Listen in on Se Fija!’s exclusive interview with the Disney Channel’s latest Latino sensation–a bright kid with a big vision and the talent to make it happen

It’s not hard to see what the Disney Channel saw in Adam Irigoyen. Spend just a few minutes with him, and you can’t keep from smiling. There’s energy there–not surprising for a talented kid who’s already a TV star and doing fan-magazine cover shots at the age of 14. But there’s a focus in Adam, too, and a sense of potential–of just getting started–that’s impossible to ignore.

Se Fija! had a chance to sit down with Adam recently–the week that Season 2 of Shake It Up! aired its one-hour premiere on Disney. We caught him during a one-week hiatus on the show, in his on-the-set classroom with his teacher looking on. “I’m home schooled,” he explained, “So I can do my school from anywhere, but I have a schoolteacher and room upstairs from the set–all of us do. So I’m finishing high school…I kind’a have to, considering my parents.”

Family (and fate) are important keys to Adam’s success and obvious stability. His parents, as well as his brothers and sisters, all moved to California from Miami three years ago, simply to help him pursue his dream, and they’ve supported him ever since. His father was a high school teacher back in Florida; he teaches middle school in L.A.

And his mother was a first-grade teacher, “though she’s just kind of my driver now.” (That, we suspect, and a whole lot more: we had to go through Mom to get the interview, and that was the right way to do it.)

Adam’s been in Los Angeles for a little over three years. He got his first work in commercials and print campaigns almost immediately, and that’s no surprise. Look at him: he’s every parent’s dream as a clean-cut son or boyfriend. But he’s had a vision of doing what he’s doing for most of his young life. “I was in a regular school back in Florida,” he said. “One time we went to San Diego and visited the zoo, and they were handing out pamphlets for this acting school. I had always wanted to be on the Disney Channel, and I kind of knew what acting was, so I went and got the pamphlet…but I hid it from my parents until we got home. I showed it to them then, but nothing happened…and two years later, they signed me up for an acting school. Only then did I realize it was the exact same one I had given them.” And Adam knows how lucky he is. “I’m really blessed to have them. I’m thankful for that.”

Adam’s featured role in Wizards of Waverly Place was, of course, just the beginning. Last year he became Deuce Martinez in Shake It Up, and he’s getting more notice than ever. One of the best things about the role is its ethnicity: Martinez is a proud Hispanic, just like Irigoyen. “I’m very true to being Cuban,” he says. I’m proud to be Hispanic.” And part of that heritage is music–something he’s pursuing pretty seriously already. “Before I started going into the studio and writing songs, I had to decide on the genre I wanted to sing,” he told Se Fija!. His current approach is dance and pop, but “I also wanted to do the type of music that even my grandparents would be able to understand. So I’m singing in Spanish, and that’s what I really love doing.”

He’s not the first of his kind, of course. Disney Channel has a strong history of nurturing Latino acting and musical talent, all the way from Christina Aguilera on The New Mickey Mouse Club back in the day, up to and including the currently hot-hot Selena Gomez, Adam’s co-star on Wizards. One recent article even said he wanted to be the male version of Selena herself. “It’s something to aspire to,” he confided in Se Fija! “She’s past stardom, she’s amazing, and I love Selena, she’s such a nice person. If I could do what she did, but a boy version, that would be ideal.”

“I’ve definitely always wanted to play someone like Speed from the Young Avengers, being such a Marvel geek growing up”

The Disney Channel obviously sees the potential. They’re making major investment in Adam as well. Earlier this year, he filmed a couple of episodes of Peter Punk, an elaborate Disney XD concert series, entirely in Spanish—he got to spend ten days in Argentina, and even shot a couple of soap operas while he was there. “We shot two episodes in two days” he said. “It was hectic, but it was so much fun, and I got to explore all of Argentina. It was a great time.” What’s more, the Spanish-Language video version of the concert will be showing all across Latin America for months to come.

Not that he isn’t just a kid, too. His press material mentions he’s a big Marvel Comics fan, and that’s not just hype. During our talk with him, we mentioned a quote we found about his love for comics, and how he’d like to be in a Marvel movie and play a Latino superhero. “I’ve definitely always wanted to play someone like Speed from the Young Avengers, being such a Marvel geek growing up,” he told us. “And I’m still one to this day.” We suggested he consider DC as well, and their teen Latino superhero Blue Beetle (We’ve covered the re-launch of the Beetle’s monthly title and Latino superheroes in general here).

It makes sense: Adam even looks a little bit like the Beetle’s alter ego, Jaime Reyes. “I never thought about The Blue Beetle,” he confessed, ” but now thinking about it…it would be a really cool experience, and a cool way to show the Hispanic side of me.”

Clearly, Adam Irigoyen has a bright future, and if one doesn’t come knocking on his door, then he and his family will go out and make it. He said it a couple of times during our interview–“I can’t wait to see what the future holds,” and the funny thing is–we believe him.

You can watch Adam Irigoyen on the Disney Channel’s Shake It Up!, 8:30P on Sundays, and he has a “quien es mas cute?” web site and photo gallery here. He’s also a very active Tweeter; you can follow him on his Twitter account here. Whatever you do, don’t lose track of him. You’re going to hear this name again.

And we’re expecting front row seats to the world premiere of Blue Beetle, too, Adam. Write that down.