For Conner Rayburn, that happened pretty quickly. In an Angus Beef commercial, he played in the corner of a building in the Old West while a cowboy got thrown through a window. In the movie “Big Momma’s House 2” he went running on the beach. And in his series regular role as Kyle on the ABC sitcom “According To Jim,” he spent one episode comically living in an office drawer.

Conner’s been immediately recognized as a natural actor, and he’s already developing additional creative skills. In a Blue Cross/Blue Shield commercial, he was able to establish the theme and sequence for one of his scenes.

He’s already looking ahead, anticipating a time when he can act, do voiceover work and direct.  “I wanna do everything that involves acting,” he says enthusiastically.

If one looks backward in time, it’s easy to believe Conner’s place in Hollywood was pre-destined. Born April 7, 1999, in Dickson, Tennessee (about 40 miles west of Nashville) his father, Brian was an air-conditioning technician.  A former co-worker in Las Vegas offered Brian and his father-in-law the opportunity to pursue their work in Nevada.  The four Rayburns (including wife Gina and their oldest son, Christopher) wished some very difficult goodbyes to the rest of their family and headed west.  Their life took an unexpected and exciting road that led to Hollywood.

In the fall of 2004 Conner got the chance to audition for According to Jim. The result was Conner plays Jim Belushi’s son “Kyle” and has been for the past three seasons. Conner’s life is a bit unusual too. For three weeks every month during TV taping season he’s on the set Tuesday through Friday, where he works closely with a tutor on the assignments he’s given at school on Monday. He spends one week each month attending five days of classes, where he’s made friends who don’t place too much importance on his budding stardom. “They’re not hyper when I come to school,” he says. “They don’t’ care if you’re on TV. They just watch it.”  He rides bikes with his friends from the cul-de-sac.

And he’s slowly watching the credits pile up. In addition to “According To Jim” and his commercial appearances, he filmed a guest spot on an episode of “Monk”, appeared in the movie “Big Momma’s House 2”, has been on an episode of Cold Case “ The Offender”, and is currently filming in “Walk Hard “The Dewey Cox Story.

“Who would have ever thought that it would turn out like it did?” Brian wonders. “I’m glad that we took the chance."

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