Exclusive:
Kian Rogers was just five years old when he starred in Persil’s 2005 ‘Dirt is Good’ advert campaign, wearing an iconic pair of striped pyjamas as he served up a messy breakfast in bed for his on-screen parents
Drew Barrymore and Mila Kunis might have hit the big time after starting as child stars in adverts, but what about those who didn’t chase the Hollywood dream?
One former child star, remembered for his roles in iconics noughties adverts, has opened up about his life beyond the screen – and it’s not what you’d expect.
Kian Rogers was just five when he became the face of Persil’s 2005 ‘Dirt is Good’ campaign, donning memorable striped pyjamas while serving up a messy breakfast in bed for his on-screen parents. He also melted hearts as the ‘cute kid’ in ads for Lloyd’s Bank and Direct Line.
Despite his young age, he recalls the VIP treatment he received, complete with his own trailer and team of professionals fussing over his wardrobe and makeup. For an ordinary primary school kid, it was quite surreal.
“I was known as ‘the advert kid’ when I was younger,” the now-24-year-old said, speaking exclusively with The Mirror. “Even the kids from secondary school would come up to me and ask for autographs and stuff. It was a really popular advert that Persil one, it was in cinemas, TV, billboards.
“One time while out with my family in London we went on the Tube and there was a massive banner of me right there. I got recognised… it was good but weird.”
Before long, Kian then found himself auditioning for TV shows and blockbuster films, including Casualty and The Other Boleyn Girl, featuring big names like Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman. He insists his hair colour was the only reason he didn’t land a role in the latter film.
But now edging towards secondary school age, it was time to decide on his future – a ‘normal’ education or a route into professional acting. Kian continued: “It got to an age where the people who were being chosen for adverts all come from stage school.
“So, it got to the age where you have to choose your route. I wasn’t going to get picked for adverts at 14 or 15 where I went to secondary school over someone that’s been at stage school for the last three or four years.
“I was happy at the time, I enjoyed doing the adverts and stuff… But I guess [my parents] wanted me to have a normal life. Plus stage school was in central London – I don’t live there. So, I would need to leave all my friends to go to a central London school…
“So, I went to a normal school and was still known as the ‘advert kid’, but age 10 or 11 I started to really get into computers and that took over.”
Kian’s fascination with computers started with gaming, but he insists it was ‘always more than that’. He confessed: “I was interested in hacking in games, cheating in games. If anyone’s been lag-switched in Black Ops II or s*** on by a cheater in CS:GO, there’s a chance it was me.
“And then I started to learn more about how the cheats worked and thought it was really cool. I thought the coolest thing you could possibly be was a hacker. So, that’s what I decided I wanted to be.
“Got in a bit of trouble messing around on my school’s computers and then after that started learning about ethical hacking and went on to study Cybersecurity at university.”
Fast forward to now, Kian’s employed as a ‘Penetration Tester’ – or ethical hacker – at a UK-based security consultancy. His job involves hacking into various client products and network infrastructure, as per their request, to highlight their most vulnerable weak spots.
This, in turn, helps them to safeguard against dangerous cybercriminals. Reflecting on his journey, Kian continued: “I do look back and wonder what could have been, or what would have happened if I’d continued acting or went to stage school.
“Who would my friends be? What would my life look like, or what would I be doing? But this isn’t from a place of wanting that to happen – I don’t look back and think ‘I wish I had gone into acting’, it’s just purely out of curiosity.
“I’m very happy in my life, I love what I do. I feel I am lucky to have found ‘my thing’ that I’m good at and can make a career out of… I wouldn’t want anything to be different.”
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