{"id":289292,"date":"2023-04-19T10:43:09","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T15:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=289292"},"modified":"2023-04-18T11:08:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T16:08:16","slug":"actor-first-person-down-syndrome-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/actor-first-person-down-syndrome-disney\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Peter Pan and Wendy&#8217; actor is first person with Down syndrome to star in a Disney film"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>One of Disney&#8217;s most hyped new movies on Disney+ is &#8220;Peter Pan and Wendy.&#8221; This retelling of the classic story stars Jude Law as Captain Hook, but it also has another actor getting a lot of attention: Noah Matthews Matofsky, the first person with Down syndrome to star in a Disney film.<\/p>\n<p>Fifteen-year-old Matofsky stars as Slightly, the leader of the Lost Boys and second-in-command to Peter. When he discovered that Disney was holding auditions, the British teenager <a href=\"https:\/\/insidethemagic.net\/2023\/04\/peter-pan-star-proud-to-be-first-actor-with-downs-syndrome-in-major-disney-role-eg1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sent in a tape<\/a>, and was soon invited to meet with director David Lowery. Matofsky was cast, and spent six months filming in Vancouver and Newfoundland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was an amazing experience, I had my own trailer and made lots of fantastic friends,\u201d he told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/tv\/22034856\/noah-matthews-matofsky-downs-syndrome-disney\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Sun<\/a>. \u201cWe all learned sword fighting, which I loved. I had lots of lines to learn very quickly, but it was exciting and I really enjoyed it. I had to go to the make-up trailer every day for them to put mud on my face. We would sing &#8216;You\u2019re Welcome&#8217; from the film &#8216;Moana&#8217;. We even did the rap part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9Ji5U2sTlLU\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of his favorite parts of filming was doing the stunts, one of which involved dangling upside down from an overturned pirate ship. \u201cAll the pirates fall into the water but Noah was left hanging upside down from a cannon,&#8221; his mother, Kathryn Matthews, explained. \u201cThey built a special \u00a360,000 rig to support him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Matofsky also enjoyed bonding with Law, who reportedly is a father to seven children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my favourite days was when Jude hired an ice cream van and brought it on set, then served us ice creams himself,\u201d he said, and added, \u201cI liked Vancouver and Newfoundland so much.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Matthews, who is signed with inclusive talent agency Zebedee, has an incredible knowledge of film, which his mother said helped him get the role. \u201cNoah and David bonded over their love of the original Lord Of The Flies film, which has a similar vibe to the feral Lost Boys,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing as this was Noah\u2019s first acting job and he was chosen from thousands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/walgreens-cvs-petition\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-283198\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--700x180.jpg\" alt=\"Walgreens CVS banner\" width=\"700\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--700x180.jpg 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--768x197.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Keep-Abortion-Pill-Out-Of-Walgreens-CVSLAN-Horizontal--500x128.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, it meant his family had to be split up, as his 18-year-old sister had to stay in England for exams. And though they missed each other, the film has been an emotional experience for them both. \u201cLola loved it,\u201d he said of his sister. &#8220;She cried when the Disney logo came up at the beginning of the film. She is very proud of me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s since been asked to become an ambassador for Down Syndrome UK, and his mother said being chosen not just to act in the film, but to play the leader of the Lost Boys shows that differences should not keep people apart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNoah is very proud of his extra chromosome,\u201d she said. &#8220;As captain of the Lost Boys, Noah\u2019s character Slightly shows that Down syndrome never needs to hold you back. It\u2019s not a learning difficulty \u2014 it\u2019s a learning difference, and we should embrace differences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/give.liveaction.org\/general-donation\/?utm_source=lan&amp;utm_medium=display&amp;utm_campaign=monthly&amp;utm_content=article\"><i><strong>Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of Disney&#8217;s most hyped new movies on Disney+ is &#8220;Peter Pan and Wendy.&#8221; This retelling of the classic story stars Jude Law as Captain Hook, but it also has another actor getting a lot of attention: Noah Matthews Matofsky, the first person with Down syndrome to star in a Disney film. Fifteen-year-old Matofsky stars [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":289321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,9456],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Peter Pan and Wendy&#039; actor is first person with Down syndrome to star in a Disney film<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&#039;Peter Pan and Wendy&#039; is a retelling of the classic story and includes Noah Matthews Matofsky, the first person with Down syndrome to star in a Disney film.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/actor-first-person-down-syndrome-disney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Peter Pan and Wendy&#039; actor is first person with Down syndrome to star in a Disney film\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#039;Peter Pan and Wendy&#039; is a retelling of the classic story and includes Noah Matthews Matofsky, the first person with Down syndrome to star in a Disney film.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/actor-first-person-down-syndrome-disney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-19T15:43:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-18T16:08:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/peter-pan-and-wendy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"551\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/actor-first-person-down-syndrome-disney\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/actor-first-person-down-syndrome-disney\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;Peter Pan and Wendy&#8217; 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