An Amazon Prime film, The Underdoggs, is a comedy about a coach teaching a little league football team how to play the game, and one of those underdoggs in real life is a St. Charles County middle schooler.
Jonigan Booth, 13, from O'Fallon, Missouri, was cast as the character Tre and star player wearing the No. 8 jersey on the movie's football team. The film stars well-known actors, such as Snoop Dogg, Mike Epps, George Lopez and Tika Sumpter. It was released Jan. 26.
This was Jonigan's second time landing a Hollywood-inspired role. He was first cast as an actor for the hit NBC show "This is Us." He played 'young Marcus,' for which he starred alongside fellow St. Louisan Sterling K. Brown. Jonigan's sister, Jonica Booth, helped him land "The Underdoggs" role, despite him not having had prior formal acting training. She is an actress based in Los Angeles, who plays Chastity on Issa Rae's comedy series, and says she coached him throughout the film.
The movie's plot is summarized by MGM Studios as: Jaycen 'Two Js' Jennings is a washed-up ex-professional football star who has hit rock bottom. When Jaycen is sentenced to community service coaching an unruly pee-wee football team in Long Beach, California, he sees it as an opportunity to turn his life around. As Jaycen works to transform the foul-mouthed Underdoggs into top-notch champions, he reconnects with his past, including an old flame and few of his ex-teammates and rediscovers his love of the game. The movie runs 1 hour and 36 minutes.
The film reportedly was inspired by Snoop's real-life experiences through his Southern California-based Snoop Youth Football League that he founded more than a decade ago. His league has had several players who ended up in the NFL, including Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, New England Patriots wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster and Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley.
Charles Stone III, "The Underdoggs" director, stated Snoop knew the type of outspoken kids to cast for the project. He likened the movie to a remake of the 1976 classic “The Bad News Bears."
Jonigan reported he enjoyed filming the movie so much that it didn't feel like work. He says, "We would have rap battles on set. Everybody tried and wanted to beat Snoop Dog." (After practicing, he says he did beat Snoop dog one time.)
"The movie's pool party scene was my favorite memory," he adds.
Off-screen, Jonigan is known as a dynamo on the basketball court, playing point guard for the Cobras basketball team. He states he's dedicated to inspiring other kids to chase their dreams, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and balance screen time with real-world experiences, all while having fun creating YouTube content.
His mother, Shay Williams, told the St. Louis American at the time of the movie's St. Louis screening at The Alamo Drafthouse, that Jonigan's been acting since he was 5 years old, making YouTube videos singing and rapping with his sister Jonica.
Jonigan at the screening shared: “I hope to star in a basketball movie. I won’t need a stunt double for that and I want to work with Adam Sandler, he’s hilarious."
Instagram @jonigan_booth
YouTube.com/@Jonigan_Booth
"Yoo, my name Jonigan and I’m a actor," states Jonigan Booth, regarding his YouTube channel with 607 subscribers.
manager, Cheryl Martin,
publicist, Mike Liotta,
Jonigan Booth,
mother, Shay Williams.
Cheryl Martin is the CEO and Founder of CMA Entertainment. 818.280.6325
Cobras Basketball Club
120 Tuscany lane
Ofallon, MO 63366
Phone: 3144961274
"We would have rap battles on set. Everybody tried and wanted to beat Snoop Dog."