. The commercial was a Screen Actors Guild shoot so now he needed an agent to make a deal. Back to KSR, the agency he had already pestered; they signed him right up.
He has nothing but nice things to say about the Glee experience. He played Sean, a former football player who realizes that he has other talents than sports, namely math. And because it’s Glee, Sean (and Rachel) sing a closing duet of U2’s “One.” In depicting a wheelchair user, Weinstein says, “They [the producers] had it extremely accurate.”
After a guest shot on NCIS and a lot of sitting around, Weinstein is now up for a role as a series regular on a new show on CMT. His competition? Five other guys in wheelchairs. That’s got to be a hopeful sign for the disability youth movement.
newmobility.com, January 2012