Actor’s career made in a Flash

As a kid growing up in North Toronto, Robbie Amell would pretend to be a superhero in his own little bedroom universe.

Now he’s made a name for himself playing a few fantasy figures on TV.

First, the 26-year-old was the teleporting headliner Stephen Jameson in the short-lived 22-episode The Tomorrow People which was cancelled last spring.

This season he plays the recurring character Ronnie Raymond, a.k.a. Firestorm, on the well-received series The Flash.

“I grew up pretending to be in that world, so I am in that world but with a bigger budget and I get paid for it,” said Amell who was back in his hometown promoting the teen comedy The Duff.

That’s right, he’s in a teen comedy.

“I’m older than I look in the movie,” he suggested.

In The Duff, Amell portrays the under-achieving and over-compensating good-natured jock Wesley, whose only concern is getting grades good enough to qualify for a sports scholarship.

“For lack of a better word, he’s just lazy,” Amell said of Wesley.

“He’s just coasted through school and never had to try, so a relationship brings out another side of him.”

Wesley’s arrested development receives an adjustment when he starts falling for his next-doorneighbour, and friend without benefits, Bianca (Mae Whitman). Of course, Bianca has problems of her own when Wesley innocently explains at one point she is the DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) of her gal pals.

Insecurities, and lots of comedy follow as Wesley and Bianca try to figure out what their real priorities should be.

“At the beginning when I read the script I was worried The Duff was just a cliche high school comedy, but I really liked the message of how kids should try to find out who they are,” Amell said. “And because we were allowed to improvise the dialogue, I think we elevated the film to a pretty special level.”

Indeed, the chemistry between Amell and Whitman, (who made her mark on TV shows playing Ann Veal in Arrested Development and Amber Holt in Parenthood), is key.

“We both did a lot of work figuring out some alternate lines,” said Amell. “And I always figured if I could make Mae laugh we would have a shot at making the movie work.”