Acting is a notoriously hard field to break into, but for Carly, Keegan and Tanner Sells, getting started was almost too easy.
Tanner recalls their first audition, when the triplets were just 8 years old, where he hoped to land the role of Winthrop in The Music Man.
“I’m just this kid who is messing around, expecting everything to go my way and my dad was like, ‘Look, you've got to be ready for them to tell you that you're not going to make it. You have to take that as a possibility,’” Tanner says. “And then I got (the role). My dad always says we didn’t have a good learning experience because we just kept getting those roles. We needed to be told no more often.”
Since then, the triplets, now 18, have progressed to performing regularly at theaters around central Ohio and acted in a feature-length film, Cadia: The World Within.
Most recently, Tanner and Keegan worked on the script, direction and production of their new short film, Broken.
The Sells triplets cut their acting teeth right here in Grove City. While making an annual visit to the Arts in the Alley Music and Arts Festival, the Sells family happened upon the Little Theatre Off Broadway, which soon became a fertile home for the young thespians.
“There’s way more theater in Grove City and Columbus than I actually expected there to be,” Keegan says. The triplets began taking classes there and eventually landed roles in the theater productions. Performing at the Little Theatre Off Broadway gave the triplets experience but also served as an entry into the broader central Ohio theater world. Their resumes grew to include roles with Columbus Children’s Theatre, the Butterfly Guild of Nationwide Children’s Hospital (formerly the Pleasure Guild), Hilliard Arts Council and more.
But the Sells siblings aren’t getting gigs on pure luck – they’re putting in the work to immerse themselves in the arts community of central Ohio.
“People say connection is important but it truly is,” Carly says. “We would make connections with people and then hear (about opportunities) that way.”
One of their most influential connection was made during a production of The Addams Family Musical by LittleTheatre Off Broadway.
When the young actors got bored backstage, Cedric Gegel, another cast member, entertained them by making up stories.
“The story that he started writing for us ended up turning into Cadia and was almost typecast for the three of us,” Tanner says. “He watched us grow into actors as we also watched his story develop from its premature stages in the basement of a community theater to being on a big screen. It’s a surreal feeling.”
Cadia placed the actors alongside seasoned veterans of the industry. Their roles in the film led to each of the siblings interacting regularly with an experienced career actor: Keegan worked closely with James Phelps, best known for playing Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter films; Tanner spent more time with Corbin Bernsen, who has notable television roles in Psych and L.A. Law; and Carly found herself alongside Nicky Buggs, whose credits include The Secret Life of Bees and Playing for Keeps. Those seasoned actors proved themselves to be humble, kind and excellent examples of how to perform for film, the triplets say.
“With the level of actors that were in (Cadia), it felt like a huge deal,” Keegan says. “I expected (Phelps) to be less accommodating to me just because I didn’t know what I was doing as much.… Even though he’s a professional, he can still have fun on set.”
Keegan Sells (left), Carly Sells and Tanner Sells
The experience also provided vital lessons in adapting their acting from stage to screen.
“You have to exaggerate and be over the top on stage, but when your audience is looking at your eyes or coming really close to you, it feels unnatural if you’re about to do a monologue and dance around,” Tanner says. “You really have to be able to tone it down, so we'd spend hours working on simple things like the way your face moved or acting with your eyes instead of acting with your entire body.”
Since Cadia’s release, Tanner and Keegan have branched into film work of their own. After writing a short script for a Columbus College of Art and Design competition, Tanner expanded the material into what became a half-hour short film titled Broken. Through that story, Tanner aimed to show how a person’s circumstances can lead them to make decisions others might not understand, even criminal ones.
“All I’m doing is flipping the camera and showing what this person did that led them up to that point and why these people stuck in these situations do what they do,” he says.
Tanner collaborated with Keegan and close friend Ashtin Francis to turn the idea into a reality. The three kept up a packed schedule as they completed shooting during the last days of their senior year at Teays Valley High School.
“It was definitely a challenging process, but it was amazing,” Tanner says. “I was excited to get up and go to school just so I could get off and go back to the set.”
Though the triplets’ careers paralleled one another, their paths recently diverged. Tanner has traveled beyond Grove City to DePaul University in Chicago where he is studying comedy filmmaking, Keegan is studying musical theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Carly is attending DePaul and interested in social issues as well as acting.
As their lives develop into different cities and directions, the triplets still maintain a special bond – both to acting and each other.
“It’s weird because now we’re starting to develop our individual skills on our own and progress on our own,” Carly says. “Even though we’re the same age, I really do look up to them because they have inspired me to push myself.”
Cameron Carr is associate editor. Feedback welcome at ccarr@cityscenemediagroup.com.
