The door of the Willoughby home swings open, and standing inside — offering a broad smile and a warm greeting — is a remarkably self-possessed 16-year-old.
Rustin Gresiuk holds out his hand for a firm handshake and then steps aside to allow a visitor to enter.
The unusually confident and relaxed demeanor is a direct result of the teen’s choice of career, says his mom, Rhonda Gresiuk.
Yes, his career.
For four years now, Rustin has been a working actor, getting jobs in commercials and a TV pilot (at 15, he booked Running Wilde, a sitcom starring Will Arnett and Keri Russell) and even catching the eye of the folks at Disney who, Rustin said, are actively looking for a show for him to star in.
“(Acting) has made him very confident for a 16-year-old,” said Rhonda, seated across from her son at the family’s kitchen table.
He has no problem walking into a room and speaking with adults he’s never met, she said.
“He also works well under pressure.”
There might be 150 people standing around on a set watching him work, or a bunch of last-minute changes to the script, but none of it seems to rattle him, she added.
It’s a far cry from his approach to his first acting job, when he cried and fussed and wouldn’t let Rhonda leave the room. Then again, he was only three, and the temptation of playing with a few Fisher Price toys on camera was no substitute for keeping his mom within eyeshot.
As luck would have it, 10 years later, when Rustin did manage to successfully film his first ad, it was for the same casting agent — who remembered him from the earlier drama — and of course, it became a bit of a running joke on the set, he said.
Last week, the home-schooled Langley teen was preparing to head out to yet another set — this one in the Okanagan — to film his scenes for his first movie role.
He’s playing Alex in Flicka 3, starring country singer Clint Black and Black’s wife Lisa Hartman, which is shooting in Summerland.
Rustin had auditioned for one of the lead roles, a character named Briggs, which eventually went to 20-year-old actor Max Lloyd Jones.
Instead, he was offered the role of the best friend — a part that offers “a lot of funny and wonderful ‘guy’ moments,” said Rustin.
It was while he was goofing around with his sister, making homemade movies, that Rustin discovered just how much he loved being on camera.
The 12-year-old began begging his mom to let him try acting, pestering her relentlessly, until she decided he was, in fact, serious.
They sent his head shot off to 10 talent agencies and that same day, all 10 responded with offers, said Rhonda. In the end, they selected Melanie Turner at Pacific Artists Management in Vancouver.
“Within the week, they were sending him on auditions,” Rhonda said.
One after another, in fact.
Rustin auditioned for Flicka in June and by the time he got the call in August, it was already a distant memory.
“You train yourself to do it and move on,” he said.
It’s part time management, part self-preservation, because rejection is a big part of the acting game.
“There are highs and lows, times when you get discouraged.”
But you learn to accept rejection, he said, and to “take the feedback and make something positive out of it.”
After four years, it’s not about Rustin’s skills as an actor anymore, said Rhonda.
If he loses out on a job, it’s more likely because of his age, his height or his look.
“He’s made real progress in his craft.”
But all of that comes with sacrifice.
Between his high school studies, going to auditions, rehearsing and working with his acting coach, Rustin doesn’t get a lot of time to just hang out with friends, like other boys his age.
The hope, of course, is that all that hard work and determination will one day pay off in a successful film career.
And Rustin has already mapped out, in his mind, how he would like it all to unfold. In fact, he’s modeled his path on the career of another young actor whose current major motion picture was filming in Langley last week.
“I’d love to go the Disney route and then break out — like Shia LaBeouf.”
Follow him on Twitter,
@RustinGresiuk