Many people know Adrian Benjamin ’16, but few know he had the opportunity to be more than just a St. Olaf Celebrity. The newly declared Political Science major had the opportunity of a lifetime his junior year of high school that led him on a whirlwind adventure.
Adrian expalined, “I had just started taking guitar and voice lessons, and we had a recital at the Mall of America. After I performed I was approached by a traveling talent agent who just happened to pass by with his family, and he gave me his business card and told me to call him the next day. I thought it was just a scam, but my mom told me to contact him just in case it wasn’t.”
Turns out his mom was right, because the week after his recital, he was flown out to Chicago to audition for the lead role of the Broadway musical “Billy Elliot.” Adrian said, “I made it to the final round of auditions, where there were just four other kids and I onstage. Then we were told to dance, and I completely choked. All the other kids were doing cool things like flips and stuff, and I just started randomly posing.” He started laughing while talking about auditioning, and claimed he knew right then and there he wouldn’t get the part.” Although I was told I wasn’t right for Billy Elliot, they said that they really liked me and thought I was a perfect fit for Disney.”
Flash forward another month, and he was put on a plane to Los Angeles, CA, to audition for Disney. “I was flown out to L.A. to audition for Disney and went through a grueling audition process, including learning choreography from Kenny Ortega.” (For those who don’t know, Kenny Ortega is the choreographer and director who did all of the High School Musical movies, as well as movies like Hocus Pocus, and Michael Jackson’s This Is It). Adrian continues, “I also met Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song, Bella Thorne, and Zendaya, those types of people. I got offered a guest star position on the Disney Channel Show “Shake It Up,” and then after filming one epsode they offered me a recurring role. It was a big decision, because I had to choose between moving out to L.A. or getting to have my senior year and graduate with my friends.”
Seeing as he’s here at St. Olaf it’s clear what choice he made, but it took a while for him to make his final decision. Adrian explained, “I knew that if I pursued Disney instead of graduating high school and college, it would limit my possibilities for the future. If Disney just ended up being a short term thing, it would have meant I would’ve sacrificed my education for fifteern minutes of fame. There was no way I could do both.”
Despite the fact that Adrian is not dancing professionally, he still finds time to dance on a regular basis. “Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after my class ends at 1:50 p.m., I go back to my room, blast Beyonce on my speakers, and twerk it out. It just feels good to let go after a long day!”
Putting his Disney dreams behind him, Adrian now hopes to be a diplomat for the United Nations after graduation. He’s currently involved with the Rowing and Model UN teams here at St. Olaf, and can often be found studying/watching Scandal in the basement of the Boe Chapel.