Growing up, you might see other kids on the big screen or on TV and wonder how they came to be, but an OHS student made this a reality by starring in the recent Sony Picture film “Soul on Fire.“

“Soul on Fire” is a biography through film about St. Louis citizen John O’Leary, who survived burns that covered his entire body. The movie goes into detail through his recovery process and how he now is a motivational speaker about the gift of life. OHS student Jack Johnson plays the role of the bully in the movie and is seen early in the film.

“On that specific day, I got off of school and I basically just showed up to set. I met everyone, met the cast, met the director. You are given a few minutes to prepare. They have food, and then you film,” Jack Johnson (12) said. “My take is at the start of the movie and is only a minute or two long, but the shoot takes at least two hours because we are doing multiple, multiple retakes at a time…”

This opportunity was created from a series of smaller jobs at a younger age.

“My mom got me into it because my sister did it. She stopped doing it, so I guess I was her replacement. I was in grade school but never really got a gig until middle school,” Johnson said. “I did the Bellarmine Speech League. It’s like a younger theater, but I scored blue which is second [place], and last year I got gold. It really introduced me to it (theater).”

To many, acting may be difficult or even stressful, and through his involvement, Johnson has learned a lot.

“I learned it was very competitive. I thought that child acting would be easy,” Johnson said. “You know when you are auditioning that you are competing with maybe a few hundred other kids for this one role. So it’s very competitive, and it’s all about networking and who you know in business — who you can talk to, who your agents are.”

When it came to auditions, Johnson had to be meticulous.

“I definitely take my time on these auditions. They take longer than even the shoot does,” Johnson said. “I will do hours of retakes making small tweaks until it’s the perfect take, then send it into my agent to see if she has any subtle changes that I could do like hand gestures or small voice inflections.”

Johnson, however, has discovered a formula for performing well at his auditions.

“For memorization, what I do is I read each sentence until I memorize it. I will read the first sentence over and over, then I’ll read the first and second, then I keep combining it until I remember the whole thing,” Johnson said. “It’s just a few day process that I do a little bit every night until I get it.”

While achieving a role in “Soul on Fire” could be seen as a big success, Johnson felt that the story behind the film was much more important.

“It’s (the movie) worth being told because it’s one of those St. Louis stories that has to do with the Cardinals and was something that happened in town,” Johnson said. “So it has a sort of soft spot in everyone’s hearts in St. Louis. It’s important because it’s a simple story of not giving up when times are tough…”