Skater Stories: Thomas Turner
From playing both kinds of football (the one on the gridiron and the one we call soccer) to bringing beloved Disney characters to life, Thomas has done a little bit of everything around the globe.
It’s rare that I get the chance to interview a figure skater who also has experience as a defensive back. It’s even more rare when my worlds collide and I get to interview a Disney On Ice castmember who has completed a pass to 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid. Yet Thomas Turner has done all that and more. He took some time out of touring back home in England to chat with me about his skating journey, embracing being a performer, and sharing his world travels with an online audience.
Q: How did you get your start in skating?
A: I was born in Canada, moved to England when I was three. And because of that, we had family friends and lived in Canada, so when I was nine years old, we went on vacation to Canada. And one of my family friends had ice hockey practice, and in England, you know, it’s like football, football. Sorry, for you, soccer, soccer, soccer. That’s all it is here. I played that with that growing up, but I really wanted to get in touch with my Canadian side. Ice hockey looks really fun, so I want to do that. So my parents took me to an ice rink, Bracknell Ice Rink, and I started learning how to skate. And you have to get to level 5 in the learn to skate lessons before you’re allowed to play hockey. So, I was level 4 when this Russian-speaking coach, Alex Verkavich, he had coached some people, taken to the Olympics, quite high levels. And he came up to me and said, ‘you have really good balance. You should try figure skating.’ And I was like, what’s that? Like, sure, I guess I’ll try it. I had the lessons and I picked up quite quickly and kind of stuck with it from there.
Q: What did you enjoy most about being on the ice in those early years?
A: In the early years, I think it was something so different from football. Again, being a Canadian and living in England, embracing that Canadian side, being able to ice skate and do something that was different and challenged me in a different way. I think because I was learning and growing quite quickly, it was fun learning and trying new things. I’m very much a person who always wants to learn and try and do as many things as I can. I think I’ve really always enjoyed just learning so many new things and doing something that was very different to what everyone else around me was doing.
Q: And at what point did you feel like you could start to make a career out of this?
A: I don’t think I did know that. When I was younger, I remember Alex saying to me, ‘do you want to skate for fun or do you want to go to the Olympics?’ And I’m like, ‘well, I’m a competitor.’ When I was a kid I wanted to go to the Olympics. But when it came to it, I really didn’t want to do that because I never wanted to commit to one sport. I was figure skating, but I was also still playing football (soccer), and then I was also playing baseball. So that was three sports that I was doing in Bracknell.
Then I moved to Canada at the age of 12. I started to take my skating a bit more seriously, but I was also playing soccer, and then in my high school years, I started playing American football. I was getting recruited to universities, and that kind of became my main sport and I stopped competing [in figure skating] around 15, 16 years old and just enjoyed coaching from there. So I never really saw myself going to the Olympics or anything like that. But I was always dreaming of joining Disney On Ice. I love the theatrical side of skating, the performance. I love to entertain people, whether that’s at karaoke night or being on the ice. I love to entertain.
I think that this was just something that was put in my ear by my skate sharpener, actually. He said he did it when he was younger, and he loved it, and he’s like, ‘you’re meant for this. Like, you would love to travel and do that.’ That was kind of how I was put into my ear, and as I did university, I re-joined the skating team in my last couple of years, just to get my edges and skates back underneath me and sent my application in, and that’s kind of how that went.
Q: I’m curious, you mentioned playing American football. What position did you play?
A: Defensive back, kicker, punter, sometimes a slot receiver. We have a little bit different rules in Canada, but yeah, defensive back and kicking were my main positions.
Q: You mentioned hearing about Disney On Ice from your skate sharpener. How did you get involved with getting started with Disney?
A: At the time, the casting director was Judy Thomas. I just submitted an application reel. He kind of gave me some tips and some things that he knew what she would like from his primary knowledge and experience, and I kind of just made him my own. When I look back at the video now, I guarantee you there’s not another application video like it. I was cracking jokes, making Disney puns, filming myself falling, like I really didn’t take myself too serious with it. I think for these types of things, that’s how I like to be. I like to be really real and show my actual personality, show that I am a team player, that I adapt, that little mistakes happen, but I persevere and push through. I tried to show so many different qualities and traits that are my strengths, because I didn’t have triples. I don’t have crazy good spins or these types of things, but I have different elements that I showed how I like to perform. I showed a video of me performing to this country mix that has “Old Town Road,” “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” and “Footloose.” And it’s such a funny performance.The crowd on their feet, everyone loving entertaining, and that, for me, was highlighting that I’m more of a performer than I am an elegant figure, if that really makes sense, you know?
Q: No, it makes perfect sense. So what does a typical day look like for you as a Disney On Ice skater?
A: Me, so I’m an ensemble skater. So, I know every number in the show, I’m ready to be spared and jump into anything. For me and my skating partner, Leah [Smith], we do work as understudies and pairs, with a lot of opportunities for that, and it’s something I love. Usually if there’s an open ice in the morning, practice session in the morning, we’ll jump on that and do some morning practice, work on some new tricks, and we really love skating together and learning new things.
Practicing some of the poi. On our show, we have the fire poi, which is this hand apparatus that we use [in the Moana segment]. It’s a lot of training stuff in the morning and then as far as the shows... I don’t know, like, it’s the same as everybody else kind of. I don’t really see as much pressure. I love performing. I love seeing the kids, interactions, singing along, dancing along, but then I also, as you know, have a passion with my own creativity and videography and stuff. So, I always just spent a lot of the time working on my own videos and showing a little backstage and little behind the scenes look, and things like that.
So my typical day at work isn’t too crazy, but the lifestyle is so crazy. We travel to a new city every week. Setup in a new hotel, try and find a new routine. The coffee shop this week is 5 minutes away, next week it’s 15 minutes away. The grocery store is here, this time it’s there. Sometimes you have fridges, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you can do laundry, sometimes [you can’t]. To say what my typical day in the life is, it’s so difficult because we don’t have that routine, really. And that is something that was a big adjustment for me. Because I used to love having a routine. Waking up, then have breakfast, then do this. I used to have quite a set routine, but it’s very different here. Not in a bad way, still, it’s just trying to make the most of that.
Q: I know that you like to vlog your travels to different cities. So how exciting is it for you to explore someplace that you’ve never been before?
A: Adam, it’s the best. When I was a kid, I used to love geography. We had a globe in our living room. I remember just spinning the globe and putting my finger on it like, oh, okay, I’m gonna go here, just as a joke. I was a child. I couldn’t actually go there. But I was always interested in maps and geography and travel and wanted to see the world. So now that I get to do that for a living and then create videos, and honestly, that’s why I make the videos. It’s like a documentation of my life and the stories I can share with my family, my future kids, and just reflect on and appreciate all of these places that I’ve been to. Because it’s not normal to be able to travel and see as much as I have, and I’m really so grateful for it. So, yeah, it really gets me jazzed and pumped up. I love being in nature, I love sports. So I do see all these different stadiums, to go to these national parks. Buy different foods. Oh, it’s the best. It’s really... I reflect on it very often, and I’m very grateful for the position I’m in, and right now, even to be performing in England, that’s so nice. All of my English family are going to come see the show on Sunday, and now I get to perform for all of them as well. Yeah, it’s sort of amazing.
Q: I know from chatting with you in the past that you’re also a basketball fan. So what is it like when you get to perform in an NBA arena where the stars of the NBA have played?
A: When we were performing in Denver in the arena, you could see through a crack in the door of the Nuggets dressing room, and you could see the Larry O’Brien Trophy in a spotlight in the trophy case right there. I just remember thinking that that was so cool. Other times, like, in Chicago, we were performing in the United Center. Before we were loading in there, I watched a Blackhawks game as well, but the Bulls were playing the Raptors, so I got to see my favorite team play in that stadium, and then a week later, we’re performing in the same stadium, and I like looked at my seat, and I’m like, ‘wow, I was just sitting there watching my favorite basketball team play, and now I’m performing on the ice in this notorious stadium.’ So cool.
I’m a big Maple Leafs fan, so all the NHL arenas, and some of them double up as NBA, but it’s so cool to see these stadiums, walk the backstage of them and kind of see like where the locker rooms are, and all the different layouts. I took a photo in my Maple Leafs jersey in front of all of the different NHL arenas that we performed in, and I think that’s a cool little memory or scrapbook type thing to have. Yeah, so performing in all those stadiums as a sports fan. I mean that’s the best.
When we were performing in Philadelphia, I was one of the characters in Toy Story. And in our Toy Story segment, we have Emperor Zurg shoot these IR-blaster bulls at Buzz and the toys, and they’re kind of flying around Buzz on the ice. And sitting in the front row was Joel Embiid. And I managed to have one of my balls and threw it and Joel Embiid caught it and passed it around. So I’ve officially completed a pass to Embiid and I thought that was a very cool thing.
Q: That’s amazing. That show was Magic in the Stars, I know that because of the Zurg segment, and that was the show that was part of the Disney company-wide 100th anniversary celebration. What was it like to be a part of such a big thing for Disney?
A: Well, that was so cool for me too. Obviously, the skating and the travel both, I am a Disney fan. Like, I grew up, I know all the songs. I was tearing up for the first time seeing it live. So that was really cool for me to be part of that. I mean, Disney’s such a worldwide well-known company, and it really does impact and change a lot of people’s lives and has such a strong message in their movies or has an impact on the kids with the songs, so to be a part of that and say that I was around for the 100th anniversary for that, I mean, you know, as a Disney fan, what more could you want really? That’s very special.
Q: And now you’re doing break work with D33. What do you like most about that show? Because that’s a very different show from D37.
A: Very different. I love 37. I built the show with them. I was there from the start and I’m going back to them in December when we’re touring the Philippines. But we have this couple of weeks on “Find Your Hero” and this show is so different, which has been such a fresh outlook and very, very, very fascinating because this show has more of a set to it than “Magic In The Stars,” where we use the LED screen. They have a lot more physical props and sets that you can see here, and that’s been very cool for me to see. And it’s so fun to perform different stories and different characters and just get alongside different Disney friends because it’s just very unique and very special. To be alongside Gaston and all of this, yeah, very, very, very cool to see some different characters out there and be alongside some different friends and performing in the UK, really.
Q: You’ve had an opportunity to play a lot of different roles in your time with Disney. Do you have a favorite that you’ve gotten to portray out there?
A: Ooh, that’s definitely a difficult one. It’s sort of fun doing all of it, but I think my favorite Disney character in general is Eugene, Flynn Rider. I think I can relate to him a bit with his swagger and his charm. Yeah. And be a bit of an outlaw. I very much relate to him in a bit that way, so I think he is the most natural character for me to relate to. I love being able to do that on our show with my partner, Leah, that’s my favorite.
Q: Also, I love that you called him Eugene first because it tells me that you understand his character arc.
A: Yeah, 100%. And that’s important to me before I do any of the understudies or have a chance to portray any of the roles, I always rewatch the movies and familiarize myself with the characters.
I’ve been to Disneyland Paris, Orlando, California, this summer Tokyo. So, I love seeing how they work in the parks too, and seeing those characters of the parks, and all of that. I love to, not steal, but learn some of the mannerisms from that, and the movies and the shows. It’s fascinating to me, when you go and see these characters.
I remember when I went to Disney in Tokyo this summer, and I was on the Beauty and the Beast ride, and seeing all of the kids react, and families, not just the kids. Everyone reacts to Belle and Adam dancing in the middle of the ride, and you go circle around them doing their ballroom dance. And people come from all over to go and see this, and make sure they’re going to see this, and enjoy this. And then, I was able to reflect and be like, wow, like, sometimes that’s me that these people are queuing and waiting to see. It was just such a... surreal moment, and it really put me into a different mindset of like, wow. I’m always a very grateful person for what I do, but to then realize and really recognize that that is me and that I get the chance to be the one to entertain these people and do that. It just was very special.
Q: Is there a role that you haven’t gotten to portray yet on Disney On Ice that you would like to someday?
A: Honestly, like I mentioned earlier, I love to try new things and I’m very excited, to do as much as I can. I’ve learned even the ramps. I’m playing some on the ramps, so I got my hockey skates out and I learned that. Lots of different goals. I don’t have anything in particular, but I’m so openly eager to learn everything and anything that when an opportunity arises, I’ll be prepared.
Q: I wanted to wrap up with a quick little lightning round here. What’s your favorite move to perform on the ice?
A: Ballet lift. I don’t know why that’s the first one that came to my mind.
Q: What’s your favorite Disney song of all time?
A: Favorite Disney song? Come on Adam. What are you trying to do to me? Favorite Disney song? Can I give two answers? Because as a kid, I used to love “You Can Fly” from Peter Pan. Like, I can do that. I can recite the whole... “But Peter, how do you get to Neverland? Fly! Fly?” Like, I could do that whole scene. As a kid, that was my jam. Honorable mention, “Real Gone” from Cars, by Sheryl Crow. Number one? I don’t know, that’s too difficult. One of those two. Or “Hakuna Matata” actually.
Q: Since you mentioned karaoke, I have to ask, what is your go-to karaoke song?
A: It really depends on the vibe. I love adapting to the vibe. If it goes to trying to be funny, doing One Direction. But I think my go to actually is, I don’t even remember the name of it. “I love you, baby, and if it’s quite alright...”
Q: “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You?”
A: Yeah, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and usually I’ll try and pick someone in the crowd, like, where there’s an older lady or something, someone entertaining, someone fun, I’ll take it and dedicate the song to them.
Q: What is your favorite Disney movie of all time?
A: Are we talking all Disney or classic Disney? Because all time, Star Wars. I’m a big Star Wars fan, and technically that’s Disney now. Classic? Tangled, for sure.
Q: Favorite figure skating movie of all time?
A: Tough one, because I don’t actually know that many. Although I grew up in the ice skating world, I was never heavily involved in figure skating and those kinds of movies. So I don’t know. Obviously, Blades of Glory is such a classic. I think I’ll go with the safe answer there.
But I remember there being one that I enjoyed. They worked in a restaurant. He was a hockey player. She was a figure skater and they ended up doing pairs. I forget what it was called. But that was a very good movie. I have to try and find it. [The Cutting Edge].
Q: There are six main kinds of jumps in figure skating: loop, toe loop, flip, salchow, lutz, and axel. Which one is your most hated?
A: Hated? Lutz. Oh, why you got to get me on the backward outside edge like that? Yeah, lutz. Get rid of it.
Q: Last but not least, one piece of advice you would give to anyone starting out in skating?
A: Stick with it. Falling is part of skating, getting up and being strong, persevering, pushing through. That’s what I would say anybody starting anything, actually. If you want to go somewhere with skating, commit to it. If people say you’re dumb for it, ignore them. If you enjoy something and you have a passion and a dream, follow it, do it to the best of your abilities, so you don’t leave yourself thinking, what if, or I wish I could have, or anything like that. Do what you love, and just do it every day. That’s it, really. It gets that simple. Don’t put too much pressure on it, enjoy it, and you don’t you never know what is going to happen in this world. And be competitive without getting an ego, spread love, and just all of that. I think the figure skating world can be so toxic. I think it is getting into a bit of a better place, from what I see. I obviously don’t know everything, but the people I try to surround myself with, I try to make sure it comes from a loving, supporting place. Whenever I coach, that’s a big emphasis of mine, like, hey, we’re going to work hard, but we’re also going to have fun with it too.
You can follow Thomas on Instagram at @thomasjturner. You can also keep up with his travels around the world by subscribing to his YouTube channel. Disney On Ice: Magic In The Stars returns to the Philippines Dec. 20-Jan. 4.