‘Zoom’ Child Star Reflects on ‘Life-Changing’ Casting on ’90s PBS Show
What To Know
- Pablo Velez Jr., who was cast on PBS’s ‘Zoom’ as a child in the late ’90s, described the experience as “life-changing” and initially didn’t grasp the show’s cultural impact.
- After working in production and being laid off in 2025, Velez turned to TikTok to share memories of his time on ‘Zoom,’ which helped him cope with job loss and isolation.
- Fans have expressed to Velez that ‘Zoom’ was an important and inclusive show for them growing up, motivating him to continue engaging with the community.
Pablo Velez Jr. was cast in the PBS kids show Zoom that premiered in the late ’90s — and recently, the former child star, now 40, opened up about the “life-changing” experience.
On October 23, Velez sat down with People to reflect on his time on the series and how sharing about it on social media helped him through the “isolating experience” of searching for work as an adult after a layoff.
Zoom aired for seven seasons from 1999 to 2005 on PBS; it was a reboot of the original 1972 version of the children’s program. For the show, a group of kids demonstrated science experiments, cooking, games, math problems, and more, inviting viewers to then try the activities at home.
At 12, Valez attended a huge casting call for Zoom, going through four callbacks before he was cast as one of seven kids in Season 1.
“I think I was just excited that I was done with the audition,” he told People, of getting the call. He was paid roughly $28,000 for the show, which “to a kid, it was a lot,” he pointed out.
Valez added, “I had no real, at that point, appreciation for, and even a sense of what it would mean to be on a nationally televised show for a program that was iconic and was so innovative for the time.”
Although Valez dabbled in acting for a bit in Los Angeles after filming for Zoom in Boston, he returned to the East Coast, attended college, and then started working as a producer in LA. He then moved back to Boston, where he landed a role at WGBH, where Zoom was filmed.
In the summer of 2025, however, Valez was laid off. “That was a tough loss for me, for many, many reasons,” he said, calling the search for a job an “isolating experience.”
That’s when Valez decided to start posting videos on TikTok about his Zoom days. “I said, ‘Okay, maybe with this time I step out and try to finally embrace Zoom and me being on the show and connect with people.'”
@gbh We’re partyin’ like it’s 1999! Happy 25th, ZOOM! #PBSKids #ZOOM ♬ ZOOM Anniversary – GBH
Fans, in turn, have shared with Valez how Zoom “was the show that they went to after school, it was where they felt seen, it was where they felt they saw themselves.” He added, “It’s just beautiful and I want to keep engaging.”