The biggest little star on TV
Roles on Young Sheldon and Big Little Lies all in a year’s work for 9-year-old Iain Armitage
HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.— Iain Armitage is cracking up on the CBS set of Young Sheldon.
It starts with a gasp, a toss of the head backward and then a small peal of laughter. The impossibly tiny, perfect 9-year-old plays a young Sheldon Cooper in this spinoff of The Big Bang Theory, making it the No. 1 new comedy hit in Canada for the fall season.
The Star has asked him if he still practises “mathology,” a fictional religion based on numbers and created by his character in a recent episode.
“I think mathology is very hilarious and I love the idea,” he says in an equally tiny, but no less perfect, voice. “But unfortunately no, I do not. Iain Armitage is not a follower of mathology. Although I did end up with one follower. But I think he was just in it for the cookies.”
Standing on the front lawn of his movie-set house, dressed in a shirt, tie, cardigan and bite-sized brogues, Armitage could well be the genetically enhanced, early incarnation of the persnickety theoretical physicist played by Jim Parsons on Big Bang.
Although he is careful to add that he is not a fan of Sheldon’s costume of high-waisted shorts and checked shirts. “I think the 1980s clothes are strange. It’s not really what I would wear on a daily basis.”
The Arlington, Va., native and son of an actor father (Euan Morton) and a theatre-producer mother (Lee Armitage) is the hottest child actor on television. Besides being in the top new comedy, he also has a role in the critically acclaimed, Golden Globe-winning Big Little Lies, in which he plays the son of Shailene Woodley’s character.
Still, with negotiations ongoing, it’s not clear what role, if any, the busy Armitage will play in Season 2, slated for 2019.
Armitage’s work in 2017 would be a huge year for any star, much less a 9-year-old. Besides the TV series, he made movies with heavyweights such as Brie Larson in The Glass Castle, and Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in Our Souls at Night.
“It’s been pretty busy. And I was pretty excited when we won all the awards for Big Little Lies,” says Armitage. “But I don’t really have a preference for which character I’m playing. I think all of them are hard characters to play. But if I had a preference, I like being funny.”
Asked if his life has changed with his face plastered on billboards, Armitage says, “Not really. A lot of my friends do this for a living. Like my best friend of all time, she does it. Also, we congratulate each other for stuff we did. But we don’t talk about it like, ‘Oh, my gosh, oh my gosh!’ It’s more about playing and cracking jokes.
“My friends back home in Virginia who don’t act, they congratulate me, but they don’t really think about it. So to answer your question, it’s not really a big deal.”
Plus, Armitage doesn’t think other kids expect him to be a “brainiac” when they meet him.
“I don’t think so, I don’t really know. I hope not.”
But like the fictional Sheldon, he loves school, perking up when asked about schooling on set but then wandering into the weeds with his answers, like any typical youngster.
“I have the best teacher,” he says, before pausing, as if giving a lecture. “And further proving my point, this happened just today. My two favourite subjects are history and science. And she asked me, ‘What do you want to do? History or science?’ And I said, ‘I love them both!’ She’s the best. And she’s a really fun, awesome teacher. Right now I’m learning a lot about Middle Eastern things.”
Earlier on set, Armitage and Parsons, who is an executive producer and does the series voice-overs, talked about how they approached their roles with critics. The show also stars Zoe Perry as Sheldon’s mom and Lance Barber as his father.
“I have to think differently because he is this incredibly smart kid and I’m not,” Armitage said, then, turning to Parsons: “This guy helps with a lot of it.” “Not anymore!” Parsons said. “It’s kind of like going through a maze that you know how to get to the end, but it all kind of looks the same, so you still have to navigate it even though you know what you’re doing,” Armitage says.
Unlike The Big Bang Theory, which is a multi-camera sitcom and filmed like a play with a studio audience, Young Sheldon is a single-camera comedy, shot more like a traditional movie. A single camera allows for more intimate moments, which lends itself to working with child actors, who won’t feel the need to ham it up for an audience.
The show also has much more in common with The Wonder Years than The Big Bang Theory. It’s essentially a coming-of-age story as it follows the arc of the young genius in his East Texas neighbourhood.
Show creator Chuck Lorre didn’t rule out some kind of crossover in the future but said it was unlikely that Sheldon would meet the Big Bang Theory gang in his youth. Still, there are characters on Sheldon that could well end up on Big Bang.
“There are young people in Young Sheldon’s life that we might someday meet on Big Bang Theory as adults,” Lorre says, teasing out a future script.
“That would be so cool,” Armitage says. “Oh my gosh, that would be the best joke.”