“Everything is not what it seems,” the theme song for the hit 2010s-era Disney Channel show “Wizards of Waverly Place” teases. But what about in the life of Jewish “Wizards” star Gregg Sulkin? In honor of the show’s recent reboot, what do you actually know about Gregg? Let’s find out!
Here are 18 things to know about him.
1. Gregg Sulkin was born on May 29, 1992 in London to a Jewish family.
2. He’s a Gemini!
3. Gregg and his older brother Grant were pretty cute kids.
4. He became a bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Israel.
“It was a very special day. I think only 5 or 6 people attended so it was very intimate but beautiful,” he said in a 2013 interview.
5. In the same interview, Gregg responded to a question about how being Jewish plays into his day-to-day life. Here’s his response: “Well, the Jewish community is all about love and family, which is the most important thing in my life too.”
6. Gregg returned to the Western Wall in 2023 and had a poignant moment of reflection.
7. If it wasn’t already obvious, he’s proud to be Jewish!
8. Gregg used to be very serious about soccer. He played for West Ham, QPR and Tottenham youth soccer teams as a kid.
9. His first professional role was in the 2002 ITV mini-series adaption of “Doctor Zhivago.” He played Seryozha.
10. He got his first big break when his mom saw an advertisement in the Jewish Chronicle looking for Jewish boys of bar mitzvah age. The role ended up being to play a Jewish boy named Bernie Rubens in the movie “Sixty Six,” a comedy drama about a boy whose bar mitzvah is on the same day as the 1966 World Cup Final.
“There was a big open casting call and they saw something in me,” Sulkin told JC in 2023. “There were six or seven callbacks and it seemed to go on for ages. But then I ended up being the lead of a movie in which Helena Bonham Carter played my mum and Eddie Marsan my dad. I never looked back.”
He concluded, “If it hadn’t been for that job, I wouldn’t be an actor today. I consider myself very fortunate because people believed in me. I know that there are many actors in the world who are incredibly talented and who haven’t had the breaks, I have. ”
11. He moved to Los Angeles at age 17 to pursue acting!
12. Gregg has been in numerous Disney Channel shows and productions! His most notable role is as Mason Greyback in “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex.” But he was also part of the short film series “Pass the Plate,” “As the Bell Rings” and in the movie “Avalon High.”
Take it away, Gregg:
13. He became an American citizen in 2018 and voted in the United States for the first time in 2020!
14. Gregg had to get ripped to play a personal trainer on the Netflix show “Pretty Smart.” Check out his full body workout routine below:
15. Gregg played Jewish RAF pilot David in the second season of the British World War II show “World on Fire.” The series shows David dealing with antisemitism from fellow pilots and crash-landing in occupied France.
“It means a great, great deal to me to play this character,” Sulkin told JC. “And to my family too. My grandparents are no longer with us but they fought in and experienced those horrendous days. I am very proud to be a Jew representing a Jewish character on television, particularly one who has so much grit and determination and who is fighting the good fight.”
16. Working on the show led Gregg to discover that his paternal grandfather Bobby fought fascists in England!
“Bobby Sulkin was a tough East End boxer who was a member of The 62 Group, a militant, broad-based coalition of anti-fascists,” The JC profile of Gregg explains.
It also quotes a report that Gregg found about his grandfather brawling in 1962 against members of the British National Party. “I looked around and saw Bobby Sulkin, a former East End boxer, hit a Nazi so hard that his feet left the ground. The Nazi had been a pro boxer and a Nazi bully boy for years. Now he was in the gutter where he belonged,” the report reads.
17. It appears that Gregg is dating South African model Tamara Francesconi.
18. “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” star David Henrie teased that Gregg Sulkin visited the reboot set.
At the premiere of the reboot, Gregg himself commented about a potential cameo on the show. “[I] can’t confirm nor deny it, but I know how much the show means to so many people around the world,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “And so, for me, I would always be… I would always like to show my gratitude for people who’ve supported me at such a young age, and who have continued to support me at such a young age.”
