What Jacob Tremblay Wants To Be When He Grows Up

At nine years old, Jacob Tremblay has already experienced more success than most people five times his age, thanks to a leading role in the Oscar-winning movie Room that won him numerous awards and made him everyone's favorite awards show star. Yet according to the actor, his Hollywood career is just getting started — not only does he have several new movies in the works, but what Tremblay wants to be when he grows up shows that he plans to stay in the industry for a long, long time.

"I want to be a director," Tremblay tells Bustle while at the Hershey's Store in Times Square on April 28. "Because I like making up stuff — like, I lie a lot. I make jokes a lot. I like telling stories, so directing and writing scripts — that’s what I want to do when I grow up."

With 16 acting credits already to his name, including roles in the upcoming films The Book of Henry and, possibly, the big-screen adaptation of bestselling YA novel Wonder , Tremblay is clearly a natural on a Hollywood movie set, and so it's no surprise that he wants to explore the behind-the-scenes side of filmmaking one day. He's already mastered the lingo — he tells Bustle how he recently did the "ADR" (aka re-recording some of his dialogue) for Book of Henry — and, he explains, he already has a support system in place to help guide his directing journey along: his parents.

"They’re telling me [some] information on being a director," Tremblay says, before looking at his dad and saying, "You’re helping me a lot."

As Tremblay explains, that's far from the only way his parents — Jason, a police detective, and Christina, a stay-at-home mom — have aided his career. The actor says that his parents are "really supportive" of his work, and provide him with some much-needed help.

"They’re really supportive of my career because they let me take days off school, they take me to all these places, and they also buy me gifts," Tremblay says with a grin. "They help me practice all my lines, they help me get into a crying scene by helping me get in position... I can’t even do a crying scene without them. If I didn’t have them, I probably wouldn’t even be able to memorize all my lines."

And it goes both ways; Tremblay gets to bring his parents to some pretty cool events, from movie sets to awards shows to the Hershey's Store, the actor's "favorite place" in New York. There with his father to promote Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day, Tremblay seems thrilled to have his dad by his side, and says that he loves spending time with him, whether it's playing sports, going to museums, or visiting Tim Horton's (hey, they're Canadian). Recently, Tremblay got to visit his dad at his work, an experience he says was "really cool" — namely because he got to see his dad's "cool costume" (i.e. his police uniform) and meet his "police friends."

Sounds like Tremblay is keeping busy these days — which can only be good preparation for his future role as director of 2026's must-see films.