Who is Brett Kelly?
Fans of the 2003 movie “Bad Santa” and its 2016 sequel are certainly familiar with the character of Thurman Merman, a gullible overweight kid who believed that Santa was real; most people commented that this character was a big part of why “Bad Santa 2” had such a success. If you ever wanted to know more about the actor who portrayed Thurman Merman, and what happened to him, let us introduce you to Brett Kelly.
He’s an actor with over 20 credits to his name, and besides the mentioned role, he’s starred in movies such as “Trick ‘r Treat”, “What Goes Up”, and “High School” among others, while to the television audience, he is perhaps known best for his role as Francis Bischetti in the series “Dead Like Me”, also starring Jasmine Guy, Callum Blue and Ellen Muth.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTx4Lf4vgOl/
Early life and education
Brett Edward Kelly was born under the zodiac sign of Scorpio on 30 October 1993, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, thus he holds Canadian nationality and his ethnicity is White. He was raised in Vancouver by his parents about whom little is known, and he hasn’t spoken about having any siblings, thus it’s assumed that he was raised as an only child.
Brett attended St. Thomas More Collegiate, a high school in Burnaby, Canada, and upon matriculating in 2011, he enrolled at the University of British Columbia, from which he graduated with a BA degree in 2014.
Roles in movies
Making his acting debut as a Kid in the 2001 movie “Kill Me Later”, Brett’s next role came in the same year, when he was cast to play Toby in “Out Cold”, followed by his role as Sammy in “Cheats” in 2002.
In the following year, Brett portrayed The Kid in “Bad Santa”, also starring Billy Bob Thornton, Lauren Graham and Bernie Mac – this comedy crime drama had 12 award nominations and won one, while Brett’s performance brought him a nomination for Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award-Youth in Film, and he won Phoenix Film Critics Society (PFCS) Award for Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role – Male, in 2004.
In 2005, Brett was seen as Mac in the sports comedy “The Sandlot 2”, followed by his role as Rodney in “Like Mike 2: Streetball” in 2006, and next he was seen starring as Oscar Pitt in the short movie “Birthdays and Other Traumas”, which brought him the Leo Award nomination for Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Short Drama.
Next, Brett was cast to play Timothy ‘Beef’ Wellington in the 2006 movie “Unaccompanied Minors”, which had three award nominations – he and the rest of the cast won the nomination for the Young Artist Award- Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film.
In the following year, Brett was seen as Charlie in “Trick ‘r Treat”, a comedy horror written and directed by Michael Dougherty, and then in 2008, he appeared in the movies “Pathology” and “Slap Shot 3: The Junior League”, followed by his roles in “What Goes Up” (2009) and “High School” (2010).
Six years later came Brett’s most notable role to date, as Thurman Merman in “Bad Santa 2”, also starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox and Kathy Bates, while his most recent role was in the short movie “A Quiet Moment” in 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZypmIYaXxSs
Roles in series
Brett made his first television appearance portraying Ted Slatske in an episode of the series “The Wonderful World of Disney” in 2001, and he was then cast to play Francis Bischetti in “Dead Like Me” in 2004, while his next TV role came in 2007, when he guest-starred as Young Joe in the series “Masters of Horror”.
After a decade, he was cast to play Clark’s Co-Worker in the series “Supernatural”, and then in 2021, he was seen as Cecil Patterson in the series “Family Law”, also starring Victor Garber, Zach Smadu and Jewel Staite, which was his most recent television role.
Where is he today? What happened to him?
Brett has no social media accounts, so it’s hard to keep track of his life, however, it’s known that he currently resides in Surrey, British Columbia, and according to him, he’s filming the third season of the series “Family Law”.
In his interview for Peace Arch News, he said that acting for him is ‘the best job in the world’, and he’s especially happy to work in his hometown.
Although he had numerous roles since appearing in “Bad Santa”, Brett is still recognized as ‘the kid’ from this movie, and as he said ‘If Christmas time is coming around and I have my hair fairly long and curly, yeah, I get it quite a bit. It’s that cyclical nature of a Christmas movie, coming around every year, and I do get recognized,’ however, he is glad that these days people recognize him as Cecil Patterson from “Family Law”.
Love life and relationships
Brett hasn’t been the subject of any rumors or controversies concerning his love life and his sexual orientation, and since he prefers to keep his personal matters away from the media’s attention, he hasn’t spoken about his relationships.
There isn’t any photo featuring him and some girl with whom he might be romantically linked, so as of May 2022, its assumed that Brett is single, he hasn’t married or been engaged, and doesn’t have children.
Age, height, and net worth
Brett’s age is 28, and has light red hair and blue eyes; he weighs around 200lbs (90kgs) and is 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall. The interesting fact about his weight is that he had to gain about 40lbs (18kgs) for his role in the “Bad Santa” sequel.
According to sources, as of early 2022, his net worth has been estimated at over $200,000 – in one of his interviews, Brett said that he spent most of his money earned from acting on his college education, and some of the rest he spent buying a ten-year-old Honda Civic.
