Khleo Thomas, who plays Zero in the movie
Holes, has appeared in several commercials that
can be seen daily on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and the WB Network. Khleo made his
show-business debut as a child-guest on Bill Cosby's Kids Say the Darndest Things.
When Know Your World Extra asked Khleo about the most challenging part of his role as Zero,
he responded, "There was no challenging part. It was all fun."
Khleo, who turns 14 on January 30, says that school is very important to him. His mother,
who was born in Morocco, speaks five languages. What subject does Khleo like most? "I
like science because of the different things you can do, like dissect frogs," he said.
Thomas, whose full name is Khaleed Leon (Khleo is a stage moniker combining the two), was
born in Anchorage, Alaska, where his father was stationed with the Army. Eventually
relocating to Southern California, he began working in commercials at age 6. Though "Holes"
is based on a popular book, neither Thomas nor LaBeouf had read it before they were cast.
"After I read it," Thomas says, "I expected to be in the desert, but you just can't be
ready for that until you're right there." To prepare for the 100-plus-degree heat they
would endure while filming outside Ridgecrest, the actors underwent a two-week physical
training camp.
As Thomas explains, "We had to climb rope, dig holes, run, go hiking, do sit-ups and
push-ups. The whole time we were thinking, why do we need this? Then we get to the desert
and we understood. It was so hot, you could only be in a hole for 20 minutes at a time."
Khleo can now be seen in the Movie
Holes catch it at your local cinema. He also had a role
in
Friday after Next and a guest starring appearance on
City Guys.
Khleo has been signed and is set to play Pete in the remake of
Walking Tall, the story
about real life sheriff Buford Pusser. Walking Tall chronicles the life of Buford Pusser
(The Rock), a small-town Tennessee sheriff who makes it his one-man mission to rid his town
of corruption and crime.
