‘The reason I became an actor was because one day, I was watching a Jackie Chan movie and my mom was peeling potatoes and I asked, ‘How do I get to meet Jackie Chan?’ Facetiously, while peeling potatoes, she replied, ‘Become an actor.’ And that’s exactly what I did!’

While rising heartthrob, Mitchell Kummen, hasn’t met Mr. Chan just yet, he has created a respected name for himself as an actor. The accomplished young man has appeared in such programs as “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour,” “The Tomorrow People,” and “When Calls the Heart.” In the award-winning “Horns,” he plays the 13 year old version of Ig Perrish (the older version was played by none other than Daniel Radcliffe). Currently, he is starring along with Kelli Williams, Jonathan Scarfe, and Dion Johnstone in UP TV’s groundbreaking family action series “Ties That Bind,” which airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m.

“When I was a kid, I missed out on all the films that kids are supposed to watch like “The Lion King” and other Disney classics because I was always watching Jackie Chan movies,” Mitchell told Examiner in a recent interview. “I actually came super close to working with the guy who directed ‘Shanghai Knights’ and the guy who had Jackie Chan as his manager for 15 years! They loved me, they loved my face, but the Network Exec of that show said, ‘You know what? We really need to go with someone ethnic.’ So, I got mad at my dad for not being Latin!” he laughed, “I was like, ‘Really Dad? Didn’t you know this was going to happen?!”

Kummen is charismatic, an effortless charmer. He has that winning combination of being both driven and talented. He is a stand-up guy with an unshakable sense of right and wrong. Like his hero, Jackie Chan, those admirable personality traits often bleed over into the characters that he plays and help establish him as a role model for his peers.

“On ‘Ties That Bind,’ I play Jeff McLean,” Mitchell informed. “He’s shy, but he’s not afraid to stand up for what he believes in. I’m like that too, I’m not afraid to stand up for what I believe in… only I’m not shy. I’m a very social person. A chatterbox!”

To date, Kummen’s character is the only youth in the show who has remained steadfast in his convictions. He has boldly stared down temptation and selflessly placed himself in harms way in order to stick up for other members of his family. The role is an easy fit for Mitchell as it is very close to who he is in real life.

“Everything I do is real and natural, there’s nothing fake involved in it,” the actor expressed. “I’m a guy who is all about justice and being fair, so when I see something that is not right I have to speak up.” And that’s the hardest part about playing Jeff McLean. “When someone is doing something wrong, in the show, I don’t always say something, but in real life, there’s no way I’d be silent!”

Source: The Examiner