Checking in with J.J. TOTAH
Mindy Kaling is its co-creator and one of its executive producers, but the most memorable name associated with “Champions” may well turn out to be J.J. Totah.
The young performer proves himself a comedic and musical dynamo in the NBC sitcom premiering Thursday, March 8. He plays a teen delivered to New York by his mother (Kaling, in a recurring role) to live with his father (Anders Holm, who also worked with Kaling on “The Mindy Project”), who’s hugely unequipped to be an instant dad as he ponders selling the family-run gymnasium. Andy Favreau (brother of actor-director Jon) and another “Mindy Project” alum, Fortune Feimster, also star.
Since Totah’s Michael has his sights set on a performing-arts school, it may not come as a surprise that the actor has “Glee” among his previous credits. “I had gotten the script before I even got the audition,” Totah says, “because my agent sent it to me – and I was just, like, falling in love with it. It was amazing. (The creators) wrote such a killer pilot, I’m super-excited. It’s a lot of fun.”
Part of Totah’s enthusiasm stems from his own life experience being mirrored by Michael, who reveals it to his dad in the “Champions” premiere. “We’re one of the first television comedies portraying an LGBT character,” notes Totah, a celebrity ambassador for the organizations GLAAD and GLSEN. “I’m definitely very proud of that ... and scared. Hopefully, no one comes for me for misportraying someone. I’m just going to do it my way.”
That can be considered a huge step for someone whose first television stops were at Disney Channel, in the shows “Jessie” and “Liv and Maddie.” Totah recalls that those happened soon after he “came out to L.A. I was, like, 9 – and I’m 16 now, so not having as many super-hard restrictions as an actor is so cool, because there’s a lot more improv that I can do and a lot more things we can say.” Birthdate: Birthplace: Aug. Sacramento, 5, 2001 Calif. Current residence: Los Angeles Marital status: Single Other television work includes: “Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie,” “Liv and Maddie,” “Tween Fest,” “Sofia the First” (voice only), “Skirtchasers,” “Jessie,” “Glee,” “Boys in Blue,” “2 Broke Girls,” “OMG!,” “New Girl,” “Back in the Game,” “The Exes,” “Nina Needs to Go,” “Kroll Show”