January 30, 2017

Meet Patrice Wiley of Lookalikes and Characters Entertainment in Milton

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrice Wiley.

Patrice, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always heard that what happens to you in your past and what you fill your life with shapes and molds you into who you become. Throughout my childhood, I loved music, dance, musical instruments, and performing. When I grew up and went to college, I finished with a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development. This degree set me up well for being a good mother to my two daughters and my son. It also helped me start a company specializing in children’s entertainment.

My daughters took after me with dance, acting, music, and drama. When they were in middle school and high school respectively, Hannah Montana was a very popular television show. One afternoon, my daughters and I went to see the Hannah Montana concert movie. As we were leaving the theater, my oldest daughter began singing a Hannah Montana song. At the time, she had a similar haircut to Hannah Montana and quite a few people stopped and watched her. As I looked at her and saw the positive reactions she was getting from the little girls and parents coming out of the theater, I thought about the times I had hired characters to come to my children’s birthday parties when they were young. A light bulb went off in my head and I realized my talented daughters could easily entertain at birthday parties. Soon after, my oldest daughter began performing as Savannah Montana and her sister was her sidekick Lola. Since that time in 2008, we have employed over thirty talented young people at Look-Alikes and Characters Entertainment.

Has it been a smooth road?
My two biggest struggles were when my oldest daughter went to college in 2010 and when my younger daughter was accepted into the Disney College Program in 2015. Without my favorite princesses here, I had to fill their spots with other performers. Working with my daughters brings me so much joy and not being able to have them as a part of the company for those periods was definitely challenging.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Lookalikes and Characters Entertainment – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are Look-Alikes and Characters Entertainment. The name says it all. We take characters and bring them to life through our extraordinarily talented and energetic actors. We look far and wide for excellence when we hire our young men and women. Our company holds auditions and picks actors with various backgrounds in dance, theater, and music.

Look-Alikes and Characters Entertainment is getting ready to begin our ninth year of bringing magic to the Atlanta area. We know what works and how to plan our activities, games, and entertainment accordingly. When planning the entertainment at an event, we always consider everything involved, ranging from age appropriate activities, the attention span of the children, and how to keep everyone involved. The day of the party is a very special day in the child’s life and one they should always cherish and remember. As a mother, I completely understand this and as a result, I have planned and executed hundreds of successful parties for these lucky children. I have the experience and the knowledge to know what parents want and expect. They expect perfection and they will get it with Look-Alikes and Characters Entertainment. This is how we have earned each and every five-star rating awarded to us over the years. We have had several families repeat business with us throughout the years, and I am proud of how we continue to create smiles on the faces we entertain. The joy that we bring to the children makes it fun and worthwhile. I am very proud of how far we’ve come and how many talented and experienced actors we have in this growing company! Our years of experience and our amazing performers help ensure a wonderful experience for everyone.

I think one of our proudest moments has been being invited to the Fox Theatre on three separate occasions. The first time was when our Cinderella was invited to interact with the crowd outside of the Fox Theatre at the Spring Peachtree Street Block Party. The second time was for the sold out Frozen Sing-Along. The Fox was at capacity of around four thousand people. We were there as The Snow Queen and Winter Princess to meet and greet the families as they arrived and to take pictures with the kids. We were overwhelmed with the number of children and adults at the event, but we had so much fun meeting everyone! The third time, we attended the Fox Theatre for their sing-along for The Little Mermaid. Just like the previous event we attended at the Fox, our princess took pictures with and greeted countless families while having an amazing time! During this event, The Fox was filming their documentary The Legend Lives On – The Fox Theater at http://www.gpb.org/television/shows/the-legend-lives-on-atlantas-fox-theater.

When viewing this documentary, we were so excited to see our Mermaid Princess featured in a couple of scenes as she greeted children. Now we are a part of The Fox Theatre’s historic documentary and so proud to be!

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I love most about Atlanta is that you are always able to find something fun to do. Whether it be a beautiful park, a trail to hike, a movie to see, a play, musical, or concert to see, it’s all right here in the Atlanta area. Of course, one might say the thing they like least about the Atlanta area is the traffic.

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