THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994 TAG: 9406090170
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940610 LENGTH: Medium
He likes ice hockey, baseball, tree climbing, contemplating the world from his backyard swing and playing with his friends.
{REST} He does not particularly like giving interviews. Especially when a young lady from down the street is knocking at the back door in hopes that he'll come out to play.
But having been in the modeling business since the age of 8 weeks, Hunter Curran knows the value of good press.
It was probably a combination of that cooperation and his impish grin that won him a $500 scholarship and a modeling contract at KID SEARCH, a nationwide model contest sponsored by Wilhelmina Models and J.C. Penney Portrait Studios.
Curran was a regional finalist in the May 7 contest in New York. Out of 70,000 kids who had entered nationwide, the Chelsea youngster took seventh.
For the Curran family, which also includes dad Jerry, mom, Arlette and brothers Ryan and Parker, the trip to New York was pretty much a trip home.
``My husband and I both come from Long Island,'' Arlette Curran, said. ``So we have lots of family up there.''
For Hunter the trip meant making friends with the youngsters in the contest, winning a medal and doing some pretty hard work.
Like sitting still - which isn't the easiest thing in the world when you're a typical 5-year-old with the energy of a puppy and an attention span to match.
It also meant a trip to toy giant F.A.O. Schwarz and an introduction to something that really intrigued the young man whose mind always seems to be working a couple of steps ahead of what's currently going on.
``I saw a piano that played all by itself,'' he said, his eyes big as saucers, the ever-present grin splitting his face from chubby cheek to chubby cheek.
There was also a surprise waiting when they got home from New York, a chance for Hunter and Ryan to appear in a Nauticus commercial.
``We got the call right after we got back,'' Arlette Curran said. Shooting began a couple of weeks later and took place over the period of a couple of very long days.
The commercial will run in this market as well as in others on the East Coast. Be sure to watch for Hunter. He's the kid in the red, white and blue outfit, the same one he posed in for still pictures last weekend.
Hunter and Ryan aren't the only models in the Curran family. At 16 months, little brother Parker has also been on his share of shoots.
Jerry Curran, who works in sales for a local business equipment company and Arlette, a flight attendant now on maternity leave, handle the hectic schedules of their growing brood with ease and good nature.
``Modeling isn't their life,'' Arlette said. ``Their life is really sports and school.'' The modeling, however, has at least one distinct advantage.
``It's a great way to earn the money for college,'' she said as Parker, just waking up from a late afternoon nap, snuggled against her maternity top and Hunter, freed at last from having to talk to a reporter, ran off to find his big brother Ryan and the little girl who had stopped by earlier to play.
by CNB