CV Teen Stars in Disney TV Series
Photo courtesy of Disney Branded Television/Disney Channel/WDTV Press
“Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” features CV teen Alkaio Thiele, left, with stars Janice Leann Brown, Selena Gomez, Max Matenko, Mimi Gianopulos and David Henrie, l.-r. (“Pilot” - Disney/Eric McCandless)
Photos courtesy of Disney Branded Television/Disney Channel/WDTV Press
Fourteen-year-old Alkaio Thiele from Castro Valley has hit the big time — landing a starring role in a Disney sitcom called “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place,” which premieres October 29 and 30. He’ll be playing Roman Russo, a high-strung, uptight, rule-following bookworm who loves order, straight A’s, and being right.
“I’ve been told that when I was young all I ever did was sing and perform and draw attention to myself,” says Alkaio, “So when I was 11 my parents told me I had to try musical theater.”
“I auditioned for a role in ‘High School Musical’ at I Can Do That! Performing Arts Center in Danville, and the entire experience was life changing. I was in tears after closing night and told my parents that this is exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
That was 2021. It was mid-pandemic, but Alkaio’s timing was good. His mother, Alexis Kollias Thiele, says he had always been musical and very funny. She helped get his career started by submitting his profile through casting databases.
She says, “The pandemic had given birth to self-tape auditions from home, which allowed equal opportunity for talent inside and outside of Los Angeles. It felt surreal having Alkaio audition for feature films starring famous actors from the comfort of our home.”
Alkaio’s parents are both registered nurses, so they were able to arrange their schedules to make trips as needed to Los Angeles for acting assignments. He also got voiceover work, for which the family built an in-home recording studio. Once Alkaio had some reel footage from those jobs, they e-mailed several agents in Los Angeles and eventually got him proper representation with access to larger projects.
Now Alkaio has several movies under his belt, and voiceover work as Spidey (Peter Parker) in the animated TV series “Spidey and His Amazing Friends.” His film credits include “A Christmas Mystery,” for HBO Max, “I’ll Be There,” and “Ultra Red.” Photos and details of his work can be seen on imdb.com.
Once he landed the part of Roman in the Disney series, it became clear that he’d have to live in LA. The family relocated there in March. Now Alkaio is on set Monday through Friday and continues his schooling through daily online courses.
He says his character is “a little neurotic and has a lot of similarities to young Justin Russo from the original series, who is now my dad on the show.”
Alkaio still does voiceover work and says performing on Broadway is now part of his “bucket list.”
“My favorite experience so far is definitely Wizards Beyond Waverly Place,” says Alkaio. “When I started acting a couple years ago, I told my parents that my dream role would be on a sitcom as part of a family, and here I am! While I love voice acting for my animated shows, Wizards lets me add to my physical humor. We’ve even gotten to film some of our episodes in front of live audiences which has brought back so many amazing musical theater memories. I just feel so lucky to work with the kindest and most supportive people in both the cast and crew.”
If the family’s name sounds familiar, mom Alexis Kollias Thiele grew up in Castro Valley and attended Proctor Elementary, Canyon Middle School and Castro Valley High. She was an RN at Eden Hospital for 10 years. Her husband Aidan Thiele taught 8th grade English at Creekside Middle School from 2012 to 1016. Alkaio himself attended Vannoy Elementary, Twin Oaks Montessori, and Canyon Middle School. He has a younger brother named Zacchaio.
Alkaio sends a “huge shout out to all my teachers at Vannoy -- Mrs. Danko, Mrs. Pang, Mrs. Wesner, and Ms. Jordan, who put up with all my shenanigans in class. I never stopped talking and would do anything to make people laugh, no matter how disruptive. And thank you to all my friends and family for your endless support. If you’d like to follow my journey on Instagram, see @alkaio.thiele.”