In recent years, the Baton Rouge-based Gaudet’s Young Screen Actors studio has churned out a number of young actors who are landing life-changing roles.
225 recently spoke to two of the actors—Peyton Wich and Toby Nichols—about how they ended up on major Netflix shows, and how the Gaudet Young Screen Actors studio prepared them for their roles.
Wich, a 13-year-old New Orleans native, landed the role of Troy, the school bully of the Netflix smash hit Stranger Things. Nichols, a 14-year-old St. Francisville native and Young Artist Award winner, stars as young Daniel Rand in Marvel’s upcoming Netflix show Iron Fist.
“Miss Debby (Gaudet) is so amazing. I’ve learned so much being in her studio for about a year and a half. It’s a feeling of family there. Everyone is close. Acting-wise, I feel like she really helped me in terms of improving and then being able to land the role of Troy,” Wich tells 225.
The young actor says the first role he booked was a 2014 movie in called Impact Earth, which filmed in Biloxi but was never released.
Nichols has been cast in Iron Fist, a new show being released on Netflix in March 2017.
“Well, when you go to audition, you don’t know you’re going for something for Marvel. It’s very secretive, and it seems like it’s a regular audition,” Nichols says. “After you do it, they’ll let you know that it’s Marvel, and they give you the real script. I did a couple auditions and got the role. I was really, really extremely excited after I found out I got cast as Daniel.”
