Miles McKenna‘s star has been on the rise for years because of his success as an actor, a YouTube personality, an author and a storyteller — and he is just getting started.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, McKenna, 28, reflected on how his past accomplishments have been stepping stones for other aspects of his career.
“With YouTube, it’s definitely helped my acting career so much because I think YouTube is all about authenticity,” McKenna told Us. “When a lot of people from the outside look at online content, they think of consumerism, they think of talent and they think of people creating something for someone else to view. Really, [though], it’s about companionship.”
Before playing the fan-favorite role of James on Disney+ and Hulu’s Goosebumps, McKenna made a name for himself by making videos that offered commentary on gender identity and various other LGBTQIA+ subjects through a relatable lens. McKenna was then able to use his own experience — and humor — to shape the fictional characters he played on screen.
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“Transitioning into acting, it’s bringing a lot of myself to these characters and a lot of grounded realness,” he noted. “Because I have a lot of lived experience of being myself and not being a character. So I don’t go into an audition thinking anything other than, ‘What can I bring that’s real to the role?’”
Fans have seen McKenna’s approach pay off in projects including Hulu’s All Night, Prime Video’s Nocturne and now Goosebumps. McKenna gushed about how much freedom he had as an actor to explore a character he helped build upon.
“Not every set can be like this. Not every script can be like this. But Goosebumps was a thing that was a very collaborative and very improvisational production,” he said. “From the jump, the five of us [Zack Morris, Isa Briones, Ana Yi Puig, Will Price and me] from our first tape to doing the camera reads with other actors, we were all throwing ourselves into it. And that’s what the executives really loved and wanted to see on screen.”
Miles Mckenna in “Give Yourself Goosebumps” Disney/David Astorga
McKenna has enjoyed being given the space to make the character of James his own, adding, “You do what’s on the page and then they’re like, ‘OK, just have fun with it.’ And it was so crazy to see how much of our fun runs actually ended up in the show. So I really got to bring my own personality and my own sense of humor to the role.”
Goosebumps — which is based on R.L. Stine‘s popular horror novels — follows five teenagers who must work together after accidentally releasing supernatural forces into their small town. While trying to recapture the evil spirits, the group unlocks secrets of their parents’ pasts.
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James, for his part, spent most of the first season finding his community after initially masking how distant he felt from everyone in the small town of Port Lawrence.
“I love that we’re playing with a role where this kid is not afraid to be himself, but he’s afraid to be himself. He’s dealing with an identity crisis in a way that everyone does — regardless of their sexual orientation. He’s really struggling with being confident,” McKenna noted. “That was something that in the auditioning process struck me as something I really wanted to be a part of. Because it’s something that anyone can relate to and [can] empathize with.”
McKenna praised the “powerful” arc for offering representation to viewers who may see themselves in James.
“Shows try to push diversity in a really subversive way. And I love the way that Goosebumps did it where it’s not like, ‘Here’s this person, here’s their label.’ It was like, ‘Here’s this person, that’s them,’” the content creator explained. “It was really important to have — for me — an opportunity as a trans actor to play a queer character and that just be it. There would be nothing else on top of it. I just think that was what I didn’t get to see growing up.”
Season 1 wrapped up last month but there’s still plenty of stories still waiting to be told. Some examples include James’ brief connection with Sam [Aiden Howard] and how that plays a larger role in his love life.
“I would love to see a real romance for [James]. I feel like what we saw in season 1 was nothing that was really tangible. He obviously gets the guy in the end, but he gets the guy by not being himself,” McKenna told Us. “We haven’t really seen him crush in a way that isn’t just superficial. That would be something really nice to explore, especially after everything that he went through in the first season.”
In addition, viewers will see James’ evolving relationship with his mother. “[James] just got so many more new friends and [he has a] little trauma bond with everyone in a real way, especially with his mom,” McKenna explained. “That’s the only family that we know of that’s in the picture. So I think that he’s used to just being that guy and trying to be friends with everyone. But to find someone that really knows him, I think would be super special to see on screen.”
Regardless of where James’ journey could go, McKenna called the role a “dream” come true, saying, “I got to play a queer character as a trans actor, but it wasn’t based on something that was traumatic and it wasn’t bringing in so many different themes. We were really honing in on one, which was self-confidence. And he really had so much depth and was someone that people I think can just really relate to.”
Outside of the Goosebumps universe, McKenna is not slowing down on his search for more projects of a lifetime.
“Everything that I’ve been a part of has really been something so important to me. It’s always been that [thought] in the back of my head, ‘I hope that I got this role, but if I don’t then I’m going to be a fan of it,” he continued. “So toeing the line between comedy and tragedy is really a big deal for me. Goosebumps in general was just such a surreal moment for me. It was something where I got to be comedic and really bring myself to the role. But I also got to ground it in something that was a lot of longing, a lot of pain and a lot of uncertainty.
McKenna hopes to continue to help bring quality LGBTQIA+ stories to life , adding, “I’ve been watching Fellow Travelers on Paramount+ with Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer. … It definitely has so many themes of something that I really want to be a part of. Not just showing romance in a queer setting and love and lust and lost — but also having such a real backdrop with the Lavender Scare setting. Having such an educational way to share queer media as well that’s not just about the formation of someone’s identity. It’s also just where we are in the world and what the state of pride was at different periods of time. It is so important and I would love to be a part of.”
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As McKenna joins Us in manifesting a speedy season 2 renewal for Goosebumps, he remains busy with other projects as well. After releasing a book in 2020 about his coming out experience titled Out!: How To Be Your Authentic Self, McKenna is now shifting his focus to children’s literature.
“I really wanted to make a kids book that had a theme of self-love and understanding [with a message about how] everything’s going to be OK and people will support you.There’s so many people out there and just kind of themes that aren’t inherently just for queer people, but it’s something that would’ve helped me in my coming out experience and will help anyone.” he shared with Us. “I wanted to create a kids book that is able to talk about really a coming out experience in a way that anyone can relate to. So that’s what I’m Not a Vampire [will be about].”
For McKenna, one of the best parts of his success has been the support he’s continued to receive from the fan community he built.
“I started doing YouTube videos out of a necessity. YouTube was always that after school kind of safe space where I could really be myself and then it turned into a lifeline where it was really confessional style content of me being like, ‘This is what’s happening now and this is what’s going on,’” he detailed. “I had to make a choice to be myself and come out. Then I had to make another choice to continue to do that.”
McKenna concluded: “To continue to come out and be yourself, the internet was really the training wheels for me to do that. I went from knowing three gay people to meeting tens of thousands of gay people through not just the internet, but through advocacy. Then it turned into where I got to work with so many different nonprofits and go to so many different events worldwide for different queer causes.”
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