DAVID HENRIE: THE STUDENTS OF AMBITION WANT YOU
David Henrie surprises the students of AMBITION!
It is not easy to turn down Nancy Gale and the students of AMBITION when they decide you should attend an AMBITION class, even if you are a movie and television star who is really good friends with Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers.
The idea of meeting one of their TV icons seemed like an impossible dream, but when Nancy saw their excitement over David Henrie of Wizards of Waverly Place, That’s So Raven and How I Met Your Mother, she suggested that they invite him to class. The students thought it was a longshot, but they were game. In an effort to impress him, they would create a video that explained why they admired him. They would make it clear how much they knew about his career and his personal life and that they were his biggest FANS!
After brainstorming with the AMBITION mentors, the filming began. The students introduced themselves, shared what AMBITION was all about and set out to compel Mr. Henrie to commit to coming to class. They explained how AMBITION was a community and how it works with them to develop their personal skills, define their goals and identify and prepare for opportunities. They wanted him to WANT to meet them and experience AMBITION. Their strategy was to make him feel like HE was the one who would be missing out if he declined the invitation.
The reach out video concluded with a strong pitch from the students:
“We would love for you to come visit our classroom because we are inspired by how you use your platform to speak up on issues that affect others. You can teach us and inspire us with your experiences in acting and directing and some of the personal challenges you have gone through. We did our research and learned that you have a beautiful daughter named Pia. She could be anyone of us. Wouldn’t you want her to have ambition?”
It did the trick! David Henrie accepted their invitation.
Sadly, the day he had planned to come to class, he instead called in via FaceTime, feigning that he was out of town (he was really in the parking lot). Still the students were thrilled that he had taken the time to call in and they chatted until the call was cut off due to a “dead zone.” They stood up and started doing their warm-up exercises and suddenly there he was – in class – doing jumping jacks while giving high-fives and fist bumps!
Once the hooting and hollering died down, David took a seat and started to take questions the students had prepared.
How did you decide to become an actor?
“I grew up with a big Italian family and my mom was one of seven, so I had lots and lots of cousins. Like in so many families, you have to fight to be heard. So, my place in my family was I would make little videos for birthdays and I figured out that I could get my family to laugh. I loved that and I begged and begged them to take me to LA so I could audition for things. I was fortunate. I got some of the parts that I first tried out for and then booked some TV appearances and some movies, and I just kept going from there.
“A lot of kid actors have unfortunately suffered from bad family dynamics, but I was really lucky to have a good family who supported me in the same way they would support a kid who does sports. They did not need me to provide for them financially, so I knew I could trust them because they had my best interests at heart. They always said, ‘if any of this goes to your head, you’re out – we don’t care how much money you are making! We don’t care about any of that – you will go back to Arizona and that is that, if you start to lose yourself or lose your soul.’”
How did it feel to be so successful at such a young age?
“I was 18, 19, 20 years old I’m thinking ‘I need to work hard so that one day I can get the house, the sports car, the watch…’ and by 21 I had all that stuff and I was like ‘I am so not happy – this sucks! I am 21 and my life is over.’ And I am thinking ‘this is it? This is what I am going to do the rest of my life? Work hard so I can get these things?’ And I had this weird existential moment when I was like ‘this is not going to make me happy and I am like 21 years old and I feel like my life is over. I need to find something else to make me happy because material things are not going to make me happy.
“This was a big pivotal moment in my life when I realized that I needed to live for something bigger than myself. This was not going to do it for me, it was not enough. I knew I needed to find something to make me happy because material things did not.”
You did not like having money and being famous?
“I did not embrace that people looked up to me or were following my career. I did not embrace that fame was a power and so I might not have set a good example when I was younger. But as I have gotten older, I have earned to really embrace the following that I have, and I try to focus on positive things. I want to spend time with young people and really help teach lessons because fame is a power and you need to use it for good - whether you want it or not. That is something I realized, and I am trying to do now.”
Like the wizard he played on television, the students of AMBITION were under David’s mesmerizing spell. Together they talked about philosophy, books, faith, family, dreams, goals and what it meant to have ambition. They shared stories, discovered their commonalities, learned from each other and grew over the course of their magical morning together in the AMBITION classroom.
That day the students of AMBITION learned again that when you do the work, your dreams really can come true.
Gracious. Enchanting, Charming. Generous. A huge thank you to David Henrie!
David Clayton Henrie is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He is noted for playing Ted Mosby's future son Luke Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, Justin Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place, Larry on That's So Raven, London Busbee in Little Boy, and Rudy Ising in Walt Before Mickey. He is also a devoted husband and father who plays hockey and the guitar, loves Jimi Hendrix, Axl Rose and Lil Wayne, and credits his family for his success. Click here for more.
