European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 june 2007 to q o5 c o Homes dreams first Stop on child actors Road to stardom apartments in the Hollywood Hills from the Street it May look like just another sprawling los Angeles apartment but to a kid with dreams of its the Emer Ald City at the end of the yellow Brick Oakwood Toluca Hills is the place where wan Nabe child stars arrive by the hundreds every year to take up residence As they take a shot at becom ing everyone in the everyone who knows about knows about says teen Star Devon who arrived with his Mother four years ago with one Small film role to his he left for better digs after having landed the starring role in one of the most popular teen shows on Nickel Odeon neds declassified school survival just one visit to the Complex of furnished residences carved into a Section of the Hollywood Hills reveals this is no Ordinary Cluster of beige Nutile apartment around the in the at the Barbe they Are everywhere curly freckle goo looking they Are Friendly and they look a lot like the people you see on to and sometimes they typical of the 400 to 500 child actors living at Oakwood at any Given time is 1 4yearold Vincent who arrived during to Pilot season five years from his native i was doing commercials in Florida and i came out Here because i wanted to do television and and i knew this is where i had to he says Over sunday Brunch at one of the complexes two the facilities also double As the aters for Karaoke classrooms for student actors away from Home and the setting for the complexes very own Academy awards Vincent struck out at the auditions that first but the cherubic faced actor came Back the next year and landed a few he finally grabbed the brass ring the third winning a co starring role opposite Tyler James Williams As Chris Only Friend on the hit to series everybody hates not everyone who comes to Oakwood becomes a or even a working Vincents Michael int sure How Many years they would have kept returning if his son haunt broken youve got to know when to Cut i the elder Martella says with a As the pair talk Over they Are surrounded by the sounds of clattering trays and the voices of parents and children planning a Busy week around acting lessons and Hope for a table nearby is filled with flyers for acting music commercial photographers and be Vincents father warns a Mother whose son will be Busy rehearsing a play at a nearby theater during the coming they can disappear into he noting that a Long running play can leave an actor with Little time to pursue film or to and time is of the essence in where photos by a Young adult actors Vincent and Randall Bentley Chat at the Oakwood Toluca Hills apartments during a break in their Bentley works on the series and Martella costars opposite Tyler James Williams As Chris Only Friend on the hit to series everybody hates the apartment Complex is Home to lots of Starr eyed youngsters and their parents hoping for a break into show questions about their if youre not financially i dont think you can stay said Hope whose 12yearold has appeared on Hannah Montana and other but its a dream not Many will says Paul founder of the child actor advocacy group a minor consideration and himself one of the biggest child stars of the 1950s and a fairly Small percentage will even get a theatrical says Petersen who was precocious son Jeff Stone on tvs Long running the Donna Reed the common thread of those who succeed is a level of Talent that is Pilot season january april passes quickly and the Cost of a studio apartment at Oak Wood runs a Little More than a even teenage actors Here Are reminded they get older every and thus quickly learn to sidestep m h h u b i j u St rat u v