CANADIAN MICHELA LUCI TRANSFORMS A “SMALL ROLE” INTO A BIG CAREER

Odd Squad is a television series which began production in 2014 and is geared for an audience of 5–8 year olds. Yes, its title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the ABC TV series (1968–1973) which depicted three rebellious, disaffected young social outcasts who were convinced to work as unarmed undercover detectives as an alternative to being incarcerated themselves. The youthful, “hippie “personas of this trio would enable them to get close to the criminals they investigated. This counterculture crime drama earned six Emmy nominations and four Golden Globe nominations (including a win for actress Peggy Lipton), a DGA award, and four Logies. While Odd Squad has nothing thematically in common with its name influencer, the program is already surpassing the former in terms of awards. A partial list of these achievements include: 6 nominations (including two wins) at the 2015 Daytime Emmys, 9 nominations (including 4 wins) at the 2016 Daytime Emmys, 4 nominations (including a win) at the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards, and many others. Odd Squad follows two young agents, Olive and Otto (Season 1) and Olympia and Otis (Season 2) who are part of an agency that seeks to save the day using math when odd things happen. It is a live-action comedy about kid agents who work for a secret government agency run by kids. These agents are equipped with the world’s most advanced and unpredictable gadgetry and whenever something strange or unusual happens, it’s Odd Squad’s job to put things right. Actress Michela Luci is the young Canadian actress who portrays the role of Agent Orchid, one of the squad’s youngest and most talented math specialists. Luci won a Joey Award in 2015 (along with her fellow cast members) for Best Young Ensemble in a TV Series, confirming that the program (produced by Fred Rogers Company, Sinking Ship Entertainment, PBS) and this young actress have become a force in children’s programming.

Michela was awarded the role of Agent Orchid very quickly after her career in acting had begun. Her natural enthusiasm played into her abilities on camera. Tim McKeon (Odd Squad’s Co-creator/Executive Producer/Writer) immediately noticed Luci at the audition. With a Primetime Emmy Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, and a Canadian Screen Awards to his resume, McKeon has made a very successful career out of recognizing the talent to propel his productions into the limelight. He declares, “I first met Michela Luci and her mother Lucy in spring of 2014 when we cast Michela in the role of Agent Orchid. Initially, Michela’s character was only supposed to appear once on Odd Squad. We were so impressed with her talent and professionalism though, that we brought her character back in multiple episodes. In the time I have worked with Michela, I have always found her to be hard working, courteous and well-prepared. She gets along great with both kids and adults on set and is always up for ad-libbing and finding different variations in a performance. In short, Michela is everything you could ask for in a kid or adult actor.”

With 12 awards and over 30 nominations, there’s no question that both the writing and the acting are stellar on Odd Squad. Creating a world and characters who are so interesting sets the table for great performances by this young cast. Luci’s character, Agent Orchid, is one of the younger agents on the Squad. She tends to be extremely stubborn, and loves dinosaurs, cuddling, and giving disappointing looks. Agent Orchid is sassy and funny. Michela brings this character to life with her own enthusiastic and energetic personality. The natural comedic timing Michela possesses proves to be an asset to the role. Like all actors, Luci searched for a way to connect with her character to become her. She states, “Agent Orchid is bossy as well as sassy. I think she’s a bit serious and I know a lot of people who think she’s really funny. She is serious when she speaks, she’s not joking. In her head it’s serious but to everyone else it’s funny. Orchid is kind of like me in second grade so I feel like I bring back my second grade self again.” Revealing a common ground she shares with Agent Orchid, Luci also notes, “I know a lot of kids my age wouldn’t say this but, I don’t mind math. Sometimes it can be really fun. At my school I’m on the math team and I write the Caribou Math contests through Brock University. There are lots of times when I feel like Agent Orchid, or at least I’d like to. Agent Orchid knows what she’s doing and does a pretty good job. She does math like a pro and solves problems easily. For example, she uses her watch (that turns into a tablet), to count on a number line and it helps her solve the problem.”

While Math is fun, it would seem acting is even more so for this young actress. With two very successful seasons (see previous awards list) and a movie released in theaters, Odd Squad is bringing a lot of attention to Luci’s abilities. She confirms that she enjoys the attention as it will help lead more acting roles to her, not that she is in any rush. Michela notes that being involved in Odd Squad is both fun and educational for her as an actress, stating, “I love working with Tim. He is so talented, creative and really funny. Reading all of his scripts made me laugh out loud and enjoy them as if I was reading a story book. When we are filming, we stick to the script as written but then he always lets us ad-lib and mess around with it to try and see if we can do something different and fun our own way. Also, there is a lot of work where you are acting with things that aren’t there at the time. They add things later. It makes you work to be creative and it is exciting when you see it all together later. I think that is really good for me to learn and be comfortable with because I want to keep acting for a long time. Doing this kind of acting has made me see that there are lots of possible roles for me to play. I really enjoy music and dancing and I think it would be fun to play a character that is a musician or a dancer. That will happen someday but for right now, it’s pretty great being in the Odd Squad!”