Meet the 11-year-old from Seattle area who plays Ralphie in FOX musical 'A Christmas Story'

SEATTLE -- An 11-year-old boy who lived in the Seattle area is playing the role of Ralphie Parker in FOX’s live musical version of “A Christmas Story," which will air Sunday night.

"I'm very excited about this," Andy Walken said in a Skype interview Monday from his new home in the Los Angeles area. "It's so cool to work on this Warner Brothers set and work with all these actors.

The live musical will air at 7 p.m. on Dec. 17 on Q13 FOX. It also stars Maya Rudolph and Matthew Broderick.



"This is my first live thing ... also my first sort of Broadway musical," Andy said, adding that he started acting in 2015. "I'm more excited than nervous."

The story, of course, revolves around a young boy in the 1940s who tries to convince his parents to get him a "Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle" for Christmas. But his mother keeps telling him no, saying that he would probably shoot one of his eyes out.

"I can relate to Ralphie because we can both hint to our parents what we want and we both have very big, big imaginations," Andy said.

"The hardest part about this would be the choreography but I’m a figure skater so it’s a different type of choreography ... but I got it pretty fast," Andy said.

Andy grew up in the Mukilteo, Wash., area and moved to the Los Angeles area in August.

Andy hopes the show is a hit and says all he wants to do is "keep working."

"I don't really have anything else coming up, but I want to do a lot -- sort of Broadway-type things after this and some more acting just in general," the 11-year-old said.