LITTLE Freddie Henderson became “a celebrity overnight” after melting hearts in the John Lewis Christmas advert five years ago.
The four-year-old was picked from thousands to play the youngest version of Sir Elton John in a mini biopic by the department store back in 2018.
The £7million Christmas advert, titled The Boy and The Piano, covered the singer's career in reverse and in tear-jerking final scenes showed him excitedly opening a piano for Christmas.
It was Freddie, from Gatley, Greater Manchester, who played Sir Elton in those touching moments and despite being five years on, he's still recognised today.
Now nine, he tells The Sun: "It's amazing that millions of people know me.
“When I watched the advert for the first time I was like ‘Woah, I’m on TV’ and my friends were really impressed.
“A lot of them said ‘No way, you’re joking’ when I told them about it but then when they searched me on Google their reactions were hilarious.”
Proud mum Emma, 38, says it was a “great little moment in our lives” but describes the months leading up to it as like “a whirlwind”.
The recruitment worker says: “We never did acting or agency work to get Freddie famous, he was just a chatty sociable boy and enjoyed it. It was never about fame for us.”
Before starring in the John Lewis advert, which some fans have called the "best of all time", Freddie attended acting lessons at The Drama Mob - co-founded by former Coronation Street star Tina O’Brien.
The youngster had already appeared in an advert for electronics firm Bosch when he was asked to submit a video for the John Lewis advert by a casting director.
In the recording, Emma had to film Freddie’s reaction while opening a present and asking him questions about his “favourite thing about Christmas” and “what he wanted for Christmas”.
She tells us: “Later at the audition, there were lots of other boys his age and he was asked to play a piano for a director. I don’t think he had ever played one before.
“At that point, we didn’t know the advert was going to be about Elton John and later I was told that he reviewed the videos and chose Freddie based on his resemblance to himself as a child.”
After Freddie was chosen, the family had to a sign non-disclosure agreement and chose to hide certain bits from their son to avoid anything being leaked.
Emma says: “I couldn’t tell anybody. My close family knew Freddie had done some filming for an advert but we didn’t tell them who it was for.
“We explained to Freddie what would happen but didn’t tell him too much about the advert because we knew he liked to talk a lot.
“I don’t think we told him he was playing Elton John until much later because we didn't trust him. We couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t tell people.”
On the day of filming, Emma says there were multiple stand-in child actors in case Freddie couldn’t perform and they recorded the scene “about 30 times”.
She tells us: “I was there the whole time, I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He would run down the stairs into my arms.
“We must have filmed it about 30 times so that they could get different facial expressions and Freddie running at different speeds. It all helped to bring the scene to life.”
Freddie says it was “really fun” to do and he especially liked filming because he was incentivised with gifts.
He tells us: “I have three favourite memories from it, the first was getting to sleep in a hotel with my mum.
“Then I also liked running down the stairs even though it felt like I did it 100 times and getting toys after filming some of the scenes.
“Mum said she would give me a toy for the last three or four times I did it. I remember getting a car and a Minecraft toy.”
Emma says it was “a whirlwind of a few months” - between submitting videos, the audition, three wardrobe fittings and the filming date - but was worth it.
She tells us: “It was so lovely and they made us feel special, we even got picked up by a chauffeur from the train station.
”We woke up early at 6am to watch the advert when it came out online and then when it aired on TV we had a viewing party with family and friends.
"It was really fun and Freddie loved it. He was amazed and just dead happy. He loved seeing himself on the TV.
“I was so excited for him and after it aired I must have got hundreds of messages on Facebook and Instagram and text messages and everyone calling me.
“Freddie was in reception at the time and his school made a big thing of it. All of his friends loved watching him in the advert too.
“Freddie became a local celebrity. Everyone in Gatley knew who he was, which was so lovely, and they all still talk about it now.
“He was recognised a lot and was asked to switch on the Gatley Christmas lights in front of 100 or so people.
"There was a big crowd, a countdown and everyone cheered and clapped when he turned on the lights. I felt very proud.”
The advert, which cost £7million to film, featured five actors playing Sir Elton at different stages in his life - sometimes with the help of prosthetics and CGI.
Online, fans of the adverts branded little Freddie "soo cute", "a cutie" and a "beautiful boy".
One person gushed: "The best bit is his little face." And another wrote: "Totally love Freddie absolutely amazin[g]."
Ex-Corrie star Tina O'Brien wrote: "Proudest day ever. Freddie our little actor superstar."
When Sir Elton promoted the video, he shared a photo of Freddie along with the caption: “What a pleasure it was to be part of the wonderful @johnlewisandpartners Christmas advert.”
Emma, who was especially thrilled by the post, says: “That was insane. The picture must have been shared millions of times.”
Within 12 months of being released, the video had more than 13 million views on YouTube alone and to this day, regularly features in Top 10 lists of the nation’s favourite Christmas adverts.
Freddie, who no longer acts, says he "really enjoyed" starring in the advert.
Reflecting on the experience, Emma says: “We loved it. It was a great little moment in our lives and was really fun to be a part of.
“It was such a big advert and loads of people still remember it. I still get messages about it now.
“We love all of the other John Lewis adverts even more because of it but it's especially nice knowing our family was able to be a part of such a well-loved British tradition and history.”
