By Carol Badaracco Padgett
It’s the final scene of DC Universe’s summertime 2025 blockbuster “Superman,” and without spoiling anything, the last face you will see at the very end is Oliver Diego Silva’s. He’s 4 years old today, and he’s Superman.
If Kryptonite can be small and powerful, why not a toddler?
Oliver is the son of Atlanta-based actor and filmmaker Diego Silva Acevedo and his wife, actress and acting coach Kelly Young-Silva, and he got his part in “Superman” when he was just 2 years old.
“I can call him Superman for the rest of his life,” says Young-Silva.
Oliver’s journey to the role began like this: local casting friend Jordan Blair Brown, sent a memo in 2023 to Young-Silva about an upcoming production that was looking for a child with brown hair and blue eyes. Young-Silva initially assumed the heads up was meant for her acting studio kids.
Brown had Oliver in mind, though, and so did Oliver’s agent, Carol Shaginaw. “So, Oliver auditioned, and we initially didn’t know what the role was for,” says Young-Silva. Auditions are something Oliver’s parents take him to fairly routinely, since he has one film credit on his IMDb page and several television series appearances, including on Peacock’s new limited series crime thriller, “The Good Daughter,” where both Young-Silva and Oliver have a role.
Oliver is also no tiny stranger to a film set. “He’s very familiar with filming and he’s been on-set a lot,” says Young-Silva. But this new, mysterious role especially piqued the Silva family’s interest, because the casting company involved was big-time—Feldstein|Paris, one of the largest casting directors in the Southeast.
Then Oliver got a call-back. “So we knew it was big, and after another month-and-a-half while we waited on hold, his dad and I finally knew—holy cow, it’s Clark Kent, it’s Superman!” says Young-Silva. Oliver, though, had no clue what the role was.
Then, just as every actor experiences the ups and downs of getting cast for a serious role, Oliver was let go from the project. By July 2024, though, the production called back the Silva family and said they definitely wanted Oliver.
“He looks just like [actor]David Corenswet, the Superman. That was the total appeal,” Young-Silva says with wonder in her voice. “So they gave us another little audition and we put him on a wire and flew him on a green screen, thanks to our friend [film producer]Brian Krainson.”
Then the production wanted a close-up of Oliver’s face. The resemblance is spot-on.
Next, Oliver had to meet [writer and director]James Gunn. “I was doing an acting summer camp and I had to leave to go to the filming with Oliver,” Young-Silva says. “I just told Oliver it was part of summer camp. He had no pressure because he just thought it was all part of a bigger summer camp.”
When the “Superman” director first met Oliver, he hit it off with the toddler right on the spot.
“James Gunn was great with him and said, ‘Oh, the famous Oliver!’ and gave Oliver a high five,” laughs Young-Silva. “And so they were flying him like Superman at age 3 in the film.” Incidentally, Oliver got his SAG-E (Screen Actors Guild Eligible) card at age 3, as well.
On set for the film, Young-Silva says the accommodations for Oliver worked amazingly well. “SAG-AFTRA’s Child Labor Coordinator was good about getting him on and off the set,” Young-Silva says, and of course, she was also right there beside her son. “When we were in the trailer, it was easy to occupy him there. And overall, there was so much going on there was no time for him to be bored,” she notes.
And what did the now 4-year-old think when he finally saw the film for the first time, as the Silva family attended the exclusive premiere in Midtown Atlanta at the Fox Theatre? With all the action in the film, Young-Silva says, Oliver–who usually can’t sit still at the movies–couldn’t take his eyes off the film.
Pretty much the same reaction as the rest of the world this summer.
“Oliver is a principal and is listed in the credits as Young Clark Kent,” Young-Silva says. “He hasn’t taken off his Superman cape since.”
