valley sun all-star ian bodell:

You may have seen this week’s CV Sun All-Star on the big screen, or perhaps in last night’s episode of the ABC television show “Private Practice.”

Ian Bodell is making a name for himself in the theatrical world, as well as on the pages of the Valley Sun, all this while setting his own high goals for himself.

Bodell, 13, is an eighth grader at St. James the Less Catholic School in La Crescenta, where he’s described by Principal Susan Romero as: “A smart, likable young man, full of gumption and always willing to help.”

Bodell is the son of Bill and Sheila Bodell of La Crescenta. He has two sisters, Heather, 14, a Crescenta Valley High School freshman, and Haley, 7, a student at Mountain Avenue Elementary School. He also has a tortoise, a turtle, and two cats.

Ian Bodell has lived all his life in La Crescenta and attended kindergarten at Lutheran School of the Foothills, first-grade at Dunsmore Elementary School, second- through- sixth-grade at Mountain Avenue Elementary School and seventh-grade at Rosemont Middle School.

He became interested in acting through his dad, who works part-time as a bodyguard in the film industry. Bill Bodell said he was approached by a few actors, filmmakers and casting directors about putting his son in various television and film projects before Ian made friends with another child actor and decided for himself he’d like to try acting.

Since then, the youth has played small and walk on parts in several film and television projects, including: “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets,” “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” and a recent Verizon holiday-oriented television commercial.

His most recent acting project was portraying an autistic youth in a controversial episode of “Private Practice,” slated to run last night. In the episode, the youth (played by Bodell) is one of three children of a single mother who believes her son’s autism was caused by a vaccine, thereby causing the mom to choose not to vaccinate her children against measles or other illnesses.

Bodell said he loves acting and enjoyed the autistic youth role, despite the difficulties involved. “It was different, I’ve never done anything like that before, but it was a lot of fun,” he added.

In addition to acting and spending time with his family, Ian Bodell plays the electric guitar and enjoys skateboarding, riding his BMX bicycle and playing War Hammer, a fast-moving video game of battles played on his X-Box 360. “I like War Hammer because it’s really intense; there’s no stopping the action,” he said.

Action is important to the youth who plans after high school to enroll in the U.S. Air Force Academy and become an airline pilot. Prior to that, he hopes to become part of the high school ROTC program.

“I’ve always been interested in the military, but my parents don’t want me in combat on the ground, so, since I love planes, I want to become an Air Force pilot,” he said, adding that, “after that, I may go back to acting.”