Interview with Booboo about Disney XD's Kickin' It

The actors on the Disney XD's Kickin' It comedy play martial arts students, but the Bobby Wasabi Academy is welcoming a real-life expert into the dojo. Teen martial artist Booboo Stewart is most recognizable as Seth Clearwater in the Twilight movie franchise, but with a martial arts Hall of Fame pass under his black belt, Stewart is kickin' on over to Monday's episode (airing at 9/8c) where he stars as Carson, one of Rudy's former superstar students. The episode, "New Jack City," follows Stewart's character, as he moves back to Seaford and sparks a rivalry with Jack (Leo Howard), who joins the opposing team when Carson steals his spot in the tournament. TV Guide Magazine got in touch with Stewart to get the scoop on his guest-starring role.

TV Guide Magazine: Tell us about your character in this episode.
Booboo Stewart: My character's name is Carson. He returns back to the dojo, and he was the cool guy back in the day. Now that he's returning, Jack kind of feels intimidated by him.

TV Guide Magazine: So does he stir things up with the gang? Stewart: He does. Definitely. You can look out for some fight scenes. It's crazy because I end up fighting Jack, and that was really awesome because I've known Leo Howard for a while. We've both done martial arts with each other before so to be able to do a fight scene together — it's kind of cool.

TV Guide Magazine: Those fights must have been fun since you have such a strong background in martial arts. How did you get involved?
Stewart: My dad was involved in martial arts and we started young, I started when I was 3 years old, and I just love it. But I like acting more! They play off each other. Having a background in martial arts definitely helps my discipline when I'm on set because you need a lot of discipline when you're on set — especially at my age.

TV Guide Magazine: Did you have any additional martial arts training on this particular set?
Stewart: No. It was a lot of mental training though because we had to learn the fight scenes really fast. It was really fun, and no one got seriously injured!

TV Guide Magazine: Hopefully there was no fighting behind the scenes. How was your experience on set?Stewart: The cast on set is awesome. I actually had game nights at my house so they all came over for a little reunion. We had a lot of fun filming and it should be really fun.

TV Guide Magazine: Besides Leo Howard, who else do you have scenes with?
Stewart: I interact with everybody, but I have a lot of scenes with Olivia Holt (Kim). I always see her at different places and get to talk to her once in a while, and she's just really nice and cool.

TV Guide Magazine: You've been involved with Disney for some other events — you toured with Miley Cyrus for the Camp Rock Freestyle Jam concert series. Do you see yourself playing more Disney roles in the future?
Stewart: I think the fun thing is just doing whatever you want, and that's what I want to do. I can't wait for everyone to see Kickin' It!

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