Never in his wildest dreams did eleven-year-old Gabriel L. Silva think that he would be walking on a lone bridge hand-in-hand with mega star Ben Affleck. Yet, in the first shot of the first day of filming the 1920s-prohibition mafia movie, Live By Night, back in October 2015, there he was.

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Silva began acting and modeling as a result of taking the negative of being bullied for his size and turning it into a positive. “Being bullied is something that no one should have to go through. Especially when you don’t have control over what you are being bullied for,” Silva comments.  “I was bullied because I am small for my age. My mom put me in acting and modeling to help build my self-esteem. I had no idea that I would like it, but I did. When I signed with one of my agents, Miss Kerri, she told me that being smaller will help me to get more roles because I can play younger longer—I think that was the best thing that I had ever heard.”

Live By Night was Silva’s first official credit as he got the opportunity to portray Tomás Coughlin, Affleck and Zoe Saldana’s son.  For Silva, this was definitely a dream come true. “Mr. Affleck is one of the nicest people that I have ever met. I see why he plays Batman—he looks like he is seven feet tall. Everyone who was a part of the production was very nice to me and always made sure that I was well taken care of. I really did learn a lot.”

Silva also has two additional projects due out in 2017—Boo Boo Bandits 2016 and short film entitled, Vivir y Amar, where he portrays young Montez in a touching, heartfelt family drama. To follow the journey of this rising star, check out his Instagram.

Live By Night, in theater’s nation-wide today, follows the story of Joe Coughlin and a group of Boston gangsters who set up shop in Florida during the prohibition era. Additional cast and crew include Elle Fanning, Sienna Miller, and Miguel.