Watchful Eye Producer on ‘Extraordinary’ Henry Joseph Samiri

Henry Joseph Samiri plays Jasper Ward on The Watchful Eye, a new thriller drama set to debut later this month on Freeform. Recently, the show’s cast assembled to promote the series, and the young actor, known to The Bold and the Beautiful fans as Douglas Forrester, was the talk of the panel!

Keep a Watchful Eye on Henry Joseph Samiri

The Watchful Eye is executive produced by Ryan Seacrest and Emily Fox, who serves as showrunner. The show tells the tale of a young woman, Elena Santos (Mariel Molino), who enters a mysterious world after taking a job as a nanny to Samiri’s character Jasper Ward.

“There’s child actors, and then, there’s Henry,” Fox told reporters at the TV Critics Winter press tour in Pasadena. “He is extraordinary and has an incredible depth and maturity, but also is able to play…a real kid. He’s so real.” Fox says that she isn’t a fan of child actors who are “too clairvoyant or too articulate” as they can make performances seem less real.

The Real Deal

“[Henry Joseph Samiri] always felt so real and was incredibly professional and set an example for all the adults,” Fox said. “He’s just a lovely kid and has a lovely family. He was able to turn in what needed to be done in a particular scene…and then was able to come out of it and just be ‘fun Henry.’ It was a total delight to work with him.”

“He’s an exceptional young man,” praises Warren Christie, who plays Jasper’s dad, Matthew. “He’s such a pro…but it doesn’t come at the cost of being a child. He’s really sweet. He shows up every day, and he wants to have fun, and he wants to play, and he wants to explore as opposed to some child actors [who] tend to show up prepared with something specific.”

“Henry is awesome,” says Lex Lumpkin (Elliott Schwartz). “I don’t have many scenes with him, but I remember one time I walked out of the tent, and he had this RC [remote control] car, and he was doing donuts with it. And I was like, yo, he drives better than me!”

Henry Joseph Samiri Raises the Stakes

Molino adds that Samiri held his co-stars accountable if and when any of them let slip with an expletive while on set. “He [had] a ‘swear jar’ and just like make you pay the piper and hold you responsible,” the actress says. “He was the most professional actor on [the show].”

And what’s the going rate for swearing on set these days? Molino says: “A dollar, inflation.” Fox quips, “Yeah, he just bought a private jet.” The Watchful Eye debuts with a two-part series premiere on Monday, January 30 at 9/8c on Freeform.