‘Malcolm’s’ Pal Has Another Part: Role Model

On Fox’s hit comedy “Malcolm in the Middle,” 10-year-old Craig Lamar Traylor plays Stevie, the wheezing, bespectacled, wheelchair-using best friend of Malcolm (Frankie Muniz). He’s so believable as the brilliant and funny paraplegic that it’s hard to believe this bundle of energy sitting in a conference room at 20th Century Fox is one and the same guy.

“Craig is the least like his character,” offers director Todd Holland, the co-executive producer of the quirky comedy. “He is full of unexpected surprises. He does funny voices and imitations.”

Stevie has turned the engaging Traylor into a big star at his elementary school in Colton, where he’s in fifth grade. “‘At school, I had a cramp because I signed so many autographs,” Traylor says.

“This is the good part. In our school they have a classroom for handicapped kids. I am a role model for them.”

Traylor, who is wearing a silver beaded necklace and has stacks of Pokemon cards tucked away in his vest, had to learn how to act while operating a wheelchair and taking deep breaths between words.

“I took to the wheelchair the first chance I got in it,” he says cheerfully, as his mother, Meshiel, watches him quietly.

“My acting changed a little bit. It was kind of hard the first time to wheel [and say my lines]. But I mastered the techniques of the wheelchair. I can go pretty fast now. I couldn’t chase a dog, but close.”

Traylor went on three auditions for the role of Stevie. The first, he recalls, was a cattle call. “A lot of popular kids [actors] went out for it and they chose me.”

For his final audition, Traylor did his scene with the show’s creator and executive producer, Linwood Boomer, who based the character of Stevie on a childhood friend who had cerebral palsy.

“We did it very different from how Stevie sounds now,” says Traylor. “Stevie took even longer breaths. I was soo dizzy.”

In fact, he says, “I almost fell out of the wheelchair I got so dizzy.” To keep levelheaded, Traylor practiced breathing exercises.

The actor says he and Muniz became good friends, just like their characters. “We never had any problems together,” says Traylor. The show goes back into production next month.

“He gets along very well with everybody,” Holland says. “Craig is much livelier than Stevie. Frankie and Craig, they have their little secrets, their stuff they do together.”

Traylor gets to shine in Sunday’s episode, which finds Malcolm spending the night at Stevie’s house. The two sneak out of the house and go to an arcade. When Stevie’s wheelchair is stolen, Malcolm has to roll his friend in a trash can and a tire.

Born in San Bernardino County, Traylor modeled for magazine ads when he was 4. While modeling, he caught the attention of an agent. Within a week of signing with an agent, Traylor did his first commercial, which he recalls had something to do with Santa Claus.

He continued doing commercials and got a small part in the family film “Matilda.” “I was the kid who caught the lizard,” Traylor says.

“Back then I was so serious,” he says of his early years in the business. “Now, I am not as serious. I was mature back then and now I’m a kid.”

He wants to continue acting. He started gymnastics at age 2 and wants to become a gymnastics teacher. “Then I want to go on to medical school and become a brain surgeon,” he says matter-of-factly.

Holland describes Traylor as an “amazing renaissance kid.” In fact, he says, Traylor loves to sew. “He can really make clothes. He is a really great tailor.”

Traylor also loves collecting stuffed panda bears and Pokemon cards. But his biggest hobby is collecting anything to do with “Xena: Warrior Princess,” starring Lucy Lawless.

“I like ‘Xena’ because of the Greek mythology and they make it look so real how it was back then,” says Traylor, adding, “The main thing I want to do is meet Xena.”

* “Malcolm in the Middle” airs Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on Fox. The network has rated it TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children with special advisories for coarse language).