From his time spent as the BABY on the hit ABC Family series KYLE XY to his latest role that sees him play DADDY on the very same network, audiences have watched Jean-Luc Bilodeau grow up before their eyes. Now the star of BABY DADDY (See what we did there?!), we recently caught up with the actor on the hit ABC Family laugher to talk about what it’s like growing up on television, the challenges that come with transitioning from drama to multi-camera comedy and why we have yet to see him reunite with his KYLE XY writer Julie Plec on THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.
Jean-Luc Bilodeau: In 2010 I had actually booked a sitcom pilot and was so ready to do it and then they ended up changing it to be a single camera comedy, so this year as soon as I booked BABY DADDY I was over the moon. The very first day that we did a live taping was my very first time performing in front of an audience and it was awesome. I fell right into it and loved it from the second I got up there in front of the audience. It’s a completely different kind of acting style. Single camera and multi camera are very different from each other and this first season has been a huge learning experience and a ton of fun. Maybe too much fun!
Well we didn’t have to work on it, we just kind of fell into it. We all get a long really well. Derek [Theler] lives down the street from me and we hang out. Tahj [Mowry] is a little bit farther away but we still make the effort to go out to him and hang. They’re the coolest cast I’ve ever worked with. I was on a show KYLE XY a few years ago and I was the young baby on the set so they’d go do their adult thing and it wasn’t something I was into at that stage. Versus now, we’re all the same age where we can hang out and best of friends and so we didn’t have to work too hard to make the chemistry look real, it’s there.
Oh My God, so much. She’s an absolute pro at multi-camera comedy and I’ve learned a ton from her. Just in technique in general she’s just so good, I’ve picked up all these little things that have helped my performance. And I think the longer we’ll work together the better I’ll get so I’m hopeful we’ll work together for years because you can learn so much from a talented person like Melissa. Plus, she’s just a funny girl and we have a lot of fun.
We have dance episode coming up, me and Tucker [Tahj Mowry] have a dance off at a club for a girl. It’s a really funny episodes and it’s great to see who actually gets the girl in the end, it’s one of our best episodes for sure. My character also goes on a slew a of dates with different girls in future episodes, and they’re always really funny because the girls, the actors we’ve cast are hilarious and they bring an awesome element to the show.
I don’t know! I haven’t actually talked to Julie in a while, I’ve got to message her on Facebook. I knew that when they were casting THE VAMPIRE DIARIES I was little too young looking for any of the roles so that I totally understand, but I would definitely love to do a guest spot on that shot. Perhaps she’ll watch my show and get inspired!
BABY DADDY airs Wednesdays at 8:30PM on ABC Family (ABC Spark in Canada)