St. Thomas student Perry Chicos got a taste of fame while starring in his first feature film “My Senior Year.”

Chicos took on the role as a homeschooled student who decided to enroll in a public high school for his senior year. The movie was filmed in Woodbury, Minn., as well as a few other Minnesota locations near Harriet Island and St. Paul.

Chicos said he enjoyed the experience.

“It’s a great experience overall,” Chicos said. There’s definitely some challenges, but overall, I love it.”

Prior to this film, Chicos acted in small movies and musicals at St. Kate’s such as “Pirates of Penzance” and “Hello, Dolly!” Chicos said doing theatre, stage shows and short films in college prepared him for “My Senior Year.”

“You can’t just jump into (starring in a feature film),” Chicos said. “You definitely learn the production … like how you study your character, how you read the script critically, as well as diving into the meanings and symbolism that you are representing on the screen.”

After volunteering at The State Theatre for the Upper Midwest Emmys two years ago, Chicos said he built a relationship with “My Senior Year” director Joe Carlini and was encouraged to audition for the movie.

“I ended up coming in, and he had me read a few times for it,” Chicos said. “Just through knowing him before, we just sort of built a good relationship as a director/actor sort of thing. He had me read a few more times, and he liked my consistency with the character and how I read and auditioned.”

Chicos said starring in the film was “definitely a learning experience.”

“When you’re trying to create a character that you’re trying to portray, there is a lot of character work and there’s a lot of, like, getting to know your other acting team,” Chicos said.

Chicos said attending a public high school helped him portray his character in the film, but he also had to learn to put himself in the shoes of a homeschooled student.

“It took a little bit of research on my end because I was never homeschooled, but I was really good friends with a few kids in high school that were homeschooled, so I was able to tap into their experience of what they told me what it was like,” Chicos said.

Theatre and film professor James Snapko said he had Chicos in class at least four times.

“It was clear he had a genuine interest in film,” Snapko said. “He’d always bring something thoughtful to the discussions. He’s the kind of student that makes the entire class function better.”

Junior Paige Johnson said Chicos can portray any given character.

“He is very talented and has a way with channeling any character into his work,” Johnson said.

Chicos said his character in “My Senior Year” had a personality much different than his own.

“Aside from my character, I myself am a little more outgoing,” Chicos said. “I had to play a little more reserved and shy sort of character.”

Chicos’ friend junior Tim Pelcak agreed that Chicos is far from shy in everyday life.

“Perry’s a pretty energetic character,” Pelcak said. “He’s always had a huge passion for acting, and it definitely comes across. Even when we would just be hanging out he would get into different characters and pretend to be acting.”

Chicos said the film was sent to a film lab in New York to improve the quality and to be reviewed. If the film lab workers like it, it could mean big things for the film.

“If they accept it, they’ll more than likely recommend it to a big name festival like Tribeca or Sundance … then it’ll probably get picked up for distribution and then shown, so it’ll probably be another year or so before we can actually premiere it in select theatres or theatres everywhere,” Chicos said.

Moving to Los Angeles by January 2014 to pursue his acting career is what Chicos hopes to do next.

“I want to do acting full-time if I can out there and try to make it work and try to succeed,” Chicos said.

Snapko said Chicos’ talent and passion for film and acting will make him successful in the future.

“His passion for film has crossed over to the creative side. If he continues to have that passion for acting, he should have success,” Snapko said. “He’s a talented person, and it will become what he makes of it.”

Johnson said she’s confident Chicos’ acting career will take off.

“I have no doubt he will have a very successful career. Everyone that knows Perry has only good things to say, and we are all very proud of him,” Johnson said.

Pelcak said Chicos has what is takes to make it big as an actor.

“Perry is one of the most driven people I know when it comes to chasing down dreams,” Pelcak said. “If I had to put my money on someone I know ending up doing what they love as a career, it would be him.”

Stephanie Dodd can be reached at dodd0474@stthomas.edu.