RITA YOUNGLESS, Morning Journal Correspondent

PENFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Six-year-old Ryan Whitney has performed on local stages, in print advertisements and television commercials since the age of 3. Now, he is stepping up to the movies.

The last week of March he will spend two days filming a part in a Jim Carrey movie in which he plays Carrey's character as a child.

The family found out in January that Ryan had the part when he and his mother Kandi were in New York at another audition.

''We cried, didn't we? Then we called everybody!'' Ryan said.

Ryan had to audition only once for the part in December. He was in New York in mid-March for a costume fitting for 1970s-type clothes.

''They just had to measure me,'' the 46-inch-tall actor said.

The Penfield Elementary School kindergartner counted on his fingers the months until the movie, ''External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,'' will be released on Dec. 31. ''That's a long time away,'' he said, sounding surprised.

Ryan said he has seen Carrey in the move ''Liar, Liar.''

''It was pretty funny,'' he said.

In the film Ryan will be in, the Carrey character's romance with actress Kate Winslet ends and he tries to have his memories of her erased. Ryan's scenes will not be with Carrey or Winslet since he is playing Carrey as a child in flashbacks.

''They said they would do their best for Ryan to meet them. We hope to get autographs,'' said Mrs. Whitney.

Ryan has a manager and three or four agents in New York City and an agent locally.

His father, Todd Whitney, said they received the call to come for Ryan's costume fitting in New York at 7 p.m. one evening and his wife and Ryan had to be on the road at 5 a.m. the next morning.

''It's just part of it. You're not going to get a lot of work here,'' said Mrs. Whitney.

Television viewers might catch Ryan in an American Dental Center commercial running now. He has also appeared in commercials for Friendly's, AmeriSuites hotels, Burdines, Sunrise Propane and done a voice over for The Florida Visitor's Bureau.

''Once I had to break a board with my head in an audition. It wasn't real. I didn't get hurt,'' he said.

His print advertisements were for Disney World, Purina, Century and Little Tikes at age 3.

''They did it while I was playing with toys. All I had to do was spin the wheel on the whirly-rocket,'' he said with a smile.

He finished his AmeriSuites commercial this month and said it was fun.

''I learned how to snorkel in the pool,'' he said.

The taping was long and tedious because doing special effects caused long intervals in between taping while the crew made preparations. Ryan said he just stood still during the intervals or played with the girl who acted as his sister in the commercial.

He likes the new friends he makes when acting. ''I don't always get to make new little kid friends because sometimes there aren't any there,'' he said.

Ryan is an only child and when asked how he knew how to act as if he was fighting with the sister, he said, ''It's just pretend.''

He packs homework and crayons in the family van and rehearses lines on the way to tapings.

''I watch movies in our van and play my PlayStation,'' he added.

Mrs. Whitney said Ryan is capable of doing the work because he is not shy, has good memorization skills and follows directions well.

Ryan's career got off the ground at age 3 when he went with his mother to shop for a cell phone and Ryan struck up a conversation with the salesman.

''Ryan just kept talking to the guy. He thought Ryan was very outgoing. He called his wife at home to get the number of his daughters' modeling agency,'' Mrs. Whitney said.

''It snowballed from there,'' said Ryan's grandmother, Kathy Marlett, who travels with them.

Ryan has performed at North Ridgeville's Olde Towne Hall Theatre, Gremore Dance Studio recitals and sang ''Take Me Out to the Ball Game'' at the Elyria City Talent Showcase. He took an acting class at Oberlin's MADFactory and Cumberland County Playhouse. He recently became a Screen Actors Guild member.

''He's not bashful. He doesn't even get nervous when there's family or his teacher in the audience,'' said his mother.

''I want to be in more movies. I'd like to be in all Jim Carrey movies, but I'm not funny like him,'' Ryan said.

He is learning how to deal with people. At the conclusion of the interview Ryan shook the interviewer's hand and said, ''It was nice to meet you.''

His hobbies are fishing, modeling, baseball and golf, which he practices in the back yard of his West Road home in Penfield Township. ''Sometimes in the front yard,'' he said, adding that he needs some short clubs.

Two dirt bike jumps are in the yard. The bike's handlebars stand only 2 feet high. ''I'm good on my dirt bike,'' Ryan said.

Sometimes in the summer, his dad, Oberlin machine shop manager, shoots baskets with him, said Ryan. ''He goes to work everyday, so there's not enough playtime,'' stated Ryan.

Ryan goes to school two and a half days a week so he is able to fit other things in, like the piano lessons he just started. He said it is exciting when classmates say they saw him on TV.

Ryan said he doesn't mind missing school for acting work.

''It's more fun to miss interviews,'' he said wryly.