Oprah Staff:
The video is of my 10 year old son, Jackson, who is also the youngest professional movie critic in America. Jackson (a.k.a. "Lights-Camera-Jackson") has had his own movie reviews website (www.lights-camera-jackson.com) for about a year and a half, and in September he got his own weekly film critic segment on a local TV station. He's also been doing movie reviews on the radio since he was 7 1/2.
Jackson is an amazing talent. I couldn't link his TV review work for you due to copyright issues, but you can see his segments here:
http://capitalnews9.com/content/living/lightscamerajackson/Default.aspx
and you can read his reviews, listen to his podcasts and see his box office wrap-up on his site.
But one of his most incredible talents is his ability to do impressions. He was born with the ability to hear a voice, sometimes only once or twice, and then duplicate it. Obviously his love for the entertainment business leads him to doing many celebrity impressions (the one's on this clip are of some of the 2008 Oscar nominees), but he also does political figures, cartoon characters and regular people. It's really something to watch and hear.
Nothing against the other kids you have on your site, they're all very talented, but when was the last time you heard a 10-year do impressions...and just NAIL THEM? I'm guessing never.
The other thing that makes Jackson so unique is that he is a "Kid Critic" - he reviews Kids/Family movies from a kids point of view. Other kids, and PARENTS especially love this, because they get insight and advice on a movie they might be thinking of taking their kids to...from a real kid...and not some 45 year old man who, for obvious reasons, can't relate to these films the way a 10-year old can.
And Lights-Camera-Jackson knows his stuff. He is a student of film and pop culture. He can tell you the actors, plot, release date and box office take of practically every movie that's been released in the past 3-years. And he knows the year that every Disney film came out - cold.
Last year he saw 46 films in the theater. Some weekends we hit one Friday night another on Saturday.
And, along with his reviews, he also does celebrity interviews. I know he'd love to ask Oprah a few questions about her film career.
Check out his website and on-air work. I think you'll agree that Jackson fits your criteria as both smart and talented.
Thanks for allowing me to write to you about him and I appreciate you considering him for the show.
Sincerely,
Dan Murphy
Jackson would make a great guest on your show as he could also do review some recent films or, and this would be very timely, do a SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW.
Charlie Liu might be the only 8 year old in the U.S. to be able to give a virtuosic performance on this very difficult Chopin show piece. Not only so, he's also a travel hockey player than plays hockey 5 times a week during season.
Charlie has won 13 international and local piano competitions, performed in all 3 halls of the Carnegie Hall (a feat likely no other 8 year old ever did) and performed on great pianist Lang Lang's own concert (very few kids had done that). He's Massachusetts 1st place and New Jersey 2nd place piano competition winner. Not only so, he's won 2nd place in Greater Princeton Chess Championship. He's identified as exceptional by his school district, participated in Continental Math League, and he skis and snowboards!
Nahshon O’Neil Hollis was born in Bermuda to parents O’Neil and Shawn Hollis on May 6th 1995. He is a 13 year-old self-taught imaginative oil painter that has a very fine talent and an eye for perfection and detail.
Nahshon attended Wee Learn Nursery which at the young age of two, first said he wanted to be a famous artist. Even in the earliest of his childhood could you see he had a God-given gift when compared to his peers. Most of his nursery years of work are in the hands of his nursery teacher that he would draw a picture for daily. At age six he attended Elliot Primary School. From here is when his talent became more evident to everyone around him. On career day, he dressed up in a painter’s shirt and a beret and boldly repeated that he wanted to be a famous artist. He got more involved and won many prizes for school related art competitions. He has won in three Junior Spring into the Arts awards and City Hall art competition awards, back to back Peoples Choice Awards and placed third in the Adult Quick Art competition for the Bank of Butterfield Art Festival, all in the age range of eight to ten. He was also a winner of the “One World, One People” competition for the Declaration of Human Rights for the United Nations. He has also been featured in events such as the Premiers Concert where he ‘wowed the crowed’, a beautiful and tranquil presentation of his pieces in the Spring into the Arts constructed by his music teacher, live painting for raising funds for “PRIDE” and also the RG and Bermuda Homes & Gardens 2008 Edition magazines. He has also made a great accomplishment at his current age of thirteen in showcasing his works in his very first art show at the newly revamped Masterworks Museum of Arts located in the beautiful Botanical Gardens.
Nahshon was inspired early in his life watching cartoon doodling when he was just in his pampers. He was greatly inspired by Bob Ross who he frequently watched any chance he could. From there, he branched onto his own mystical-style filled with more texture and a more classical look.
Nahshon has been selling his art since age nine and to date has sold about twenty pieces. Nahshon’s parents and sister Shanna give as much support as they can for their talented member of the family. He strives for perfection and detail in his art which can be lucidly shown in his latest pieces. He creates colorful, bright, serene and spiritual pieces which some viewers say can even be portrayed in his landscapes. Nahshon still plans to become the artist that he wants to be and hopes to help and inspire the world through his fine art.
You can visit Nahshon's website at:
http://www.nahshonsartworks.com
Little Michael has had a passion for music, specifically drumming, since the age of 2. In this video clip, Michael is grooving to some improvisation he may have picked up through watching drummers on videos and in church.
§ Passion of Music 2008 - youngest Laureate in international Young Musician Competition, Lincoln Center, New York
§ Long Beach Mozart Festival, 3d place. Youngest Laureate 37 Annual Piano Competition, Long Beach, California
§ Theme “Wow” musical composition 1st place on first stage, National PTA reflection program, USA
§ Helen Brown Music Competition, Winner, Los Angeles, California
§ Moscow Meets Friends International Festival, special invitation to perform by Vladimir Spivakov’s Fond, Moscow, Russia
§ Telluride International Jazz Celebration, solo performance among outstanding jazz musicians like John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Steve Turre. Telluride, CO
Name any country in the world and Arjun can play from memory the country's anthems on the piano. He learnt to play them by listening to them repeatedly.
He plays 6 musical intruments covering classical music - Indian (veena), Persian (santur and tombak) and Western (harp, organ, paino).
At age 6, he has appeared in "Animal Planet: Most extreme tough babies" for his extraordinary memory .
My daughter, Yaning, who just celebrated her sixth birthday, started learning Chinese harp when she was three and a half years old in Beijing China. She now plays the Chinese instrument, called Zheng in Chinese, under the guidance of Wang Changyuan, one of the most famous Chinese harp masters in the world. Yaning enjoys her music very much and plays publicly occasionally, such as at a show hosted by UNICEF and at a performance of Asian arts at Princeton University. She has entered an international Chinese harp contest, the finals of which will take place in Hong Kong early next May. I'm happy that she loves music.
At the age of 13, Malia Civetz was honored to be selected to perform at the legendary Apollo Theater in New York as a featured 'Star of Tomorrow'. She sings, dances, plays piano and is a straight 'A' freshman honor student majoring in theatre at the Las Vegas Academy of the Performing Arts. Along with her drive for academic excellence and her passion for music, she focuses on lending her time and talent throughout the year to numerous charities. She is a three-time winner of the Las Vegas Search for Talent and has amazed crowds with her soulful & powerful voice since she began singing in church when she was 5. For more about Malia please visit her website created by her brother, www.MaliaSings.com.
She learned this piece (Theme from "Witches' Dance" by Paganini) when she was 4 years old. Now she is in Suzuki book #3. She is a vehement reader and loves to paint, dance and act.
Jonathan Russell is a 13-year-old improvising jazz violinist who has toured the U.S. and Europe. He has performed with Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center as well as with his own ensemble at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In this video he plays some improvised solos over his own arrangement of jingle bells.
Dear Oprah,
Last year at Christmas I suggested to my husband, Larry, that he teach our three boys (ages 14, 12, and 10) how to solve the Rubik's cube. During the past year, they have taken up an extraordinary interest in learning all the algorithms necessary to solve the Rubik's cube. And solve it rather quickly they do. The older two have record times of 52 and 45 seconds and Nathan can solve it in under two minutes. Of course, we believe they are very talented kids and hope you will consider them for one of your shows.
Happy New Year!
Mary Lund
(Josiah, Zachary, and Nathan)
Alexis Jordan Bentinganan has been singing since she was 20 months old. She is constantly singing...in the shower, on the potty, in bed...you name it! Along with "God Bless America" and "Amazing Grace" her repertoire includes "Dancing Queen", "Fly Me To The Moon", "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", "Do, A Deer (from the Sound of Music) and her scale up and down (from Do to Do!) She also knows all the childrens' classics such as "A,B,C's" and "Old MacDonald". She picks up new songs all the time and is steadily expanding her range. And since 2 years old....she's always kept a tune (she's never really out of tune as witnessed by the video!) Enjoy!
In this video of my daughter, Candace choose to sing this song “Memory” for her finals when she joined Asian - Canadian Singing Competitions because she dedicate this song to her late grandfather who passed away on Good Friday of this year. When my dad passed away, Candace missed him terribly as he was her inspiration and gave her the encouragement to take some vocal and piano lessons to pursue her dream as a Broadway singer someday.
Candace is grateful to God with all the blessings she receives especially for this wonderful talent. She truthfully believes in her heart that God has a purpose for her and she will use this gift to reach her dream. When her dream is fulfill, she hopes to help others in any way she can. Also, she wishes to become a music teacher and have her own music school because by becoming a music teacher she’ll be helping other talented children to develop their talents.
Bridgette is 13 years old. She has been singing since the age of five. She also plays piano, writes, and composes her own songs. This is an original by her titled "Selfish Lies." Hope you enjoy!!