Houston actor scores big movie role and major distinction

(3/12/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A special red carpet premiere party was held in Houston Monday night for a first of its kind movie.

The movie, called "My Brother," stars some big names like Vanessa Williams, Tatum O'Neal and one Houston man.

"I was like wow, I can't believe I'm here with this great cast of this movie," said Houston actor Christopher Scott.

While this is Scott's first movie, he represents a major first himself. He is the first African-American man with Down Syndrome to play a leading role in a feature film. And the story of his life from Houston to Hollywood is just as amazing as any movie.

On the big screen, Scott seems natural, outgoing and comfortable in his own skin. At his party Sunday night celebrating his new role as a movie star, he looks the part.

Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagined that he would be in a real movie," said his father Ira Scott. "He never acted in a play or anything like that. He watches movies all the times. He loves movies, and he can say the parts."

And that may have landed him the role of his life. When director Tony Lover wanted to make a movie about two brothers whose mother dies, one with Down Syndrome, he wanted someone who really faces those challenges, not an actor playing a role. So he emailed facilities nationwide asking for candidates. He got thousands of tapes. On his, Chris played Popeye.

"I saw someone with a great heart and the ability to tell stories," said Lover. "My idea is that if he connects with me, he connects with an audience. If he makes he feel, he makes me think, he makes me cry and he made me feel right off the bat."

Chris, and the boy who plays him as a child, had never acted before. Acting and stunt coaches worked with them daily. Veterans Vanessa Williams and Tatum O'Neal worked for union scale. Each day, Lover would rewrite their parts and the actors would readjust.

"It was the best experience of my acting career, just to work with them, and to get the realness that they bring to the role and the characters," said Scott's onscreen brother Nashawn Kearse.

But for his parents, this is about a lot more than a movie.

"When Christopher was born, a very bleak picture was painted," said Scott's mother Brenda Scott. "They said he would reach the level of a three-year-old and that's basically the way it would be."

Except for one doctor.

"He said every milestone will be a surprise because it will be something you never expected," she said. "So when we were in New York, I thought of his words because I said this is the miracle. It still seems like a dream to me, because it seems so unreal."

But Scott, who works as a teacher's assistant for disabled children, has a message.

"If I can do it, than you can do it, too," said Scott.

'My Brother' opens in theaters nationwide this Friday, March 16th. Here in Houston, it will be playing at three different theaters:

AMC or Houston's Studio 30 (Dunvale)
Magic Johnson Northline
Gulf Pointe 30

http://mybrotherthemovie.com/
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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