Child actor debuts in Disney’s ‘Wandavision’
CONNECTICUT 6-YEAR-OLD MAKES ACTING DEBUT ON ‘WANDAVISION’
For most 6-year-olds, being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is somewhat of a fever dream, but for Southington’s Baylen Bielitz, it was just another day at work.
Baylen appears in Marvel’s “WandaVision,” which recently wrapped up its first season. He appears on one episode of the nineepisode series as 5-year-old Billy Maximoff, the son of Wanda Maximoff and Vision,who ages up from an infant to a 10-year-old throughout the course of the episode.
For initiated fans, Baylen’s character eventually becomes the powerful warlock, Wiccan, who shares the same powers as his mother — and also happens to be Baylen’s favorite superhero.
“It’s surreal. It seems like it’s not even him,” said Baylen's mother, Laura Bielitz, about seeing her son on TV. “It’s tough to go from a kindergartener to being on a Marvel show.”
“A kindergartner to Marvel show to first-grader — that’s the whole cycle,” interjected Baylen.
Alongside Baylen are veteran actors Elizabeth Olsen, who portrays Wanda Maximoff, and Paul Bettany, one of the longest-tenured MCU actors as Vision. Baylen’s favorite actor to work with was comedian Kathyrn Hahn, who made her MCU debut in “WandaVision” as Agatha Harkness.
“She’s so funny. We had something,” Baylen added.
Since Marvel and Disney are cautious about plot points leaking out on the internet, Baylen could not tell his classmates or teachers that he was on the show — even though his firstgrade teacher was a huge fan of Marvel.
“Marvel is so secretive. They were so secretive that when he was in his trailer and he had to go to the set, they would put a cloak on him so you couldn’t see his costume,” Laura said.
Baylen started his acting career only a year prior to his appearance on “WandaVision,” which became his acting debut. According to his mother, Baylen had entered a competition for modeling and acting, and from that, the family was approached by numerous agents looking to represent Baylen.
“I always thought I was going to be a soccer mom. I am a full-fledged stage mom, and it scares me,” Laura said. “He thrives on it.”
Soon enough, the Bielitz family got the call from Baylen’s manager that he had landed the role of Billy on “WandaVision.” Filming took place in 2020.
“We kind of threw our hat in the ring and forgot about it. About three weeks later, we got a call from his manager saying that they want Baylen for the Marvel [show],” said Laura. “We were floored because we were like ‘wow this is so easy...We’ve since learned that it’s not that easy, and it was such an amazing opportunity that he got so early on in his career,” Laura added.
“You really have to practice and listen, and really think about it,” Baylen said about acting. “You know I’m a kid and I love [playing] pretend and all things like that — so that’s another reason I love acting.”
Baylen also took to some of the hallmark quirks that come from filming — most notably “rolling rolling, cut cut.” The line, according to Baylen, is used by the director when filming and closing scenes. Oftentimes, the actors on set will repeat the director every time they say “rolling rolling” or “cut cut,” ushering a sort of call-and-response.
“There would be times when I would be putting him to bed and he would basically direct the scene and say that I needed to say something with more emotion or do it in a different way,” Laura said. “If I did it to his liking, I would get a 'cut cut.'”
After his episode aired, his classmates, as well as people around the globe took to the young actor, asking him for autographs and even devoting Instagram fan pages to him.
Since debuting on “WandaVision,” Baylen has filmed a few commercials, including one for Sony. He has also continually gone on auditions — sometimes multiple a week — as
Hollywood looks to rebound after delays from the pandemic. One of his favorite TV shows to watch in his off time is Chip and Joana Gaines’ “Fixer Upper." He even brought the couple’s magazine, “The Magnolia Journal,” to a show-and-tell competition.
For budding actors, not too unlike himself, Baylen has some words of wisdom.
“The most important thing is to listen. You have to listen to the people around you ... so you can get the feeling of how to act it out,” said Baylen. “You really have to pay attention and get into the zone.”
SINCE MARVEL AND DISNEY ARE CAUTIOUS ABOUT PLOT POINTS LEAKING OUT ON THE INTERNET, BAYLEN COULD NOT TELL HIS CLASSMATES OR TEACHERS THAT HE WAS ON THE SHOW.