Young Kevin Pearson in This Is Us
Parker Bates is an actor who played the childhood version of Kevin Pearson in This Is Us.[1]
Parker Bates
Parker Bates played young Kevin Pearson in This Is Us and moved into feature-film work with Magic Max.
Biography
Parker Bates is an actor who played the childhood version of Kevin Pearson in This Is Us. The NBC drama became a long-running early role after what he initially expected would be a short guest appearance.
Young Kevin Pearson in This Is Us.
Known for
Career highlights
- Career 1
- Career 2
A guest part became a regular role
His This Is Us casting initially looked like a brief engagement. Bates recalled becoming a series regular after roughly seven episodes, playing Kevin as a child while other actors portrayed later stages of the same character’s life.[1]
- Career 3
Matching the different Kevins
The production paid attention to continuity between performers. Bates and Logan Shroyer, who played teenage Kevin, wore brown contact lenses to match Justin Hartley. Bates also learned from Milo Ventimiglia’s advice about listening to scene partners.[1]
- Career 4
Watching the work behind the camera
As his time on the drama continued, Bates became interested in directing and camera operation. He told INBETWEEN that opportunities to watch that work, particularly around scenes with Ventimiglia, added to his understanding of a television set.[3]
- Career 5
Moving into Magic Max
Magic Max was his first feature-film experience. Bates described learning magic tricks for the production and performing a controlled fall from a tree using a crane, an introduction to stunt work as well as a different shooting schedule.[3]
