When we first saw commercials for the new movie ParaNorman, we thought One Direction‘s Zayn Malik looked just like the main character. And while we still think Zayn can pass as Norman’s human form, the kid who actually voices him is a dead ringer for the claymation dude, too. (See photo above). Meet Kodi Smit-McPhee. He’s a 16-year-old Australian actor who comes from a family of performers, and has impressed directors with his skills at such a young age in films like The Road and Matching Jack. Plus, that dark hair and blue eyes combo is to die for.
Find out what happened during the recording of ParaNorman that made Kodi nervous, who his other celebrity BFFs are, and what his kind of secret talent is. We’ll bet you’ll never guess.
1. Kodi is from Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia! Another famous Adelaidean? The Twilight Saga‘s Xavier Samuel!
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2. His father is Australian actor and former professional wrestler, Andy McPhee, who is also Kodi’s acting coach. His older sister, Sianoa, is also in the biz.
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3. When he was eleven, Kodi won the Australian Film Institute’s Young Actor Award for his role as Raimond in Romulus, My Father. Check out how he handled his acceptance speech. Too cute!
4. While recording the voice-overs for ParaNorman, Kodi’s own voice started to get deeper. He told Entertainment Weekly, “I was noticing by the end, I worked harder to get my voice up into the Norman voice. Not only was my voice already high [as the character], I would put on the American accent and then make it higher. By the end of it, my voice was cracking and dropping, and I was like, ‘Oh man, I don’t know if I can do this.’ But he just squeaked by. Hah.
5. Even though Kodi has been cast in a slew of horror and drama films, including Let Me In with Chloe Moretz, his favorite genre is comedy.
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6. He is super good friends with Garrett Backstrom (Bella Thorne’s ex!) and they film a lot of silly videos together. Here’s a little improv sketch they did:
7. Close family and friends call him by the nickname Koda, and he refers to his fans as the Kodiacs. We love! And yes, that would be Willow Smith.
8. He’s going to be playing Benvolio in the newest adaptation of Romeo and Juliet alongside Douglas Booth, Hailee Steinfeld, and Ed Westwick. Star-studded.
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9. He’s a talented dancer! Here he is busting a move at Best Buy:
10. Kodi is terrfied of the girl from The Exorcist. He told timeout.com, “She scares me so much. I don’t know what it is, but even though it’s quite old now, it still has the best and scariest make-up I’ve ever seen in my life.” Agreed! Find out how Chloe used his fear to her advantage below at 0:52:
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Thanks for the review. This movie looks boss, ya hear?! It looks like an ientnse walk down apocalyptic blvd.Oh, and don’t be hatin’ on C.T. The girl is fly. Even in her grubby Road clothes.
Kodi is so cute.