Despite rising to fame in the Christmas classic Bad Santa, the actor who played Thurman Merman says he now lives an 'extremely normal and boring life'.
Brett Kelly was just eight years old when he jumped into the role as the endearing innocent kid who took a liking to Billy Bob Thornton’s Willie and threw his crime plan into disarray.
He was the chalk to the drunk and miserable conman's cheese, making it the perfect combination for delivering the 2003 film's comedy beats. You can watch the trailer below:
Although Kelly took on a number of roles after Bad Santa, including in the 2010 movie High School, the Canadian actor revealed that he lived a pretty normal life afterwards.
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Speaking to USA Today back in 2016, ahead of the release of the franchise's long-awaited sequel, the now 29-year-old star revealed that he'd just graduated from Canada's University of British Columbia when he was approached by director Mark Waters.
"I’ve been living an extremely normal and boring life. I went to a regular high school, graduated from university, and basically that brings us up to this point," he said.
"I got the call about Bad Santa 2 literally two days after I finished my last exam. The timing could not have been any better."
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Kelly went on to explain that he stopped getting recognized in the street after growing up and changing his hair, although for a lot of his childhood the opposite was true.
"I went on a trip to Vegas with my family when I was about 12 and was getting recognized every five minutes," he said.
"Everyone being completely bombed that walked up to me made for some funny moments."
This no doubt all changed with the release of Bad Santa 2, although Waters and the crew did ask Kelly to once again change his look if he was to reprise his role as Thurman... by gaining 40 pounds.
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"We said: 'By the way, we’re doing Bad Santa 2. So get in shape, or the opposite of shape,'" Waters told the outlet.
"Brett looks like the spitting image of the kid Thurman, but older. When he walked on set, it was even more jaw-dropping in some ways than seeing (Thornton)."
In recent years, Kelly has stepped back into the limelight by landing a gig as Cecil Patterson, a paralegal in Global's drama series Family Law.
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But fans will always best remember him as the loveable Thurman, with some even saying he gave 'the greatest child acting performance ever'.
Considering it's that time of year again, why not add Bad Santa and the sequel to your watch list?
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity
Daisy Phillipson