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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A boy from Springfield is about to be heard across the country. He's the voice of a stuffed animal that will be sold exclusively at Hallmark stores for Valentine's Day.
Drake Stephens, 12, does the song, and a stuffed animal called the Cupig does the dance. Combine the two and you get a musical cupid shuffle, and a big step toward a successful show biz career.
"My mom used to be a great actor and she still is, she told her manager and she sent all my headshots in," said Drake.
"We do a lot of mom and son roles, and it just started little by little, and I just thought it would be great if he could do one print commercial or one print ad, and then a lot of agents just started getting interested in him," said Drake's mother, Angela.
Before he knew it, Drake was getting calls from all over the country.
"Then I went out and found an agent in California and now I have agents in Kansas City, St. Louis and California. Once I got my Kansas City agent, I booked one job, then they started sending me a whole bunch of stuff and I was really good at it and I did a voice-over and we sent it in and they really liked it," said Drake.
Drake's latest gig went nationwide.
"You press the button and I'm the voice of it. It sings and, when I say something, it's mimicking," said Drake.
His parents try to keep Drake's success from getting to his head.
"I try to keep him very normal because it's very stressful. You have auditions, you get rejected, it's very difficult for a child, so I try to just let him have fun," said Angela.
For Drake, the job offers keep coming.
"I'm doing a Baldknobber movie right now. Of course, I did the pig, then I have a bunny coming out for Hallmark around Easter this year. I've done Hallmark commercials," said Drake.
"I just want him to be normal, have fun, and, if he wants to do this when he gets older, great," said Angela.
The Cupig is sold at Hallmark Stores nationwide, including all of the Betsy's Hallmark stores in Springfield.
Drake is also starring in the upcoming films "Surrender" and "Baldknobber." Drake and Angela both star in the short film "And So My Children."