GAC Family’s Trevor Donovan: ‘The More Positivity We Can Bring To Kids… The Better Our Future Is Going To Be’

Published: February 3, 2022

GAC Family’s Trevor Donovan: ‘The More Positivity We Can Bring To Kids… The Better Our Future Is Going To Be’

By Movieguide® Staff

As GAC Family grows into a competitive streamer, so does its family of talent.

Actor Trevor Donovan recently spoke with GAC’s Bill Abbott about their movie, JINGLE BELL PRINCESS, and his passion for encouraging positive influence.

“If you’re doing those things in life, those positive things in life that create happiness and productivity in your own heart you end up meeting with like-minded souls and I think GAC and what you’re doing over there and and everything that we’ve got started was meant to be,” Donovan told Abbott.

Aside from his career on-screen, Donovan also dedicates his time to protect children from online bullies by teaching them how to stand up for one another through his foundation.

“Initially it was called ‘Be The Kind Kid,’ now it’s called ‘The Upstanders,'” the NCIS actor said. “The idea behind that is to really encourage kids with a little bit more social influence in school to stand up for kids that maybe can’t stand up for themselves, to help to create a community and create a group effort to stop bullying.

“This is something I started in 2019… these kids participated and were so incredibly involved that I felt like we should continue this and keep visiting schools,” Donovan shared. “I remember when I was a kid, you could get teased or bullied at school, and then you could escape, go home and get away from it. These days with the internet and with social media platforms, it’s nearly impossible to escape.

“It creates a situation where kids can bully other kids anonymously. It’s just so easy to hide behind a computer screen and be mean to other people,” he continued. “But with that same access to people over social media platforms you can also be that much more positive. I think that’s where it all began with seeing like, ‘I have enough people following me and enough influence online to do things positive and I want to daily show up in a positive light and inspire people to act the same way.”

Donovan noted that while influences can come from media and entertainment, they also come from peers.

“Kids are influenced by peers,” he said. “I remember as a kid you know maybe doing things that I didn’t really want to do because of peer influence and stuff so kids can be influenced negatively and they can be influenced positively and if you can encourage those kids with more influence to act positively it’s going to be contagious.

“The more positivity we can bring to these kids and the more inspiration to be a good person that’s just going to be contagious and it’s going to lay out a path for them on how they operate and exist through life,” he explained. “If you can start at this age, they’re going to have this core of being a certain kind of human being. The more kids we can influence in that direction I think the better our future is going to be.”