AJ McLean

Early career

As a child, McLean had a speech impediment, which gave him a lisp and a tendency to stutter.


He discovered his love for performing and started to pursue a career in acting, dancing, and singing. When he was four, McLean began to focus on his love for dance. His mother signed him up for two hours of dance lessons every day. He took ballet for four years, jazz, tap, hip hop, rhythm tap, rhythm hip-hop, contemporary, ballroom, salsa, merengue, and gymnastics. His mother got him into modeling when he was around five years old, and he was featured in J.C. Penney catalogs and runways. Aside from that, he took up fencing. His grandmother, who was like a second mother to him, taught him piano and took him to auditions while he was growing up.^[9][10] At age six, McLean was part of a school play, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in which he played Dopey, at Unity of Delray Beach church and school. He also appeared in more traditional musicals such as The Nutcracker, The King and I, and Fiddler on the Roof before the age of 11. By age 12, he had performed in 27 classic school plays.


In addition to singing and acting, he was a serious dance student learning everything from jazz to ballet to hip hop.^[6] He stated in interviews that, "Dancing was really my thing in the early days. I wanted to be a dancer way above an actor or a singer."^[8]: 15 When he was 12, he started his first dance troupe and would go to dance competitions, which was a valuable experience even though they didn't win.^[8]: 17


In January 1986, at eight years old, McLean acted in his first role as Little Mike in the 1986 film Truth or Dare?.^[11] In 1990, McLean, his mother, and grandparents moved to Kissimmee, Florida to pursue his acting and singing career. For four years, he attended a private acting school, the Florida Academy of Dramatic Arts, acted in the drama club and small plays and modeled periodically. In 1991, McLean landed a role in the Nickelodeon comedy series Hi Honey, I'm Home! as Skunk. However, after the pilot, he was cut from the show due to being too tall, and Eric Kushnick was cast instead.^[12]


In 1989, at age 11, he saw an ad in the newspaper for a Latin festival. Since his grandfather had Latin roots, he decided to audition. He won first place and a $1,000 prize. The festival's producer hired him to perform a 45-minute one-person show and did a puppet show, showcasing his singing, acting, and dancing. At the Latin festival, he met a young 16-year-old Howie Dorough (Tony Donetti at the time) through a mutual vocal coach.^[13][8] When he was 13 years old, McLean tried out for Star Search, but never received a call back from the show.


In junior high, McLean won a part in Nickelodeon's series Welcome Freshmen, which began his ongoing work relationship with Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. He also appeared on the Nickelodeon show GUTS and a Muppets commercial. It was during one of his auditions for the former that he met Howie D. and Nick Carter, lacing together the roots of the group that was to become Backstreet Boys.


Due to his love of performing and not participating in the same sports as his peers, he was bullied, called names, and given a hard time.^[8]: 15 He described himself at this young age as a weirdo^[14] and "wacky."^[8]: 15 He remarked that being made fun of had been very upsetting for him, but he felt it stemmed from others' jealousy of his talents and the subsequent attention that gave him.^{[8]: 15–17}