Rye’s own child star

By Arti Panday

Fourth-year Ryerson film production student Jacob Kraemer has come a long way from his role as teen heartthrob Ben Harrison in Naturally, Sadie, a comedy on Family Channel.

Kraemer was 10 years old when he first realized his talent for acting.

“My dad and I every once in a while we banter movie lines back and forth.” said Kraemer. “It’ll come up [or] somehow we’ll work it into a conversation and then it’ll go off on its own tangent”

When he turned 12, his parents decided he was finally old enough to pursue a career in acting. His breakout role was in Naturally, Sadie, where he actually played two different roles.

“In the first season I showed up in two episodes very quickly and then I was able to do Ben,” he said.

“The two episodes I did in the first season almost cost me the role,” he explained. “My first day on Sadie everybody was kind of like, ‘Weren’t you from…’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, that was me. I’m somebody completely different now so don’t worry.'”

Now, in his last year at Ryerson, Kraemer looks forward to continuing his acting career which he says will always be at the forefront.

During his first two years at Ryerson, the young actor was working on the show Overruled, and going to school full-time. Working overtime on set between 60 to 70 hours a week, Kraemer was forced to devote the rest of his time to school.

“I got really lucky. The professors in the image arts program were all pretty accommodating for me,” said Kraemer. “I would keep in touch with them via email, but it took sixand a-half weeks to shoot a season and so for those six-and-a-half weeks I missed every class.”

His guest appearance as a soldier on Combat Hospital was also a highlight for the 22-year-old. The show is about a hospital in Afghanistan and featured an actor Kraemer looks up to, Elias Koteas.

“[Koteas] has been in almost every movie you can imagine,” Kraemer said in admiration. “He’s been in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Shutter Island… he was Casey Jones in all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

Although Kraemer doesn’t have any big gigs right now, he’s working on his thesis production, a short film written by his friend and classmate, Travis Merriman. Kraemer describes the film as a story about “reconnecting with a father who’s been [largely] absent from his son’s life.”