Timmins news: Two northerners enjoying fast food fame

Two people from our region are getting involved with some big-name fast food chains.

You might recognize a Sudbury man in a recent KFC commercial and a Timmins singer is collaborating with Taco Bell.

Rob Wills of Sudbury has lived all around the region and now he’s living in TVs across the country as the newest Canadian version of Colonel Sanders.

“It’s a little bit surreal, you know, you’re watching the hockey game and, you know, the Leafs are up 7-2 and, uh, oh there I am,” Wills told CTV in an interview.

After successfully auditioning for the role online, he took a two-day trip to Toronto to don the famous chicken connoisseur’s iconic suit.

This version has the colonel agast that KFC is selling chicken for cheaper than he’d like.

“The colonel’s not happy about the $2.99, like, ‘That’s my life’s work and it’s only $2.99,’ ” Wills said.

He jokes that he used to take offense when people called him Colonel Sanders, but now sees it as an honor, having fond memories of KFC as a kid.

“Dad would come home with a bucket and I was like, ‘Yeah!’”

Being an actor based in the north, Wills said this is an opportunity he wouldn’t have been able to get in years past, thanks to self-taped auditions and video calls.

And his talent agent says northern actors are getting more local opportunities.

“Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay are on the map, in terms of projects that are high profile,” said Rob McCubbin, of the Nexus Talent Group.

“What we have are our people who are confident on-camera, who look great on-camera, and who are just as, as I said, as talented as anybody else.”

“Northern Ontario actors are getting some notice and that helps,” added Wills.

“And they get some experience, which really helps.”

Will says he’s always flattered to be recognized on the street and hopes this won’t be the last time he dons the colonel’s suit.

He’ll be sharing northern fast food fame with Timmins’ own Preston Pablo, who’s set to collaborate with Taco Bell on a marketing campaign.

The two restaurants share the same parent company.