Caymanian-American Edward (EJ) Cline Sanchez, who is just 7 years old, made his Hollywood debut in the season premiere of the popular Netflix series ‘Cobra Kai’ on Friday, 9 Sept.
“It was great to be an actor,” EJ said in a recent Zoom interview with the Cayman Compass from his Daphne, Alabama, home, as he spoke about the experience of being on set and filming for the series.
Snagging the part on the show was unreal said the excited young actor, adding that the global sensation was one of his favourite shows even before he knew he was going to be a part of the series.
“It felt weird… like a dream come true,” he said, as he proudly displayed his authentic Cobra Kai T-shirt during the interview, his first as a model/actor.
EJ’s father Edward Sanchez is originally from West Bay, where he lived until he moved to the US at age 15. He was close to his grandmother Eula Glidden.
Both Edward’s parents, EJ’s grandparents, mother Donna D’Amato and father Eduardo Sanchez – who bought a KFC franchise in the Cayman Islands – have died, but he said he knows they would have been proud.
From COVID hiccup to casting success
Edward said the whole experience has been a whirlwind for the family and credited his wife Dr. Tiffany Sanchez with getting his son discovered.
“Of course, every mother thinks their child is the best, the prettiest, the cutest and she kept saying, ‘We need to get him an agent. We need to put him in acting and modelling’… and I kind of just blew her off like ‘Okay… yeah… uh uh’. One day I came home and she walked in and she said ‘Hey, he has an interview with a talent agent’ and that’s how it all started,” recalled Sanchez, a US Coast Guard aviation maintenance technician.
EJ, who was 5 years old at the time, was signed by Barefoot Models and Talent Agency founder Suzanne Massingill in 2020 and had done some modelling, his mother said.
However, she said opportunities became “stagnant”, as the signing happened around the time COVID hit.
EJ, she said, got picked up for local commercials here and there after that, but a big role seemed out of reach.
That was until September last year when she said her son got a direct audition request.
“We didn’t even know what he was auditioning for at the time,” she said, adding it was very secretive and came in urgently.
She said Massingill told her they needed Sanchez to audition for something that very day and it had to be submitted that night.
She said they were told “Just get it done” and so they did.
“We got the call the same night that he had gotten the role and we had to be in Atlanta the next day, with COVID testing and everything, to start filming. It literally happened overnight. I think it’s a fluke, but a really exciting fluke,” she added.
EJ said everything happened so fast.
“I had to pretend I got hit by a car and saved by someone,” he said, laughing, as he described his audition tape.
In the actual series, Tiffany said, EJ was saved by actor Xolo Maridueña, who portrays Miguel Diaz.
“That was my favourite part,” Sanchez said, adding that he plays a character named Luis and will be in two episodes.
He said the whole scene and experience was so unreal, and it was weird seeing his idols in person.
EJ said filming his action sequence was “cool” and everyone was so nice.
The highlight for him, he said, was meeting his favourite actor in the series Tanner Buchanan, who plays Robby Keene.
It was filmed in Atlanta, with the scenes in Mexico actually shot in Puerto Rico in December, his mom added.
Tiffany said, as a mother, she was made to feel comfortable, with the production crew not only ensuring the scenes were COVID safe, but also that EJ was protected from injury.
The crew also made sure “that I could have an eye on him at all times, especially with the stunt team. They walked me through every single thing that was gonna happen, got my blessing and approval before they actually did those scenes. I mean, lots of respect in that aspect to production and the stunt team for just making everyone comfortable, and things going the way they did,” she said.
EJ admitted the hardest part for him was keeping his role a secret from his classmates and friends.
EJ’s father said the family regularly visits Cayman and spends time with his aunt and uncle, Gloria and Cline Glidden.
He added that EJ’s full name, Edward Cline Sanchez Jr., is an homage to his Cayman connection.
He said the entire family, which includes daughters Madison, 18, an engineering student at Florida State University and Zoie, 12, a soccer champ, has been thrilled by the entire experience.
Tiffany said all of her husband’s family lives in Cayman including his siblings, who moved back after his mom passed away in 2006.
She said they are looking at a December visit, as COVID had prevented them from returning to Cayman.
The elder Sanchez said he believes having his son land the ‘Cobra Kai’ role should be an inspiration to others from Cayman, as often the island is portrayed in film in a negative light.
“There’s great people in Cayman and we need to take more opportunity or put ourselves forward to go for the big things… even if it’s just trying. Don’t feel like you’re on a rock,” he said, adding that “you never know what someone’s looking for”.
As for future projects for EJ, Tiffany said they are taking things as they come because when they first started this journey they had prepared themselves for thousands of ‘nos’.
Though he would love to pursue a career in movies, the young actor said his real dream is to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the US Coast Guard.
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