That’s me in the picture: Dean Cook recalls his starring role in the Yellow Pages Christmas campaign, 1992

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/12/thats-me-picture-dean-cook-yellow-pages-advert

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This was the first advertising campaign I did. My mum had signed me up to an agency at the age of six, when she saw how much I enjoyed getting up in front of everyone to do karaoke. I was seven, and the audition lasted only three minutes: I just had to repeat the action – stepping up on to a copy of the Yellow Pages and pretending to kiss; there was no one standing there. I was very excited when I found out I’d got the part. I remember running around telling everyone at primary school that I was going to be on TV.

Everyone was nice to me on set. It was a little daunting being seven and having to kiss a girl in front of all these people and the camera. She was a Scottish girl, about 11, and she made me feel a lot more comfortable about the whole thing. She said, “Don’t worry, I won’t bite.” I ended up having to do it about 30 times, as they had to make sure they got the right shot. I was busy that day.

It was due to air a couple of months later. We didn’t know when exactly, just that it was going to be on in the run-up to Christmas. I remember the first time my family and I saw it. My mum screamed, “Dean, Dean, your ad is on the telly!” It was quite exciting, and quite surreal, too. My mum made a point of recording it. The video was always ready in the machine, and as soon as we heard those jingles at the start it was a race to press Record.

I got teased a bit at school, but it was lighthearted, like, “Oooh, I saw you kiss a girl on the telly.” I also got a bit of positive attention from the girls, which was nice. I kept a bit of mistletoe in my back pocket that year.

Until recently, the ad aired pretty much every year. I am 29 now, and to this day I still have people coming up to me and asking if I am the little boy from the Yellow Pages advert. It’s nice, because I receive a royalty cheque in the post for a few hundred pounds, but also because it’s something I’m really proud of. I went on to become an actor; this was the first thing I did, and it became iconic.

I’ve re-enacted it a couple of times, once against my will on a night out with friends a few years ago. They asked for the Yellow Pages from behind the bar and found a good-looking girl who was in on the joke. They brought her over and put the book down in front of her. It was rather embarrassing.

It comes up mainly because I am quite short – about 5ft 6in. So people say, “Can you not reach that? Shall I get you a Yellow Pages?” It’s all good fun. I am getting married next year. At Christmas. I have no doubt someone will bring a Yellow Pages.

Interview: Abigail Radnor

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