Jack Champion
Jack Champion is an American actor known for playing Miles "Spider" Socorro in the Avatar films and Ethan Landry in Scream VI. He began acting as a child and built early credits in television, short films, and the horror feature The Night Sitter. His work on Avatar: The Way of Water involved extensive performance-capture, live-action, and underwater filming.
Life and career
Champion began acting at age eight through school theatre before moving into short films and screen work. His early credits included appearances in television projects such as American Genius, Gone, Legends & Lies, and Evil Kin, along with the films Extraordinary and The Night Sitter.
He had a small role in Avengers: Endgame as a kid on a bicycle. In The Night Sitter, he played Kevin in his first leading film role. While filming that production, he was home-schooled by his mother.
Role in the Avatar sequels
In 2017, Champion joined James Cameron's Avatar sequels as Miles "Spider" Socorro, a human teenager living among the Na'vi on Pandora. Spider is the son of Colonel Miles Quaritch and was raised by scientists after remaining on Pandora. The role placed Champion alongside young performers Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Bliss, Filip Geljo, and Bailey Bass, as well as established Avatar cast members including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet.
Champion earned the part at age 12 after an extensive audition process. Because Spider appears both in live-action and in scenes requiring performance reference for the digital characters, Champion filmed his scenes twice. The production involved two years of performance capture followed by two and a half years of live-action filming in New Zealand. He also learned scuba diving and freediving for underwater sequences, some of which required filming underwater for several days.
Champion filmed material for Avatar: The Way of Water and its sequels across much of his adolescence. Additional filming was arranged to keep the character's appearance consistent as he aged. He reprised Spider in Avatar: Fire and Ash, with Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 also listed among his projects.
Film
Champion appeared in the ensemble slasher film Scream VI in 2023 as Ethan Landry, returning to horror after The Night Sitter. He also played Zach Turner, the son of Liam Neeson's character, in the action thriller Retribution.
His later film work included Lucid in Freaky Tales, Derrick Smart in Everything's Going to Be Great, and Cody Seale in Trap House. He is also attached to Don't Say Good Luck as Jack Davis and My Boyfriend Is a Demon, which is in pre-production.
Awards and nominations
Champion received a Saturn Awards nomination for Best Younger Actor in a Film for Avatar: The Way of Water. He later won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Quick facts
- Champion began acting at age eight through school theatre.
- He booked the role of Miles "Spider" Socorro in Avatar at age 12 after four months of auditions.
- His Avatar scenes were filmed twice, once for performance reference and once as live-action footage.
- Champion spent two years on Avatar performance-capture work and another two and a half years filming live-action scenes in New Zealand.
- He learned scuba diving and freediving for underwater scenes in Avatar: The Way of Water.
- Champion played a kid on a bicycle in Avengers: Endgame.
- He played Ethan Landry in the 2023 slasher film Scream VI.
- Champion was home-schooled by his mother while filming The Night Sitter.
- He received a Saturn Awards nomination for Avatar: The Way of Water.
- He won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
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