Elijah Kelley: Whoa, Who's That Kid?

Elijah Kelley jumps out of Hairspray like a jitter off a bug

If Travolta's Edna Turnblad is the heart of Hairspray, Elijah Kelley's Seaweed J. Stubbs is the hips--the kind of boy who makes teenage girls nearly choke on their lollipops or want to join him in detention. That's where Seaweed teaches kids, white and black, including Tracy (Nikki Blonsky), all the fun dances. With his strenuous, just-naughty-enough performance of the number Run and Tell That!, Kelley, 20, emerges as a Hollywood throwback--a charismatic young actor who sings and dances. Kelley is in talks to star in a biopic of the young Sammy Davis Jr., and he's just been cast in Party Up,...

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