Actor Yano Anaya, who portrayed Michael Anthony Jr in Van Halen’s classic “Hot For Teacher” video, took fans behind the scenes on the video shoot in a recent interview with Classic Rock.
Anaya was one of four young actors hired to play “junior” members of the band – David Lee Roth (played by BIll Bookmeyer), Eddie Van Halen (played by Brian Hitchcock), Alex Van Halen (played by Beto Lovato) and Michael Anthony (played by Lovato). Anaya told Classic Rock‘s Dave Everly he knew he was the right man – or kid – for the job.
“I was thirteen years old, and Van Halen was one of my favorite bands at the time,” said Anaya. “I’d done some commercials and a movie, A Christmas Story, before that, so when I got a message from my manager on the answering machine that I had an audition to play the part for Michael Anthony Jr in an upcoming Van Halen video, I swear to god I was so excited. In my mind I was thinking: ‘Holy crap, I look just like Michael Anthony – this is my job.'”
Once he landed the gig, Anaya eventually had the chance to meet the members of his favorite band.
“[Michael Anthony] was very cool,” said Anaya. “He was just chilled. Eddie was kind of quiet as well. And I don’t think Dave was into hanging out with some kid. But Alex was the one. He wanted to know who I was, where I was from.
“I grew the balls to ask [Eddie] to play the intro to ‘Runnin’ With The Devil’, which was my favorite song,” he added. “He took me to the back of the trailer, pulled out a tiny little amp, pulled out his guitar, and literally played the whole thing for me, in person, by myself, just for me. That experience was epic.”
Anaya had more stories to tell in the interview, which you can read at Classic Rock‘s website HERE.
Check out VHND’s extensive look back at the “Hot For Teacher” song and video HERE.