John Candy’s Son Says He Was ‘Scared’ to Become an Actor Like His Dad

Chris Candy loved and admired his father, John Candy — but that didn’t mean he wanted to follow in his father’s acting footsteps.

Chris, 40, opened up about his father on the Nov. 25 episode Nostalgia Tonight with Joe Sibilia. Chris was the executive producer of John Candy: I ​​Like MeNew documentary about his father’s life. John, who starred in beloved films like Airplanes, Trains and Automobiles And uncle buckDied in 1994 at the age of 43. Chris was 8 years old.

When asked if his father would have encouraged him to go into show business, Chris admitted, “I don’t know. I think he would be absolutely proud of where I am at the moment because of the vision I’ve created for it.”

Chris explained, “I was really afraid to become an actor or get into entertainment because I didn’t really want to belong in that career. As I was growing up, I really wanted to find my own path.”

But Chris’ love of the show shined through, even if he tried to ignore it. “It wasn’t until I got to my 20s that I realized I loved doing drama in grade school and high school, and I was playing music, and was really, really optimistically creative. And that’s when I wanted to try to do it professionally,” he said.

However, he joked that he was “naive”, and thought it would be “very easy” to get into acting. “But once I realized the challenges that came with it, I really got into it and took some great classes and then slowly but surely I started getting some fun work,” he said.

Chris also performed comedy at the Second City Theater in Los Angeles. His father, John, was a member of the original Second City in Toronto in 1972, and starred in the theater’s TV show sctv,

But Chris originally did not want to go to Second City because of its relationship with his father, and instead he “danced around it” for years, doing improv at other theaters. “I wanted to understand it again in my own way,” he said. “And it was the best, because I think I needed to learn my voice, and by the time I got to Second City, I had all these different approaches to it,” he said. “And now I feel like I’ve found a good voice in the improv world that’s uniquely my own.”

Chris’s credits include things like TV series private eyes And adulthoodHe is also a writer,

Sibilia also asked Chris if he realized how big of a star his father was when he was growing up. “I knew since childhood because you would go to these movie sets, and I would be on the set uncle buck Or who is harry crumb, And you would see that he was the center of attention,” he said.

But his parents “made great efforts” to ensure that Chris and his sister Jen did not become obsessed with stardom. “It was also because of their upbringing. My mom and dad grew up more or less lower middle class in Canada, and that’s the way they were raised,” he said.

John’s attitude about his films was “Yeah, it’s my job, this is what I do,” and Chris said he “never let it go to my head.”

Chris said, “He was never so influenced by the culture around Hollywood that he had to make this his life.” Still, he said with a laugh, “It could be said that we grew up in a very nice home. We had a really Hollywood upbringing in that regard.”

John Candy: I ​​Like Me Now streaming on Prime Video.