Walker Scobell (born January 5, 2009) is an American actor. Born in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, he made his professional acting debut at age 13 and gained immediate recognition for his lead roles in the science fiction streaming films ''

The Adam Project ''The Adam Project'' is a 2022 American science-fiction action comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and written by Jonathan Tropper, T. S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell in his film deb ...

'' and '' Secret Headquarters'' (both 2022). Scobell received continued recognition with his leading titular role in the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

fantasy series ''

Percy Jackson and the Olympians ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles'', the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series follo ...

'' (2023present).

Life and career

Early life and acting background (20092021)

Scobell was born on January 5, 2009, in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

, to Heather Scobell and Pete Scobell in a military family. He has an older sister and younger brother. Scobell lived in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

until the family moved to Fairview, Pennsylvania, where his parents grew up. In elementary school, he attended drama class. He went to Fairview Middle School and acted in the school's production of ''Mary Poppins''. Shortly after, he attended a

John D'Aquino John D'Aquino (born April 14, 1958) is an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg in '' seaQuest DSV'', Joel in the film '' Pumpkinhead'', U.S. President Richard Martinez in the Disney Channel ...

acting workshop, hired a manager and signed to an agency. When not traveling or on set, he goes to Fairview High School.

Acting breakthrough (2022present)

Scobell auditioned in August 2020 to play the younger version of

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the List of highest-paid film actors, world's second-highest-paid actor in 202 ...

' character in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film ''

''. His impersonation of Reynolds earned him his first acting role despite the hundreds of children who auditioned for the part. Scobell told interviewers that watching Reynolds' ''

Deadpool Deadpool is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (December 1990). In his comic book appearances, Deadpool is ...

'' film many times growing up contributed to his ability to mimic Reynolds. Filming began in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in November 2020 and it was released in March 2022. Scobell received praise for his performance. As told by a reviewer, "Scobell and Reynolds’ interaction on screen is perfect and amazing to witness as Scobell portrays a perfect younger version of Reynolds and Reynolds portrays a perfect older version of Scobell." Scobell starred alongside

Owen Wilson Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has frequently worked with filmmaker Wes Anderson, with whom he has shared writing and acting credits on the films '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and ''T ...

in '' Secret Headquarters''. The film was released on

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

in August 2022. A few months before the release of ''The Adam Project'', Scobell auditioned for the role of

Percy Jackson Perseus "Percy" Jackson is a fictional character, the title character and narrator of Rick Riordan's ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. He is also one of seven main protagonists of the sequel series '' The Heroes of Olympus'', appeari ...

in the

series ''

''. Series author

Rick Riordan Richard Russell Riordan Jr. ( ; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million cop ...

said that Scobell "blew us away with his audition tapes for the role of Percy." The casting was publicly announced a few months later, in April 2022. The series premiered on December 20, 2023 and was renewed for a second and third season. In May 2023, Scobell joined the cast of '' Looking Through Water'', a family drama directed by

Roberto Sneider Roberto Sneider is a Mexican writer, director and producer best known for his films ''Dos Crímenes'' and '' Tear This Heart Out''. Early life and education Sneider is a graduate of Universidad Iberoamericana and of the directing program a ...

. In April 2025, he joined the cast of '' The Angry Birds Movie 3'', which is scheduled to be released in January 2027.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scobell, Walker 2009 births Living people 21st-century American male actors American male child actors American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors Male actors from Pennsylvania Male actors from Virginia People from Erie County, Pennsylvania People from Virginia Beach, Virginia