Gabriel LaBelle
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Gabriel LaBelle (born September 20, 2002) is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his leading role as young aspiring filmmaker Sammy Fabelman in
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
's semi-autobiographical film ''
The Fabelmans ''The Fabelmans'' is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and written and produced by Tony Kushner and Spielberg. It is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as ...
'' (2022), for which he received acclaim and was nominated for the
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer (Actor/Actress) is one of the awards given to people working in the film industry by the Critics Choice Association at the annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Winners and nominees 1990s ; ...
. LaBelle has also appeared in the action film '' The Predator'' (2018), in an episode of the
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horror series ''
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'' (2021), and in the
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drama series ''
American Gigolo ''American Gigolo'' is a 1980 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. It tells the story about a high-priced escort in Los Angeles (Gere) who becomes romantically ...
'' (2022).


Early life and education

LaBelle is from
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, and is the son of producer and character actor Rob LaBelle. He was raised
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. LaBelle began interest in acting at the age of 8 at a summer camp, playing roles in its musical productions of ''
Footloose Footloose may refer to: * ''Footloose'' (1984 film), a musical film ** ''Footloose'' (1984 soundtrack) ** "Footloose" (song), performed by Kenny Loggins * ''Footloose'' (2011 film), a remake of the 1984 film ** ''Footloose'' (2011 soundtrack) ...
'', ''
Shrek the Musical ''Shrek The Musical'' is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film ''Shrek'', along with elements of its sequels: ''Shrek 2'', ''Shrek Forever After'' a ...
'' and ''
Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...
''. LaBelle made his on-screen acting debut in 2013 on an episode of the Canadian TV series ''
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'' in a guest role, thanks to his father landing his son an agent and being a producer on the show. In 2017, he starred in the indie horror film ''Dead Shack'', which premiered at the
Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...
and
Fantasia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
. It was in 2020 that LaBelle became fully committed to acting as a career and flew to
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
to apply for theater programs, until the
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locked down the city. He ultimately got in to
Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
’s drama program, but had to attend classes virtually. He also wanted to pursue a career in acting in
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, but put the plans on hold to take care of his family at home. He also deleted his social media in early 2020 for these reasons, saying that doing so made him "a better actor because you want to be focused, creative and confident, but if you have this thing that destroys your attention span and takes up time away from original thought and further indulges your need for validation, that’s my whole job. I can’t have that in my front pocket. I try to dissociate from that desire. I’ve never seen any of that as good, even before auditioning for stuff."


Career


''The Fabelmans''

In March 2021, LaBelle received from casting director Cindy Tolan the offer to audition, among 2,000 other contenders, for the lead role of Sammy Fabelman in
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
's ''
The Fabelmans ''The Fabelmans'' is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and written and produced by Tony Kushner and Spielberg. It is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as ...
'', which at the time had kept its title, plot and character names under wraps. Following his audition, he was initially not cast in the role until he received a virtual callback three months later, with Spielberg, Tolan and 38 other representatives in attendance, where he then won the part. On finally reading the script and learning the details about his character being a fictionalized version of Spielberg himself as a teenager for mostly the entire film, he recalled "When I was auditioning, the character’s name was Teenage Sammy - I thought as opposed to Adult Sammy ... I get the script and you’re reading it for 30 pages and he’s 6 and 8 years old. Page 35 or so Teenage Sammy comes along. OK, good! Now this is my part. It’s going to be a three-act movie, it’s going to be a ''
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'' or something. I kept waiting for my exit but it never came." LaBelle described the experience of getting the role as "intimate" and that he "...felt in my bones it was the best performance I’d done in my life." To prepare for the role, LaBelle watched and re-watched some of Spielberg's films, such as ''
Empire of the Sun ''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard; it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology '' ...
'' (1987) and gained access to photographs, home movies and other material from Spielberg's family's archives. He was also taught how to use the 8mm and
16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...
camera props that were used on set, which had real film inside of them, as well as how to cut and splice
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using the editing machines and film projectors of the time period. He also got to keep the 8mm camera Sammy used to film the family camping trip and ''Escape to Nowhere'' short film as a souvenir after the completion of principal photography. ''The Fabelmans'' premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, where LaBelle's performance received critical acclaim and he was recognized as a 2022 TIFF Rising Star, as well as nominations for Best Young Performer at the
28th Critics' Choice Awards The 28th Critics' Choice Awards will be presented on January 15, 2023, at the The Century Plaza Hotel, Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California, honoring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2022. T ...
. The ensemble cast of the film was nominated for the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Motion Picture is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest acting achievements in film. Winners and nominees : 1990s 2000s 2010s 2 ...
.


Later projects

After completion of filming on ''The Fabelmans'', LaBelle moved to
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in order to pursue more film, television and theater projects as an actor, with intentions to also direct at some point. In 2022, LaBelle joined the cast of the
Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
series adaptation of ''
American Gigolo ''American Gigolo'' is a 1980 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. It tells the story about a high-priced escort in Los Angeles (Gere) who becomes romantically ...
'', in the role of the young version of Julian Kaye, played by
Jon Bernthal Jonathan Edward Bernthal (; born September 20, 1976) is an American actor. Beginning his career in the early 2000s, he came to prominence for portraying Shane Walsh (The Walking Dead), Shane Walsh on the AMC (TV channel), AMC horror series ' ...
. That same year, he was cast in one of the lead roles in Adam Carter Rehmeier's coming-of-age comedy ''The Snack Shack'', which began filming that summer.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:LaBelle, Gabriel 2000s births 2002 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century Canadian Jews 21st-century American male actors 21st-century Canadian male actors American male child actors American male film actors American male television actors Canadian male child actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Jewish American male actors Jewish Canadian male actors Male actors from Vancouver Place of birth missing (living people)