Former resident gets animated as Kid Danger

Corrales-born Jace Norman is making super-strides in the film industry.

He scored his first role in 2012 on the Disney Channel series, “Jessie.”

Since 2014, the now 17-year-old has held the title role in Nickelodeon’s No. 1 show, “Henry Danger.”

And starting tonight, he’ll reprise his role as a superhero’s young sidekick, Henry Hart/Kid Danger, in Nickelodeon’s new animated series, “The Adventures of Kid Danger.” The show premieres at 7:30 p.m.

Henry Hart, the role played by Norman, is a regular boy who lives in the town of Swellview and is looking for work. He lands a part-time job as Kid Danger, a sidekick to Captain Man, a well-known local superhero.

When hiring him, Captain Man tells Hart not to tell anybody about the job, so the teen attempts to keep his adventures a secret from his best friends as well as his family.

“I like the process of creating each episode,” Norman says. “The cast is amazing and we have fun. Each story is well written and it allows us to tell a complete story.”

Norman was born in Corrales and lived there until the age of 8 when his father, who owned a real estate investment company, retired and the family moved to California.

He says playing the same role in the new show, but as a cartoon character, required some big changes.

“It’s very different,” Norman says. “You have to sell everything in your voice. That’s all you’ve got. You have to trust the animators will do it right. It’s weird to not be able to rely on your body to help tell the story.”

Along with the success of the TV series, a lot of responsibility had landed in Norman’s lap.

He’s become a role model for younger children as part of his show and his community outreach, which he enjoys. But he’s quick to realize that he’s going to make mistakes.

And his popularity is growing with more than 2.5 million Instagram followers, as well as more than 70k followers on Facebook and 176k followers on Twitter.

“I’m still a teenager,” he says. “To have a responsibility to my fans is important to me. But I’m not going to be perfect by any means. I still make mistakes and I try to learn from them.”

Norman makes his way back to Corrales a few times a year to visit relatives.

“It’s always nice to get back to my hometown and just relax,” he says. “I took a few acting classes when I lived there. My brother and I used to make homemade videos in our backyard.”

He posted an Instagram video in May 2017 showing a visit he made to his “old stomping grounds” at Corrales Elementary School. It has 386,000 views and can be found @jacenorman.

“It was crazy to go back,” he says. “A few years ago, I was one of those kids on the playground.”

With one hit series under his belt and a new animated series ready for launch, Norman is excited about his future and doesn’t want to limit himself. So he spends his spare time working on his startup social media marketing company, Creator Edge Media.

“The company lets me branch out,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur like my dad, who had his own business in Corrales before he retired.”

UpFront is a regular Journal news and opinion column. Comment directly to Arts editor Adrian Gomez at [email protected]. We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to [email protected].