Nickelodeon's New Show Gives You Ideas for "100 Things to Do Before High School!"
Jaheem Toombs and Owen Joyner Fill Us In on Working on This Brand New, Fun Show!
By: Susan J. Yeager
Looking for something to make this summer fun and exciting? Try tuning in to the new Nickelodeon series "100 Things to do Before High School!" The show centers around CJ (Isabela Moner) and her two best friends Fenwick (Jaheem Toombs) and Christian "Crispo" Powers (Owen Joyner), a trio that is determined to make the most of their middle school years before their big transition into High School.
The series will debut on Nickelodeon, Saturday, June 6 at 8:00PM, with the first episode "Running With the Bears Thing!" In the series premiere, CJ, Fenwick and Crispo must conquer one fear each. For Crispo, it's being around snakes. For CJ, it's talking to a gorgeous 8th grade boy. For Fenwick, it's joining the school's basketball team, The Bears, as they make their daily run through the school hallway. Can these three best friends help each other overcome seemingly impossible odds? Join in the fun by tuning in to find out!
Each episode of the series will be available on Nick.com, the Nick App and Nick On Demand one day following its linear TV premiere.
See a clip of the show here:
The cast of "100 Things to Do Before High School" boasts some fresh new faces who are sure to become some of your favorite TV talent before summer's end. We recently had a great time chatting with Jaheem Toombs about playing "Fenwick" and Owen Joyner about brining "Crispo" to the small screen. Both guys were friendly, talkative and extremely excited about everyone finally get to see this new show.
Find out more about these talented teens below!
Jaheem Toombs
Jaheem Toombs is a Boston native who always dreamed of starring on Nickelodeon. "Since I was very, very, very young, my dream was always to be on a Nickelodeon show" he says enthusiastically when discussing how he first got started in acting. "It was never any other network, it was always Nickelodeon."
The young performer had his sights set on being in front of the camera, but it was going to take some convincing. "I came into my Mom and Dad's room one day and was like, 'Hey Mom, Dad, I want to get to Hollywood,'" he continues. "They were like, 'All right, All right.' They were just kind of fanning me off at first. I was like, 'No... I'm dead serious.' They were like, 'okay.' It took a while to decide it."
With Jaheem doing everything he could to pursue his love of being a performer, the family made a huge leap of faith. "We actually moved out here about five years ago. I got a manager and an agent. I was auditioning galore. It was insane for awhile. When I booked this role, I totally flipped out! I was so excited."
Jaheem will be playing "Fenwick Frazier" on the brand new series "100 Things to Do Before High School." Nickelodeon is so confident in the show and its cast, the network ordered 26 episodes right off the bat. "'100 Things To Do Before High School' is about three kids about to get into high school," he begins. "It's about middle school, they're basically trying to do as many crazy, awesome things as possible. The number one priority in doing these awesome adventures together is sticking together, because we want to be best friends forever."
As for the part he plays on the show, Jaheem says, "My character 'Fenwick,' he's really exciting, he's really energetic. He's the smartest kid in school. He's all about his grades. His goal is to get into Stanford. He loves everything about school. He loves all school things. He also gets pulled into these crazy situations by CJ and Crispo. He's always the most freaked out about it. You'll see him have freak outs a lot!"
Playing "Fenwick" isn't a huge stretch for the actor. "I was always that one kid who would wear a tie and a suit, so I'm a lot like Fenwick," he reasons. "It was pretty easy to relate to the character. I'm very energetic and very dramatic. Fenwick is very, very dramatic so that's another way we relate. I kind of used other actors as inspiration too and I put it into Fenwick. Now, when I go on set, I'm not even myself, I'm fully Fenwick, I'm not even Jaheem."
We asked Jaheem if he remembered the first time he heard about the show and what his thoughts were? "That's funny," he begins. "I was just in the office, like 2 seconds ago, the room I first auditioned in. I remember walking in, I was a little less nervous than usual. I've auditioned for Nickelodeon multiple times so I kind of knew what to expect. I walked in and I felt really good from the beginning. It was a fun show. I was like, 'Oh I love this! This would be so much fun.' I read the script and thought it was really funny. It was really active. There is a lot of running involved. I was like, 'That sounds fun!'"
He had no reason to be nervous because he was perfect for the part of "Fenwick." Needless to say, finding out he got the role led to some major celebrating. "I freaked out!" Jaheem confesses. "We went on like an amusement park spree. The moment I found out, we were driving. I had my Mom pull over so I could jump out of the car and run down the street yelling, 'I just booked a part on a Nickelodeon show!' People were like, 'Congrats!' They didn't know who I was. So I was just running down the street, running in to Target, telling random people. I was ecstatic."
The show has changed his life in many ways, but having two new best friends is one of the biggest perks. "It's such an awesome cast! They're like my brothers and sisters," he says sincerely. "We never get sick of each other. We go hang out after work. [People ask] 'How are you not sick of each other yet?' 'I don't know!' For Christmas break, we were only away from each other for two weeks, and we were like 'Oh my gosh! I can't wait to go back!'"
There's something else Jaheem can't wait for... the June 6th premiere where family and friends will finally get to see the show every week! "I'm so excited!" he gushes. "I'm excited for them to see the episode that's airing, 'Running With the Bears Thing.' I have to be athletic, which does not happen often. If you know me, this is definitely a treat for you! Cause, I bet you, if you've known me for a long time, you know I do not run! If you know me well, you'll be like, 'Wow!' My P.E. teacher, I'm excited for him to see that, hopefully, it will bring up my grade! We've been working so hard on it for a long time! I'm super excited for it to be out in the public and everyone can see it. It's exciting to see yourself on TV. That's always fun! I'm just all around excited!"
He is especially excited for two upcoming episodes, his favorite to film and his favorite to watch. "I think my favorite to film was 'Stay Up All Night Thing.' That was a really, really fun one! We got to wear pajamas all week and take mini naps in between takes. It was so cool. It was all dark on the set. All the crew was wearing their pajamas because they were like, 'Hey! If the cast is wearing pajamas, let's do pajama day every day this week.' It was really cool. We got to work with slime! It was a lot of fun."
My favorite one to watch is 'Meet Your Idol Thing.' It was a lot of fun! It was really funny. I remember reading the script and I laughed so much reading that script. I loved it so much! It's one of my favorites comedy wise."
Jaheem not only keeps a full-time work schedule, he also has to make school a priority as well. "It's tricky," he confesses. "It's complicated. I'm literally in school right now! I go to an actual school. Isabela and Owen are home-schooled. I go to a real school. I was used to going to my school every single day and when I had auditions, I would just leave early. Now that I'm working every single day, I have to do my school work on set. So my Mom goes and picks up a packet every Monday and I work on it in the school room, which is right above stage. It's a fake school on stage, a built-up middle school. Then you go upstairs and it's a littler, small room and it's the real school. We do all of our school work that we have from our real school. We have three hours of school a day, and fit it in while shooting, in 20 minute blocks."
When he's not working or going to school, you will most likely find Jaheem at a theme park or making new friends with other Nick talent. "Amusement parks are my thing! That's all I do! I'm an amusement park geek too! I love hanging out with Isabela and Owen, some of my other friends. It's really cool hanging out with my Nick family, that's a lot of fun! On weekends, sometimes, we film promos and we get to be all together. It's really cool because we all get along super well, everyone on all the other Nick shows. It's real cool hanging out with them too."
"It's insane!" Jaheem says in closing of thinking of himself as a part of the Nickelodeon programming legacy. "I look up to the other Nickelodeon actors who have been before me so much! They're huge inspirations to me. It's really insane how I'm a part of the new generation of Nickelodeon. People are like, 'Yeah, you're on a Nickelodeon show.' I'm like, 'Yeah.' Then I go home and I think about it more and I'm like, 'WOW! I can't believe this is actually happening!' It's really surreal. It's all starting to happen now! The posters, the awards show promos, all the craziness, it's starting to happen. It's sinking in more and I'm freaking out right now. I'm starting to get along with everyone, we're all coming together. It's so cool. It's amazing being on Nickelodeon. It's a dream come true!"
Watch Jaheem live his dream on the funny new series, "100 Things to Do Before High School," airing Saturdays on Nickelodeon at 8:00PM.
Follow Jaheem on Twitter: http://Twitter.com/JaheemToombs
Owen Joyner
Stay Tuned To Learn More About Owen!For more on "100 Things to Do Before High School" visit http://www.Nick.com/100-Things-to-do-Before-High-School/