Will Estes: From Childhood To Blue Bloods
After 12 years on the air, it’s safe to say that “Blue Bloods” is one of the best cop shows of all time. So much sets “Blue Bloods” apart, but the show’s staying power comes from its characters. By following the Reagan family, “Blue Bloods” manages to be just as much a character drama as a police procedural.
Will Estes plays Jamie Reagan, the youngest in a family of dedicated NYPD officers. Jamie has changed a lot since the show’s early days. He starts out as a rookie on the force, but works his way up the ranks, saves lives, and even marries the woman of his dreams. Jamie has really come into himself, and Estes’ performance has kept fans invested in the character for more than a decade. Much like Jamie, Estes has been working for a long time. He started acting when he was just 10 years old, and he’s spent the majority of his life in front of one type of camera or another.
Let’s take a deep dive into Estes’ career history to see what makes the acting chops behind Jamie Reagan tick.
Read More: https://www.looper.com/1048436/will-estes-from-childhood-to-blue-bloods/He considers his career a ‘happy accident’
Every actor walks their own path in the industry, and Will Estes’ journey started very early in his life. Years ago, on an episode of “Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer,” Estes explained that since he grew up in Los Angeles, there were numerous opportunities for him to get interested in acting before he was even a teenager. “I just got introduced to a children’s agency, and I auditioned for them, and I did a bunch of commercials, and they sent me on to other stuff,” he said. Commercials led to TV roles that eventually blossomed into the career that Estes has today.
Even though he’s now a successful actor living in New York City and filming season after season of “Blue Bloods,” Estes maintains that his entire career is more of a happy accident than anything else. In 2021, he told Glitter Magazine that acting “was an option in my life offered up from the city itself. It chose me more than anything else.” His career might have started from being in the right place at the right time, but work ethic and genuine talent have certainly helped keep Estes on the screen for decades.
His first major role was in ‘The New Lassie’
Read More: https://www.looper.com/1048436/will-estes-from-childhood-to-blue-bloods/
It’s hard enough for adult actors to find roles, but child actors have an even narrower list of opportunities available to them. After some successful auditions with child talent agencies, luck struck Will Estes again when he landed a lead role on “The New Lassie.” Estes was just 10 years old when the series premiered in 1989, and he went on to star in 48 episodes over the course of three years working under the name “Will Nipper.” Years later, Estes told Smashing Interviews, “I’ve had dogs my whole life, and I think that may have been why I got the job.” After the audition he learned that some of the other children were afraid of dogs, so his comfort with canine co-stars made him the obvious choice for the role.
Being a dog person helped Estes land his first major role, but his next few parts came from an even stranger coincidence. On an episode of “The Talk,” Estes said that when he was a kid, “People used to always ask me if I was related to Rob Estes,” the star of “Melrose Place.” Will Estes played into the confusion, even going as far as telling some people that Rob Estes was his dad. When he came face-to-face with Rob Estes in person years later, he confessed, and the two of them shared a laugh over it.
Read More: https://www.looper.com/1048436/will-estes-from-childhood-to-blue-bloods/
