Young Sheldon
Season 1 M-Net (*101) 19:30 Comedy
Iain Armitage is only nine but he’s probably the biggest child star in the world right now. That’s thanks to his adorable portrayal as adolescent Sheldon Cooper in comedy Young Sheldon (2017-current), the spin-off to Big Bang Theory (2007-current). And Iain couldn’t ask for a better mentor to get into his role – Young Sheldon’s executive produce is Jim Parsons, adult Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory.
Iain has only been on TV for two 1
years – his first role was as troublemaker Ziggy in thriller drama Big Little Lies (2017-current) – but he’s been an online theatre critic for four years. His mom Lee and dad Euan uploaded his critiques to his YouTube channel, called Iain Loves Theatre.
Iain’s parents indirectly influenced 2
his career – Lee is a theatre producer and Euan is a Tony Award-winning stage actor. They joke that “at least he’s given up his tap-dancing dreams now”.
Don’t get stressed about how his 3
name is pronounced – Iain jokes that “it’s Iain – the second I is silent”.
He says that while he doesn’t get 4
starstruck, nothing prepared him for meeting talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey at an award show. And he isn’t even a fan – his gran loves Oprah and he wanted to make her jealous with a photo.
He learnt to fly fish while working 5
on streaming service Netflix’s 2017 thriller Our Souls At Night because he’d always wanted to fish but doesn’t like the thought of killing animals.
And Iain makes no apologies for 6
being super polite – he refers to everyone as Mr and Miss, like Mr Jim [Parsons] and Miss Oprah [Winfrey].