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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
There were a lot of really bad toys made in the 1980s. This was a good thing for seven year-old Alex Wileman. His father, Richard A. Wileman, a technician, happen to have his son on set of a MadBalls commercial in 1986. Random kids were told to just bounce the horridly designed balls off of pavement, walls, etc while smiling excitedly. These kids had no actual lines, but were paid by receiving the original eight-set of MadBalls, which Alex still owns today. Working on various production sets since 1975, Richard developed a certain familiarity and respect amongst crews, but he also got to know directors and producers fairly well. So when he realized his then ten year-old son had a knack for mimicking various characters, he was able to effortlessly pull an audition for an upcoming Disney show called Talespin. "But dad," Alex had said, confused, "Those are the guys from The Jungle Book. I don't get it." Nobody really got it, but Talespin was a hit amongst the 8-12 age group anyway. When the show ended in August of 1991, Alex had no intention of continuing with anything television-related. Afterall, voicing Kit Cloudkicker had just been something fun he'd done for a while. A Canadian native, the kid was deep into school and soccer for a while, attending Cambridge Elementary. Without any middle schools in the area, the school had grades K-8. 1992 was Alex's last year in public school, for 1993 brought in several changes for the thirteen year-old.
As just another gig he thought was fun, Alex auditioned for a Nerf commercial while tagging along with his dad for work. Due to the 'in your face' annoying nature of his "character" as well as some really awesome 90s hair, his face was memorable to a certain casting agent who was working on a comedy starring Cary Elwes. Simply known as 'Young Lad', Alex played the role of a kid who came running and screaming into Robin Hood's camp, threatened by the evil Prince John. His screen time was extremely brief, but notable. With plans to start back to school, Alex was side-tracked with a Canadian teen drama called Ready Or Not, where he played a crushable teen named Justin. Private study was the best option at this point, which allowed Alex to finish school at fifteen. When a few girls he'd never met walked up to him in the mall and actually recognized him, Alex was not exactly a natural in his response. Instead he was noticeably awkward, having been quite surprised. It wasn't that he had hated the attention - Alex was just a private person. So it was no surprise that his next role was not a role that required his face to make an appearance.
Eek! the Cat was an oddly animated Canadian show with even stranger characters. Alex provided the voices to whichever characters he was asked to voice, but his favorites were probably The Squishy Bears, a parody of The Care Bears. If one is offered a main role, one doesn't turn it down. So when Alex was offered a part in a Disney remake solely based on his "teen idol" appearance, he took the job. He liked having parts in shows and film, but his heart was definitely moreso in voice-work. With a little brother who watched every show imaginable, he was honored to do the voice of a character from one of his favorite children's book series, Arthur. There was even eventually a spin-off for his character, but Alex got too busy with other work after a while and gave his role up to someone who sounded shockingly similar to his portrayal. There were a few more well-known films for Alex in the late 1990s, but his time was mostly spent coming into his own as a writer and producer for a show in which he created, called Home Movies. UPN canceled the show after only five episodes, but Cartoon Network picked it up ASAP, making it one of the originals in the Sunday night Adult Swim lineup.
Alex's most popular role isn't even one in which he's physically recognizable. In 1999, a show called Futurama premiered on FOX. For five years, the show had it's ups and downs with the network, and was eventually canceled only to show up on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and then Comedy Central. With an extremely loyal audience due it's shockingly amazing writing, Alex got great voice offers based on his character Phillip J. Fry. To date, the only animated role he isn't crazy about is his Spongebob Squarepants parody from Drawn Together, a show that he admits is absolutely disgusting and offensive. During the same time he was voicing said awful character, Alex developed some he really liked for the 3D Canadian show, Tripping the Rift.
With all the voice-work going on, people sort of forgot how Alex Wileman looked until he showed up in a Twilight Zone episode. Some people thought he was once again interested in acting outside of a sound booth, but despite the role, he remained solely in the studio until an AMC show called Mad Men came along. It was the first time Alex was actually drawn to a role enough to commit to it long-term. Still, he did voice-work here and there for Robot Chicken, but was mostly involved in writing for the show. Never having voiced a character in a movie, Alex was absolutely stoked when he was offered a part in The Smurfs movie in 2010. Having grown up watching the show in the 1980s, it was kind of a big ass deal. Although he adores voicing characters, playing Peter Campbell in Mad Men really opened Alex up to physical roles again. He looks forward to more on both levels, although he's sure he'll end up leaning more towards the 'guy behind the voice' work as usual.
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