Dominic Scott Kay is not your average eight-year-old, with a multitude of interests that go beyond skateboarding and playing Playstation.
By Heidi Manteuffel/Special to The Malibu Times
Playing the son of Tom Cruise in “Minority Report,” singing for benefits since he was three, with an interest in composing and building robots, and future plans to direct, Dominic Scott Kay may be the youngest multi-disciplined performer that Malibu claims. The eight-year-old actor has recently completed a series of movies since his onscreen debut in 2002, and currently stars in director Kevin Bacon’s independent film, “Loverboy.”
“He’s never really been your average two-year-old or four-year-old, and now eight-year old,” Dominic’s mother, Cindy, said. “He loves the whole art of the movie business, and I believe he really understands it all.”
Traveling with his mom and dad for shows with the Commodores for years (his father, Scott Kay, is the drummer), Dominic has had the opportunity to see what it was like to perform and decided he wanted to pursue this life as well. While Dominic sang for church and local benefits, his parents were hesitant, however, about letting him do commercials and other professional projects. But when the time came, they let him try out for the role of Cruise’s son in “Minority Report.”
“We didn’t know what it was for, or who was in it,” Cindy Kay said.
Dominic was instantly cast for the part without a callback. The role of Cruise’s son led to many others, including the character in his current film, “Loverboy.”
In “Loverboy,” Kyra Sedgwick plays Dominic’s mom who refuses to let her son interact with other children, go to school or do anything outside of her control. Dominic’s character wants more than anything to be able to do the same things a normal child is allowed to do, but must deal with the requests of his mentally distraught, single parent.
The film includes an all-star cast, including Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon and Marissa Toméi. It is expected to run the various film festival circuits, but the date of “Loverboy’s” wide release is not yet set.
Dominic has also recently acted in a series of Hallmark films expected for 2004 releases, including “A Christmas Romance,” in which Steve Guttenberg plays Dominic’s dad, a relation Dominic was more than thrilled to discover.
“Three years ago I watched ‘Short Circuit’ [which stars Guttenberg] for the first time,” said Dominic, who became extremely fascinated with the movie and moreover with robots, specifically Johnny Number 5 from the film. Dominic has even designed his own robots at home and is working on a project to make them for others.
Dominic’s parents had a dinner at Guido’s for his eighth birthday and at the party, Guttenberg presented Dominic with a Johnny Number 5 model, one of 14 in the world. The man who makes Johnny Number 5 models, Cindy Kay said, doesn’t sell them. But Guttenberg pulled some strings to get Dominic the unexpected gift.
“I was so surprised,” Dominic said. “I’ve been dreaming about it my whole life. I was amazed because I’m so into Johnny now.”
Other gifts Dominic has received include a hand-held camera Bacon and Sedgwick gave him for projects Dominic plans to personally direct.
One film Dominic plans to make, called “Saving Angelo,” is based on the true story of his family saving a baby boxer they found on the highway. The family took him to an animal hospital and discovered the puppy was in a coma with expected severe brain damage and a broken leg. However, by some miracle the Kays believe, the dog fully recovered and now resides as the official fire station dog for the Malibu fire station on top of Los Flores Canyon.
Besides acting and directing, Dominic has been singing for philanthropic endeavors such as Cornerstone Worx and Dominic’s main nonprofit, Children’s Lifesaving Foundation, run by Maria D’Angelo. Dominic also has time to pursue his interest in music during his home school lessons with his mother.
“It’s awesome having my mom teaching because she makes it so much fun,” Dominic said smiling. Home schooling gives Dominic and his mom the ability to travel with his father, but also allows him to learn curriculum a year above his grade level. Dominic has the opportunity to study other disciplines such as Spanish, geography and the time to compose his own music.
He often performs for family and friends. “I do shows every night at our house,” Dominic said. “I even use a smoke machine and make all these special effects, because I’m just such a special effects boy.”
But, Cindy Kay said, he doesn’t really talk about acting and directing and other projects with his friends. “They’re not like so surprised,” Dominic said, about his friends knowing about his showbiz life. “They just think it’s kind of cool.”
When Dominic was asked if he had one vocation he’d like to pursue over the years, as he gets older, he responded, “No, I’m just going to keep doing all of them. It’s what I love to do.”