Hartley Bernier said watching cartoons helped him while he was getting his treatments at SickKids Hospital in Toronto.
The 12-year-old Newmarket resident was born with intestinal failure, meaning frequent treatments and visits. But he did not let that stop him from becoming a hospital ambassador, with his family raising more than $60,000 to date.
But after promoting the hospital in advertising, Hartley said he sought to take that experience into the voice acting world. That led him to his first big role acting in Netflix’s new cartoon series, Team Zenko Go, which premiered March 15.
“It was really a dream come true,” he said. “I’ve been in the hospital a lot over the years, and cartoons were something that really got me through that. So being able to be in those, and maybe in a cartoon that helps a kid get through surgery, is really something awesome.”
The children's show by Dreamworks Animation and Mainframe Studios features superheroes doing good deeds throughout their town in secret. Hartley is playing Ari, a wheelchair user who is part of the main cast.
He said he got the role after enlisting with an agent before the pandemic and auditioning. He added that the part meant a lot to him.
“I’m on an IV pump 16 hours a day,” he said. “I’m on lots of medications. I do daily injections, and sometimes, when my pain is really bad, I will even use a wheelchair. While we’re not entirely the same, it still felt really amazing to be able to play a character who is pretty much as close to me as I’ve seen anywhere on TV.”
Hartley’s vulnerability to COVID-19 has kept him and his family largely at home throughout the pandemic. But he said they were able to prepare a recording space using his closet and some blankets for soundproofing.
“The team was really amazing in letting me record from home in this little booth,” Hartley said. “I grew a lot as a person and as an actor.”
His mother, Ashley Bernier, said the family is proud of him.
“He has always defied the odds. He has set the goal of being a voice actor,” she said. “It’s pretty wild to see that at 12 years old, he's already begun his career. We hope that is the first of many things that he will do in this field.”
She said they are working on other parts, though cannot disclose anything just yet.
Hartley said being able to voice act was fulfilling.
“Especially during the pandemic, where I had to stay inside most of the time,” he said. “The only real time I went out was to go to the hospital. Being able to do something like that was really something special. It gave me a lot of purpose during a really dark time.
You can watch all 12 episodes of the series on Netflix.
