Actor happy to be back home in 'Poppins' role

"We were driving from Seattle to Sacramento and we stopped and went whitewater rafting. It was out in the wilderness and it was so pretty. We saw a bald eagle nest and it was really cool."

Utah County native Talon Ackerman may sound like your normal 12-year-old talking about his family summer vacation. But Talon's cross-country road trip began last year when he was selected to join the national touring company as Michael Banks in Disney's "Mary Poppins," opening at Capitol Theatre on Sept. 1.

"We have the opportunity of driving or flying. I need a car because I need a Walmart," Talon's mom, Michelle said, laughing.

"We drive from city to city. So we have a chance to stop at the World's Largest Ball of Twine and talk about it," she said. "We've stopped in places you'd normally never go. It's fun; the photo album is pretty cool."

After a year driving around the country, a few months living in St. George prior to that (for Tuacahn) and a summer in Cedar City (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Talon is showing no signs of slowing down.

"I have three kids in the business," Michelle said. "I've always told my kids, 'I'll help you, I'll encourage you. But I don't have the energy to push. If you don't want to do this, I'll go back to my life.'

"But they make it easy; they love it."

Talon caught the acting bug at age 4, after watching his older brother in the national tour of "Oliver." "He just fell in love with it, he loves it." Michelle said. "Even after 200-plus shows, he still comes off the stage every night just beaming."

It was Talon's time on Utah stages that helped prepare him for the national spotlight. "His time in Cedar City and Tuacahn helped hone his skills as far as interacting with a live audience," Michelle said. "He's done community teater and film and commercials. But with these professional companies, he was able to do a lot of meet-and-greets and interviews and learned a lot about interacting with people."

"Life on the road is a constant struggle. But it's also about finding the balance," she said. "I don't think he's at the point where he'll look back and think, 'I didn't have a childhood.'

"I've worked really hard to find the opportunities in every town to get out and play. We've done surfing lessons, volleyball lessons. We also picked up a Six Flags (amusement park) season pass and there are Six Flags all over the country."