E Is For...Evan Bonifant!

Tum Tum grew up

Or more precisely an interview with Evan Bonifant! For those of you who don't know him, Evan is an actor best known for his role as Tum Tum in 3 Ninjas Kick Back and as Buster in the Blues Brothers 2000. These are two of my favourite childhood films so I decided to message Evan and ask for an interview. He kindly agreed and here it is!
  



Evan, you are best known for your roles in the films listed above. What was it that influenced you in becoming an actor?

Evan: My Brother Adam. He was hired to be in a film called Toy Soldiers and I followed him to New York with my mother as I was only 4 years old and he was not old enough to chase the dream without my mother's assistance.


Knowing that you were the second actor to portray Tum Tum and this being the third film, did you find it difficult learning how to play the character?

Evan: 3 Ninjas was an amazing experience, and there was no character really to play. The director and I had a wonderful friendship and if he needed me to tweak the performance, it was done. I was 7 years old, let's remember, when we filmed 3 Ninjas, but this was just a 7 year old that liked candy. So there wasn't much acting, more or less, it was just me being me :)

3 Ninjas has gathered a cult following and provides a lot of entertainment for kids, including myself (big kid!), did you have fun filming it?

Evan: Those 6 months (filming in LA and Japan) were some of the most amazing months of my life. I couldn't play pachinko or ride scooters at the time, but I sure took in the villages and we did visit a REAL ninja village, which was pretty outstanding at 7 years old. Also Sean and Max became great older brothers while filming.

(Sean Fox played Rocky and Max Elliott Slade played Colt)

Do you keep in contact with the other actors from the film?

Evan: I have actually, very recently, been back in contact with Max and he seems to be doing outstandingly. Sean and I lost contact over the years, but I'm sure he's doing swell. They are both awesome people.

One of Tum Tum's famous phrases is 'let's murdalise them!' Do you ever use this phrase in day to day life?

Evan: Haha, no I do not. However, if I do have to rally the troops, I usually stick with something a little more grammatically correct.

Starring in the Blues Brothers 2000 must have been quite an experience. Were you a fan of the original film?

Evan: Of course, who wasn't? It was the other greatest filming experience of my career. 3 months in Toronto and the surrounding areas, and listening to great music the entire time!

What was it like working with actors such as Dan Akroyd, John Goodman and the many musicians who featured?

Evan: Dan, John, Joe, John Landis...they were...just incredible and incredibly professional. The musicians I met whilst filming are still some of the most incredible artists I've ever heard, and I wish wish wish that I could see them again as I did not meet a single person on that set that I didn't love like family.

Do you have any music aspirations yourself?

Evan: I play guitar (as I was given one on my birthday by Dan Aykroyd and John Landis) but it took me 10 years to really get into it. I play jazz and rock and I am self taught, I don't read music. I'm a musical vagabond, meandering from style to style. Jimmy Rosenberg and Robin Nolan and Django Reinhardt are my idols at guitar. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton and Sondre Lerche... I have a very eclectic taste in music but at least it's all good music :)

I've noticed that you've starred in a few short films lately. Are you working on any projects at the moment?

Evan: I am currently producing a couple different web series and I am acting in a couple.

What's your career plans for the foreseeable future?

Evan: Well, the obvious plan is to continue doing this thing that I love until someone decides that they want to see more of me in more places. I enjoy this job for every stage of it, from the preparation, to the audition, the callbacks, and the network meetings, to finally being hired and the dress rehearsals and/or just straight to filming. I hear a lot of people make plans on becoming famous because they don't like the audition process... You have to love it. It might be the only time that an up and coming actor/actress gets to read the role the way that THEY want to (before someone comes in and starts tweaking it, lol.) I plan on moving into production with these projects by my birthday (August 19th) and there are numerous other projects that are just dying to get made, that we have on the back burner just because of financial necessity of those very projects. Very hopefully, you will be seeing more of me and my trusted crew of actors, actresses, and crew very soon.

Thank you for your time Evan, they are amazing answers and I wish you all the best for the future and hope things continue to go well for you. I'll look forward to seeing what you and your team come up with and might possibly just have to interview you again in a couple of years time.

Evan: Of course! Thank you!

I really enjoyed interviewing Evan especially as he features in one of my favourite films! He's a really down to earth guy and I will definitely be keeping an eye on his current and future projects.

Who knows? Maybe he'll do something concerning 3 Ninjas?

If you'd like to keep up-to-date with Evan then you can follow him on Twitter @EvanBonifant

Or go like his Facebook fan page James Evan Bonifant