Daniel DiMaggio may play a suburban kid living in a cookie cutter neighborhood on ABC’s American Housewife, but in real life, the 14-year-old star is anything but boring: in addition to acting, Daniel practices ballet and recently started singing. Oh, and he grew up in a pretty famous household.
But that’s not to say Daniel’s character, Oliver, on the comedy series starring Katy Mixon is boring either — according to Daniel, Oliver is part of what makes the show so fun to watch.
“Oliver is witty, sarcastic, and very materialistic. He’s ambitious and wants to be very successful, so he’s always scheming to figure out ways to make money,” Daniel tells Celeb Secrets. “But underneath, he’s close to his family, even though he pushes everyone!”
And lucky for Daniel, while he’s making America laugh when he’s in front of the camera, he gets to have a ton of fun behind the scenes too. And it’s all thanks to his all-star castmates.
“I probably relate to Meg [Donnelly, aka Taylor Otto] the most. We laugh a lot!” he says. “But it’s great because they are all wonderful.”
Though filming American Housewife takes up most of Daniel’s time, acting isn’t his only hobby. Not long ago, the young star learned ballet.
“It’s a great workout, and it makes me respect real ballet dancers who work very hard to be great at this,” he says. “I enjoy it.”
And when he’s not acting or dancing, he’s singing — at least on the show! American Housewife’s third season has so far featured multiple musical episodes (including an American Idol crossover episode in March), for which much of the cast has put their vocal chops to the test. Fans haven’t heard Oliver sing just yet, but Daniel assures us the wait is almost over.
“I will be singing in the finale,” he reveals, without divulging too much about the episode’s plotline. “I’ve never done that on camera before, so get ready for that.”
So how exactly did Daniel become such a successful triple-threat, all before he’s old enough to drive? Well, experience, for one thing (he’s made appearances on shows like Supergirl, Burn Notice, and Haunted Hathaways) and it doesn’t hurt that his parents, actors and writers Lou DiMaggio and Loretta Fox, were the best coaches and supporters out there.
“It really helps to have their experience behind me,” Daniel says. “They both have acting, comedy, improv, and writing backgrounds, so when I work on material, they are a great sounding board.”
It sounds like Daniel will be sticking around in Hollywood for a while — but for now, he’s just enjoying life on the American Housewife set. Though, Daniel says there is one thing that would make working on the show even better.
“[A crossover episode with] The Walking Dead!” he says. “It would be interesting to see how that would work — comedy vs. drama.”
Catch Daniel as Oliver Otto on American Housewife Tuesday nights on ABC.
