For his first film role, Wilmette actor fit right in

According to his family, budding Wilmette actor Alexander Ballester has an almost uncanny resemblance to the television character A.C. Slater, played by actor Mario Lopez, in the hit TV show “Saved By the Bell.” Plus, his initials are also A.C., for Alexander Cole.

Needless to say, it was a full-circle moment when Ballester, currently in fourth grade at Wilmette’s Romona Elementary School, was cast to play a young Mario Lopez in the new holiday movie “Once Upon a Christmas Wish,” which premiered on the Great American Family network on Dec. 7. 

“I was really, really nervous about how the movie would turn out,” Ballester, who was inspired to pursue acting by “The Avengers” movies and his favorite actor Robert Downey Jr., told The Record. “It was a lot, but I knew it was going to turn out good, [and] I tried to be good because it was a big deal.”

Leading up to Christmas, “Once Upon a Christmas Wish” will air on the network again at 7 a.m. Dec. 18, 9 a.m. Dec. 21 and 9 a.m. Dec. 22. 

In a flashback in the film, which is set and was filmed in the northwest suburb of Long Grove, Ballester plays a young Lopez interacting with his would-be love interest, played by his real-life wife Courtney Lopez. Ballester and his co-star, Aria Dinali (who plays the young Courtney Lopez), bring the young characters’ emotions to life and establish the background and initial connection for the adult relationship that evolves throughout the movie. 

When Ballester’s mom, Christina Ballester, saw the film for the first time, she said she audibly gasped upon seeing her son’s performance.

“It was a happy wail of joy,” she told The Record. “I couldn’t believe it to see my baby on screen and just nailing it — not just saying the parts and doing what he was asked but communicating the feelings and emotions of young Brian (Lopez’s character) in a way that legitimized the story because it was a flashback.”

Alexander Ballester, who had no formal acting training prior to landing his role on the film, hopes to keep acting in the future and is also keeping busy pursuing his passions and hobbies both in and outside at school, having recently signed up for his school’s improv lunch club. 

One of Ballester’s teachers even showed the clip of his performance to the class, using it as a jumping-off point for the class to engage in role play and acting. 

Christina Ballester said the journey gave her, too, a new insight into not only her son’s passion but also the valuable skills he could gain from pursuing his interests and having new experiences. 

“If a kid has an interest, training isn’t necessarily necessary; if they really like it and have fun with it and have an imagination, (then) parents shouldn’t limit their children,” she said. “(They) can do fun things here and there … (that simultaneously) build confidence in the child, and that’s an invaluable skill we were hoping Alexander would get out of it. When he could talk to a room full of adults with a story on his own, it showed me he’s gotten a lot of confidence on his own and can speak to adults respectfully and confidently.”

Even in his second Zoom callback, Alexander Ballester garnered laughs from the film’s producers all on his own. He’d visited Indiana the weekend prior to the Zoom and had seen Mario Lopez on the hotel TV, inspiring Alexander Ballester to tell the producers something along the lines of, “I can’t escape Mario!”

Regardless of whether her son continues to pursue acting, Christina Ballester said he’s already taken away so much, such as this increased confidence, from the experience, and that would be enough. 

“If he doesn’t do another thing again, that’s OK too,” she said. “It was just a wonderful, lifetime experience.”

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