Glencoe teen gets big break in ABC movie

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Glencoe resident Peter ten Brink stars in the ABC-TV movie "A Smile as Big as the Moon" on Jan. 29. | JOEL LERNER ~ SUN-TIMES MEDIA

After rigorous preparation and hard work, a group of special education students in Michigan realized their dream to attend NASA Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.

Peter ten Brink, a young actor from Glencoe, is seeing his dream realized by playing one of those students in the ABC television movie, “A Smile as Big as the Moon,” which airs at 8 p.m. Jan. 29 on WLS-Channel 7.

Ten Brink, 19, is afflicted with Down syndrome, graduated from New Trier Township High School last June, and registered with the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles as a person interested in acting. The association helps match actors with the roles casting directors are trying to fill. The organization presented ten Brink’s photo and biography to the makers of “A Smile as Big as the Moon,”

Ten Brink learned the filmmakers were considering him for a part, and was sent a portion of the script to read and prepare.

“The Tuesday after Labor Day, they told us they were interested in Peter and wanted him to fly out for an audition,” said ten Brink’s mother, Jeannine Cleary ten Brink. “Fortunately, he had already graduated high school,” so he was available. She accompanied him to the audition in Wilmington, N.C., where ten Brink read for a part.

“As soon as we got back home, Peter got a call from the director. He said, ‘You’re going to space camp,’” Cleary ten Brink said. At first, Peter thought that was a consolation prize for not being chosen for the film. But after he understood he got the part of the student who first proposed going to space camp, ten Brink said, “I’m honored.”

“The movie is based on a true story about special needs kids (in the 1980s) who want to go to Space Camp,” ten Brink said. The camp’s competitive education program was open only to gifted students. But a special education teacher, Mike Kersjes (played by actor John Corbett in the film) argued that his class should be given the opportunity to apply.

“He kept bugging the NASA people to give them a chance,” ten Brink said. The film shows the obstacles the students must overcome, including the skepticism of the Space Camp officials and raising money to pay for the trip to Huntsville where the U.S. Space and Rocket Center is located.

For ten Brink, the challenges included jumping in a 40-foot-deep tank of water and assembling a tetrahedron underwater, one of the tasks the students were expected to accomplish. Ten Brink found that episode more difficult than learning his lines.

“I remember my lines,” ten Brink said. He has his lines written on index cards and practices his cues with his mother.

The aspect of moviemaking he finds “frustrating” is “doing the scenes over and over again. I just try to focus on my character,” ten Brink said.

He got his first taste of acting with the Special Gifts Theatre in Northbrook, where children with special needs perform and break down stereotypes about people with disabilities.

When ten Brink was in seventh grade at Central School in Glencoe, his chorus and drama teacher suggested he audition for a role in New Trier’s production of “The Music Man,” which he got. Once in high school, he took theater workshop and acting classes.

New Trier Performing Arts Coordinator Anne James-Noonan said ten Brink “has been an enthusiastic scene partner to many of our New Trier students.”

He already has acted in two films from Play On Productions, founded by Northbrook resident and special education teacher David Midell.

Ten Brink said, “I had a huge role in ‘By Any Other Name,’ ” filmed in Chicago and directed by Midell, about an employee in a bookstore and the friendship he develops with a co-worker. The film was shown at the Sprout Film Festival in New York.

Ten Brink had a smaller role in another production, “Nightlights,” but also worked as assistant director on the film about the relationship between a woman and her autistic brother after their parents die. The film is expected to be released shortly.

Like most beginning actors, ten Brink has another job. He works part-time at Little Ricky’s restaurant in Winnetka. He is also seeking to procure a full-time agent in Los Angeles. He appreciates the support of his mother, but said, “Mom as a mom and Mom as a manager is hard to combine.”