We have seen actor Jean-Luc Bilodeau grow up on ABC Family. From “Kyle XY” to starring in the telefilm “16 Wishes” followed by the TV series “No Ordinary Family”. But this time, Bilodeau is the main actor in the new ABC family comedy series “Baby Daddy”.
The half-hour comedy series made its debut in June 2012 and was created by Dan Berendsen, known for his work on the TV series “The Nine Lives of Chloe King”, “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and “Hannah Montana: The Movie”.
“Baby Daddy” stars Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Ben, a man who’s ex-girlfriend left a baby girl on his door step. Now Ben, the surprised and inexperienced new father, must raise the baby with the help of his mother Bonnie (as portrayed by Melissa Peterman), his brother Danny (as portrayed by Derek Theler), his best friend Tucker (as portrayed by Tahj Mowry) and his close female friend Riley (as portrayed by Chelsea Kane), who happens to have a secret crush on him.
Actor Jean-Luc Bilodeau recently took part in a media Q&A to promote his new series “Baby Daddy”.
Here is a transcript from the Q&A with Jean-Luc as he talks about working on the series, his character, the cast and more!
Moderator    You’re starring in Baby Daddy with Chelsea Kane, a Disney Channel star, and you have worked with a lot of talented Disney Channel stars in the past like Miley Cyrus in LOL, and Debby Ryan in 16 Wishes. What has it been like working with them?
J. Bilodeau   It’s great actually. They’re all very talented and intelligent and they’re great to work with on the set. I don’t know what they’re like outside of the work place, but I know that they’re great girls. Well I know what Chelsea and Debby are like mostly outside, but they’re great girls. They get their work done and it was great working with all of them.
Moderator    If you had to choose which one to hang out with off camera, which one would you choose?
J. Bilodeau   I don’t know.  I mean I’m really close to Chelsea because we’ve been working together lately, so I guess I’d say Chelsea just because we already do hang out. The whole cast is really tight so we go out a lot, so I’d definitely have to say Chelsea.
Moderator    How did you feel about coming into this show fairly unknown as a lead with Tahj and Melissa on set? How did that feel coming into a show with those two comedy stars.
J. Bilodeau    It was nerve-wracking just because they’re so funny and so talented and this is my first sitcom job ever so, I had pretty big shoes to fill because I’m working with the greats. Tahj was born into this style of comedy and Melissa is just incredible. It was a little nerve-wracking because I thought I’d have to par-up with them but it’s great though. I’m learning so much from them. So it’s been an incredible, rewarding experience.
Moderator  We remember you from Kyle XY and you’ve grown so much since. How different is it to act in the role you had in Kyle XY to now on Baby Daddy where you’re a father?
J. Bilodeau    It’s way different. Aside from the character differences, it’s just a whole different kind of acting style and the schedule is different and the sets are different. It’s a whole different game for me. I was so used to single-cam drama and being a comedic relief on that platform had its own share of difficulties and then switching over to sitcom where it’s comedy all the time and specific comedy, it’s regimented. You have to do certain things to make it funny for the multi-cam audience. So it’s a lot different but it’s a lot of fun and I’m still learning. We’ve only done ten episodes so I’m still getting in the swing of things, obviously, just because it’s my first multi-cam job ever.
Moderator   How is it having a baby on the set? Did you have any experience with babies before the show?
J. Bilodeau    No, actually, my first day on the set was the first day I’d ever picked up and played with a baby. It was pretty exciting. I was nervous to meet the parents of the kids, but the mom was incredible. Honestly, Baby Daddy was my first time ever interacting with a child that young. They’re just so well-behaved. They work harder than we do. It’s actually a really fun job to work with them.
Moderator   How has being on Baby Daddy changed your perception of parenting?
J. Bilodeau   It hasn’t really changed it. It’s made it more elevated. I’ve always known that parenting is a really hard job. But working with the kids every day and being so precise on how you handle these kids; I didn’t think it took so much effort and attention and it’s incredible. When you have a kid, you really have to pay all your attention to them and give up your whole life. Working with the kids really amped up my feelings toward having kids; I’m definitely going to wait a long time.
It’s funny because I don’t have to change diapers. I don’t have to soothe the baby while it’s crying; it’s usually passed off to someone else and even when I have the baby, it’s a hard job and I have to pass it off when things aren’t going well. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be, especially with twins, like the girls on our show, what that’s like to be around them 24/7. I’m not a morning person either; waking up in the morning for me is so hard, so I’m definitely going to wait a long time for kids.
Moderator  What’s to come with your relationship with Riley and what’s it going to take for Ben to actually wake up to her infatuation with him?
J. Bilodeau   Oh I think that it’s going to take him realizing why am I not pursuing this girl; she’s gorgeous. She’s a great mom figure for my kid. I think that it’s just going to hit him eventually and he’s going to play on it because why wouldn’t you? All the factors are there. They just haven’t met up in his head yet. He’s just a little preoccupied because he’s got a kid and he’s young and he’s still trying to date. She’s throwing off the signals so he’s just got to pick them up and I think eventually he will figure it out. He’d be an idiot not to, that’s for sure.
Moderator  Yes, is that something that we will see in these first ten episodes or?
J. Bilodeau  Definitely tune in. Things change in the whole love triangle but I don’t want to give away too much. But definitely watch and follow that relationship because it does get a little bit elevated.
Moderator   Can you talk about how you got started on this series?
J. Bilodeau   I started out pretty normal for an actor. I just got the audition, went in for the first audition, call back, and I met the producer. I went back for another producer read. Then back for a director session and then I did two testing auditions for it in front of the network. So pretty normal; I mean, I did know that they were casting this show in October of last year and I really wanted to get in on it but I was away shooting something and it worked in my favor that they ended up recasting the role and I got to go out for it in April of this year. So, I just auditioned and I loved the script and as soon as I got that call, I was so stoked to get to work and it’s been such a rewarding experience ever since. It’s really great.
Moderator  Have you’ve learned anything about yourself since you started filming this show?
J. Bilodeau   I’ve learned even more that I’m not a good morning person just because we wake up at 7:30/8:00 sometimes and for me, doing that every single day—I’m a very sleepy guy. But I’ve learned that I can work pretty hard under pressure. I didn’t know that I’d be so composed working in front of the audience because the first Friday that we did our audience day or audience taping was the first time I’d ever worked in front of an audience. So that was interesting seeing how I could actually do it. I was really nervous but once the first Friday was over, I was fine. That was definitely a new thing I discovered.
Moderator   Going back to the love triangle between Riley, Ben and Danny. In the few episodes that I’ve seen so far, I’ve gotten attached to both Ben and Danny, so it’s going to be tough to find out who Riley eventually ends up with, but do you have a personal preference as to who you would like to end up with Riley?
J. Bilodeau   Outside looking in, I want Danny to be with her just because I know Derek and I know he’s a great guy. I’m not watching the character, I’m pretty much watching Derek. He’s just a lovable giant. He’s this big good-looking dude.
You’d think he’d be off doing his own thing, just fooling around, but he’s so in love with this one girl, which is rare, and I think that the audience really appreciates that. From my perspective, I appreciate it more too. But I think once Ben realizes Riley likes him, he’s going to start warming up to that and I think he’s going to reciprocate that and maybe my opinion will change. I don’t know. He’s going to try really hard for it because Riley would be a great mom for Emma and I think he’ll understand that and definitely play on it.
Moderator   In future story lines, is there any clash between Ben and Danny that you can talk about because of this?
J. Bilodeau    I don’t want to say yet, but Ben, for a little while, is still really clueless that this is all going on, even with Danny’s relationship with her. He doesn’t really put the pieces together and I think that it’s just because he’s preoccupied with work and dating girls and with his baby. So once they both put all the pieces together, I think there’s going to be a clash between all of them; it’ll be interesting to see him actually get excited for it. But I’d definitely tune in to follow that story.
Moderator     We talked earlier about you working with Debby Ryan and she has her own show on Disney Channel called Jessie where she portrays a nanny. Do you see any type of crossovers between your show and that show? Or maybe even Melissa & Joey in the future?
J. Bilodeau    She’s taking care of kids and I’m taking care of a kid in my show. They’re all very similar. We’re both very young to be taking care of kids and having the responsibility of keeping them safe and happy. It’s just in a different vein, because Disney and ABC Family are a little bit different, and Baby Daddy is a lot more immature of a show than Debby’s show.
Moderator  What kind of crossovers would you like to see between maybe Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy in the future?
J. Bilodeau  That would be really funny actually. That’s a funny show and they’re our lead-in. I think that’d be great to do the crossover and our producer and creator, Dan, worked with Melissa on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, so there is our in, if we wanted to do a crossover. I think that’s a possibility as long as we shoot at the same time, I think it would work.
Moderator     Is there any chance that we’ll be seeing the baby mama any time soon, without giving away any spoilers?
J. Bilodeau     There’s always a chance that she comes back.  But I think that I’d rather see Ben take care of his daughter and not have anyone else come in and ruin that because I think if she came back, she’s going to want a part in Emma’s life. That’s the only reason why she’d come back into Ben’s life. So if she does, I hope her involvement with Emma is small because I want this show to always be Baby Daddy and I think it’s really special that there is a relationship between a young father and his baby daughter. You never know. Maybe she comes back this season, next season, I’m not sure. I don’t want to give away too much.
Moderator       Say if Jean-Luc was able to cast the mom, the sky’s the limit, who would you pick?
J. Bilodeau    The sky is the limit, okay, I’d pick probably Sienna Miller.
Moderator      Do you have any other big guest stars coming up in the works in the next few episodes?
J. Bilodeau    Yes, we’ve got a couple. Ashley Argota from Disney is showing up in episode seven. Greg Grunberg is coming in episode eight. We’ve got a bunch of heavy hitters coming in and spicing up our show. We’ve got a great season, a lot of crazy stuff. So I’m really happy that we’ve got a bunch of really good players to come on board.
Moderator    You mentioned that you are rooting for Danny with Riley because you like how Derek is going after her. But what about for Chelsea’s character, how Riley has been pining after Ben for so long; how do you feel about you’re going for Danny but she’s been in love with Ben for so long?
J. Bilodeau     I think she definitely deserves the pay off with Ben and I think it’s going to come eventually. That’s my opinion. I think she’s eventually going to be with Ben. They’ll both figure it out. It’s perfect for Ben and she’s wanted it for so long. But, in the meantime, while Ben is so clueless, I think she’s going to start falling for Danny. I don’t know, I’ve only actually seen ten episodes of the show. So I’m not sure where else it’s going to go but I think that it’s going to go back and forth for a little bit until she decides what’s best for her and what’s best for Emma; but I’m excited to see what happens.
Moderator    We mentioned earlier that you worked with Miley Cyrus in the movie LOL. Were you disappointed that the movie did not get the support of the distributor?
J. Bilodeau  Yes. They put it together really well. It was a sweet movie and there were a lot of big names attached to that movie and they all did a really good job and Miley did a good job and it was fun working on that set. It’s sad that the hard work was put down a little bit. They clearly just lost interest in it and didn’t promote it as well as they could. But it’s becoming little cult movie, I guess. A lot of people seem to respond to it but yes, it’s disappointing. I was actually looking forward to seeing that have a premiere and getting the attention it deserved.
Moderator     How much are you like your character Ben on Baby Daddy?
J. Bilodeau     I’m a lot like Ben. I’m a pretty genuine dude. I try to see the best in all situations and I, like Ben, think I would take care of my kid, too, if I were in the same situation. I wouldn’t just send her off to adoption. I wouldn’t let her go. I’d definitely take care of her and it’s great because I have parents just like Melissa, who would help me. I mean every joke, every genuine moment he has, I ground it in my own: what would I do and how would I say it. So I’m not really stretching too far to play Ben.
Moderator    If you could be on any other ABC Family show, which would you pick?
J. Bilodeau   I want to be on that Pretty Little Liars show because that show gets millions of twitter followers. I want to jump on that show and be someone on there. They’re all very good-looking girls; Pretty Little Liars would be my go to show on the network.
Baby Daddy is seen on Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30c on ABC Family