Breaking Bad’s Walt Jr. is coming to B.C. – but not for the reason you’d think.
RJ Mitte may be best known for playing the son of meth-cooking drug lord Walter White on the critically acclaimed TV show, but these days, he’s hitting the road to pursue a new passion – DJing.
“It’s always a hectic day,” the affable 22-year-old jokes from his home in Los Angeles. “On top of coming up with a new mix and everything else, I’ve been in the midst of planning a party for my mom.”
It’s been about one-and-a-half years since Mitte was last seen on the small screen as Walt Jr., and now he’s hitting the road to perform under the bright lights of the stage for a series of Breaking Bad-themed parties called “Breaking Beats.”
His passion for club music started when he was just a teenager.
“I had a bunch of friends that were DJs when I was 14, 15 and then I got into it a little bit,” Mitte recalls. “I’ve been working on it now for quite a bit of time.”
With gigs in Las Vegas and New York under his belt, Mitte is heading to northern B.C. Friday for a Breaking Beats event in Prince George.
Add that to a recurring role in the ABC show Switched at Birth as well as a role in the Tribeca-screened Dixieland, Mitte’s career is full-speed ahead after five years on Breaking Bad, which aired its last episode in 2013.
Being diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child hasn’t slowed Mitte down either – and he’s since become a major advocate for those with the neurological condition, as well as a fierce anti-bullying spokesman.
“I’m always working and I have a hard time when I’m not working. I don’t like to be idle for too long, so I always want to travel and keep moving forward,” he says.
DJing is completely unique from acting and advocacy work, but it’s one Mitte is eager to take on. Every show and every crowd he’s played for so far has been entirely different.
“The last two shows I did, they wanted me to play nothing but twerk and hip-hop. I like twerk and hip-hop, I like everything, so I don’t mind,” he says. “The hardest thing is understanding the vibe of the people, putting your own mix on that.”
But Mitte is not a case study in celebrities suddenly deciding they want to be DJs and moving to Ibiza the next week (here’s looking at you, Paris Hilton).
The Louisiana-born actor seems genuinely humble as he talks about the new opportunities that have arisen since he shot to fame, even crediting those around him for much of his success.
“I have a lot of cool friends and I try to be as observant as possible. I’m surrounded by really, really talented people,” he says.
He also speaks highly of the other talented people – the actors he worked with for five years on Breaking Bad. Leaving the show was “sad,” Mitte says, but he and his castmates knew it was time.
“Every story has to have an ending and we were lucky enough to have our ending,” he says. “But there’s always a new chapter. Everyone [from the show] is working. We’re not idle, everyone is moving forward and working toward something great.”
For Mitte, that place is behind the decks, making people dance and even, occasionally, remixing the Breaking Bad theme song into his sets.
Breaking Beats with RJ Mitte and DJ Mia takes place at the CN Centre in Prince George, B.C. on Friday, May 8.
