Charlie Bushnell: How Navigating On-Set Lingo And Balancing High School Life Propelled His Rising Acting Career

As a part of my series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Charlie Bushnell.

Los Angeles-native Charlie Bushnell was destined to be in entertainment. The son of a musician and nephew to a film and television actor, at just 10 years old he started making movies with his friends.

While binge-watching “Stranger Things”, he made the big decision to pursue acting. In the beginning, Bushnell self-trained every day by memorizing his favorite film monologues while also filming himself. Next, he started participating in elementary and middle school plays and eventually started taking professional acting classes at John Rosenfeld Studios and Ruskin Academy in Santa Monica, amongst others.

Auditions quickly followed and he soon landed the role of Bobby Cañero-Reed in the Disney+ coming-of-age comedy series “Diary of a Future President”, executive produced by Gina Rodriguez through her production company, I Can and I Will.

The series follows 13-year old Cuban-American Elena in her journey to become the future president of the United States while navigating the ups-and-downs of middle school. Bobby is Elena’s sweet and mischievous older brother who is now a freshman in high school.

Presently, you will see Charlie reprise his role as Bobby in the upcoming season on Disney+ and you will see him grow and blossom as he navigates high school. Season 2 is currently streaming.

Off screen, in Charlie’s spare time he loves just being a regular eleventh grader, playing soccer, tennis, video games, studying hard, and enjoying time with his family.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Hi! Thanks for having me! Well, I was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 16, 2004. I have an awesome family… 2 older siblings and the best parents! I’m a big mix…which I love — Costa Rican and Japanese on my mom’s side, Irish on my dad’s side. I played a lot of soccer growing up, and today, some of my best friends were the same ones I had when I was 7.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Looking back, I think I’ve always loved to entertain and make people laugh. Even though I didn’t know I wanted to act until pretty recently, I constantly created elaborate worlds with my toys and made little films with my friends on my mom’s iPad. I grew up in an artistic household, surrounded by musicians and artists… So maybe it’s just in my blood! My parents always used to say I would be the actor in the family and, well, here we are!

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your entertainment career?

Maybe, not the most interesting, but one moment that I will never forget is when I found out I got the role of Bobby on Diary of a Future President! I remember I was at school, and all of a sudden, I saw my mom walking (really fast btw) towards me during my lunch break, and I was like, oh, this is either really bad news or really good news… She told me that I had booked the role and that Ilana Peña (the show’s creator) wanted to talk to me on the phone right now. There was only one spot on campus with decent cell service, so I was standing there talking to her, bursting with excitement, and to the right of us, there was a high school couple just going at it (making out), completely oblivious that we were standing right next to them, lmao.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

What comes to mind is the first season of Diary. It was my first on-set work experience ever, and I didn’t know what anything meant, lol. It definitely took me a minute to understand all the set lingo… “10–1”, “pink pages,” “blue pages,” “martini shot,” “last looks”… I had to google everything! And what I learned from that is to always do your research, especially before starting something new and exciting, and never be afraid to ask questions!

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I’m a junior in high school and am currently taking a couple of months to enjoy it and get back into the swing of things, especially since we are back to in-person learning, finally! In freshman year, I started at a new school but missed the first couple of months due to filming season 1 of Diary. And then, obviously, the pandemic hit, and we had to switch to online learning for the remainder of my freshman year and pretty much all of my sophomore year… So, all in all, I have really only been at the school (in person) for a few months in total. I still feel like a new kid, haha, even though I’ve technically been at the school for over two years now.

Most young people your age don’t have to balance work and school. Can you tell us how you manage to balance your schoolwork, auditions, and time on set?

It’s definitely a lot to juggle; I’m not going to lie. But to me, it’s all worth it. When I’m on set, I have to do at least 3 hours of school a day. So literally, in-between takes, they will rush me over to the schoolroom, get like 20 minutes done, then go film some more, then do more school, then back to filming, and it’s just constantly back and forth like that all day. But again, totally worth it! And something that helps with the stress is just to find time for myself whenever I can and completely relax and let loose. I also love to hang out with friends and family, exercise, watch good movies, cuddle with my dogs, etc… Those are all great stress relievers!

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are so many people who have helped me along the way, and I wouldn’t be where I am without them! My parents of course… They have had to drive me around at all hours of the day and night, sit around on set for hours on end, help me with my lines, etc. I am forever in their debt. My incredible manager, Jennifer at ATN Entertainment, is the one who first saw my potential. Somehow she recognized that I could do it and signed me before I had even taken an acting class. So big shoutout to her for sure! And Jeanette, one of my favorite people ever, an amazing acting coach with John Rosenfeld Studios, who sadly passed away last year at the age of 29. She believed in me and gave me the courage to just go for it! She helped me grow so much as an actor (and as a person), and I will never forget her.

Okay thank you for all that. Now let’s jump to the main part of our interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Maybe it was kind of good that I didn’t know too much about the business side of things when I first started. I went into it with fresh eyes and enthusiasm. Nothing was holding me back.

2. It is okay to ask for time off. Sometimes you just need a break.

3. Trust your gut instincts; they’re normally right.

4. Get enough sleep! I’m a night owl and get a second wind at night, but it’s not always the smart choice to stay up too late.

5. Time management. If you can manage your time well, you can truly achieve anything. But if you don’t have the best time management skills yet, that’s okay too. You’re not alone. I’m definitely still working on my time management skills, lol.

You are a person of enormous influence. How do you think you can use social media as a platform to be a positive influence on your fans and for society at large?

Social media definitely has its pros and cons, but it’s great for spreading awareness about important and timely issues. Also, just keep it real because I want people to remember that most of social media is fake, so stop comparing yourself to others! Most of what you see on other people’s feeds is just the best parts of their lives.

If you had the ability to choose to work on any TV show or film, or work alongside any co-star, or with any director, what or who would that be, and why? You never know who might see this article, especially if we tag them. :-)

Oh man, there are so many people that I would love to work with! Let’s see… for starters, I think it would be really fun to be in a Marvel film… I mean, who doesn’t want to be a superhero? Also, I love all of the actors and directors attached to those films. There are so many directors that I would love to work with, a few of them being Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Olivia Wilde, the list goes on and on. So many actors as well… Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Samuel L. Jackson, Ana de Armas, Beanie Feldstein, Jonah Hill, anyone from the cast of Stranger Things — too many to count! There are so many insanely talented people in this industry, and I would love to work with all of them, but these are “just to name a few.”

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Instagram: @iamcharliebushnell

Twitter: @cbushnell15

This was very meaningful. Thank you so much!

This was absolutely my pleasure, so thank you so much!