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Hollywood beckons local youth

Tim Mutrie

Nine-year-old Jake Sakson calls El Jebel home, but he spends a good portion of the year in Hollywood, and with good reason.

He’s been an actor for almost half his life, since kindergarten anyway – apparently long enough for him to earn the nickname, “One Take Jake,” while guest-starring on the WB Network’s “7th Heaven.”

Jake’s early success will reach a pinnacle Saturday, when a feature-length film in which he co-stars premieres on the Disney Channel at 8:30 p.m.



Jake co-stars as the younger brother in “Don’t Look Under the Bed,” a film he described as “really freaky.”

“But it’s PG,” he added during a phone interview yesterday, “and it’s sort of imaginary.” He said the movie is chock full of imaginary friends – “who look really real” – some of whom turn into boogeymen.




Jake landed the role last spring, and spent about three weeks filming, said Stevi Sakson, Jake’s mom.

“Filming was really fun, and not too hard,” Jake said. “It’s not like I have to say nine paragraphs at once or anything. And I really love acting, because even if you make mistakes nobody notices, they don’t know what the line was supposed to be anyway.”

“I went to my first-ever screening last weekend – that was cool!” Jake said of the Oct. 2 world premiere screening, which his whole family attended at Walt Disney Studio’s main theater.

But when Jake heard that it was snowing in Aspen yesterday, he admitted he missed home.

“I like acting, but I do miss skiing and snowboarding,” he said.

“There’s no place where he would rather be, except possibly on a double black diamond somewhere,” said Stevi, from the set of a German chocolate TV commercial set in Encino, Calif.

“He’s been very successful and that’s why we keep coming back here,” Stevi said. “It would be easy to stay in the valley, but the reason we’re always enticed to come back is because everyone he works with is enamored by him, as are the casting directors.”

“7th Heaven nicknamed him `One Take Jake’ because everything he did was right on,” she said. “He’s quite proud of that nickname.”

Whether waiting on the set for a Kinder Schokolade commercial, like the Saksons were yesterday, or on a movie set, Jake is at ease, Stevi said.

“He’s quite at home on the set,” she said. “He’s got tons of people standing around to talk to, the whole business is hurry up and wait. He does magic tricks, plays cards and other games.”

Jake’s other acting credits include guest-starring roles on “Chicago Hope,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Boy Meets World” and “Beverly Hills 90210.” In addition, he has appeared in two feature films, a Nickelodeon pilot and several commercials.