He landed a sitcom role on his first audition. 'I was really hyped,' says Scarborough teen
Seran Sathiyaseelan was cast in CBC workplace comedy One More Time after one local improv course
He's a very green, eager-to-please, chronically hormonal teen working his first job at a second-hand sporting goods shop. Keeran Devkar is part of a gang of oddball employees in the new CBC workplace comedy One More Time, and he's played by Scarborough, Ontario teen Seran Sathiyaseelan.
It's the kind of first job viewers will surely relate to and is, in fact, inspired by Demers' own teenage gig at a Play It Again Sports in Kingston, Ontario. But Sathiyaseelan, who plays a version of Demers, had a very different induction to the workforce. Working as an actor on One More Time was the 15-year-old's first job ever. Before landing the role, he'd never worked retail, flipped burgers or had a paper route. He'd never even written a resume.
That's not to say Sathiyaseelan was new to performing. At seven, the Scarborough-based actor began performing Koothu, an ancient Tamil folk art that uses dance and music to tell epic stories, and soon became known for his singing and dancing in his local Tamil community. Recognizing his talent, Sathiyaseelan's mother, Yamini Rasiah, signed him up for improv and film classes at a local acting school, Talent Inc Canada. Then, in June 2023, he was discovered by a casting agent, Larissa Mair, during a showcase at the school.
I can't lie, I was really hyped. Acting? Getting paid and all that? That's pretty sick.- Seran Sathiyaseelan
Mair was on the hunt for a teenage talent who could go toe-to-toe with adult comedians for One More Time. Over 500 actors had auditioned for the role, but she hadn't found the right candidate. "We were seeking someone who is naive but eager to please and outgoing, funny, witty and fearless. This kid stood on the stage and had all of the character, everything that we were seeking," Mair says of Sathiyaseelan. She asked for a self-tape audition immediately.
It was his very first audition. Then, not long after, Sathiyaseelan woke up to a surprise from his family. They called him downstairs from his bedroom and presented him with a box. When he opened the lid, he found a cake with four words written in icing: "You got the role."
"I was like 'Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa,'" Sathiyaseelan says. "I can't lie, I was really hyped. Acting? Getting paid and all that? That's pretty sick."
Part of what made Sathiyaseelan right for the role, according to Demers, is the youthful naivety that comes along with actually being a teenager, rather than a twenty-something acting like one. "He felt very real and that's what was most endearing about him," Demers says. "The little idiosyncrasies of his performance made him really charming in an innocent and kind of awkward way. We really loved his audition from the get-go."
On set, Demers says Sathiyaseelan was intuitive and attentive and quickly adapted to the adult environment of a television set while staying playful in his scenes. "He's got a good energy about him. I feel that really comes across in his acting, he's got this positivity that shines through on the screen," Demers says.
Sathiyaseelan's casting was a big moment for his whole family – especially his mother. Rasiah immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka in 2000 and raised three sons as a single mother, shuttling them from school to soccer games to music and acting classes all while working multiple jobs. "I had four jobs at one point," Rasiah says. "I didn't even know which job I had to go to next."
As proud of her Rasiah is of her son, Sathiyaseelan is equally appreciative of his mother. "My mom was the key to this. My mom was everything. Whatever I've got today, that's because of my mom," he says. "I got a good mom, I got a sick mom."
Rasiah was by her son's side, beaming with pride, at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox for the premiere of One More Time. In the show's first episode, screened that evening, Sathiyaseelan shows off his comedy chops, spilling off a ladder and busting his ankle to great comedic effect (behind the scenes, Sathiyaseelan says, the swollen ankle was created by the makeup department using a bunch of fake noses).
The premiere took place the same day Sathiyaseelan returned to school after winter break. Now back in classes, Sathiyaseelan is busy trying to convince his schoolmates he didn't get rich off his first acting role. "That's the first thing they said, 'You're rich,'" Sathiyaseelan laughs. "I was like, 'Bro, it's not like that.'"
Still, a principal role on a sitcom isn't bad as far as first jobs go. While Rasiah says her son is "doing great" at school, the night of One More Time's broadcast premiere on CBC, the young actor's studies were far from his mind. Just a few hours before the show hit the airwaves for the first time, Sathiyaseelan was getting ready to watch it again with his family.
"I'm going to watch it again tonight for sure. Even though I've got a few math tests tomorrow, that doesn't matter. I'm going to watch my show."
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