As Jon Favreau’s live action adaptation of The Jungle Book gets underway, Walt Disney Studios has recently announced the star of the, 10-year-old Neel Sethi. As Mowgli, Sethi will enter a world only dreams are made of as this newcomer from New York was handpicked from among thousands who had auditioned. Learn more after the jump.

After an extensive worldwide search, spanning across the United States, New Zealand, London,  India, and Canada, the casting of Neel Sethi is somewhat of an accomplishment for the highly anticipated movie. Reason being, Sethi will be the only actor onscreen in this new iteration of The Jungle Book.

Favreau was quoted in the press release regarding the casting news:

“Casting is the most important element of any film and finding the right kid to play Mowgli was imperative. Neel has tremendous talent and charisma. There is a lot riding on his little shoulders and I’m confident he can handle it.”

The casting director, Sarah Finn, also had this to add:

“Neel embodies the heart, humor, and daring of the character. He’s warm and accessible, yet also has an intelligence well beyond his years and impressed us all with his ability to hold his own in any situation. Even though he has no professional acting experience, his natural charisma and instincts jumped out at us.”

Favreau’s latest, Chef, has just about run its course in theaters, earning itself $28.3 million domestically. The movie never received a wide release, but was praised fairly well with a 68 metacritic score and an 88% fresh by critics on RottenTomatoes.

(Click the image below to enlarge)

Neel Sethi joins Ben Kingsley as Bagheera the black panther, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa the python, Lupita Nyong’o as Rakshsa the mother wolf, Idris Elba as Shere Khan the fearsome tiger.

The Jungle Book is set to hit theaters in 2D and 3D on October 9, 2015.

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Source: Disney