Now that Bird Red has a taste of professional acting under his belt as an extra, he wants to move onto speaking roles.

And there’s no denying this composed 14-year-old from Ignacio might just do that.

Bird was an extra in the film, “The Ridiculous Six,” starring Adam Sandler, Taylor Lautner and Rob Schneider, which is being released Friday on Netflix. The premiere also will be shown at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Ignacio High School. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Interviewed this week at his home in Ignacio during a rare afternoon off from both theater and basketball practice, Bird said one of the difficulties of working in film is that it’s a lot different from theater.

“I can make everybody laugh in real life,” he said of theater. “In film, it’s more like reading lines. It’s a different ball game, a different field.”

Like most of his peers in Ignacio, Bird also is a basketball player.

His mother, Ceci Ryder, heard last spring that Native American extras were being cast for a movie being filmed in April near Las Vegas, New Mexico.

She emailed her son’s photo to casting agents, and a member of the production company called right back, asking to have him go to Santa Fe for a costume fitting.

He worked on the set for a week in April. He did get the chance to talk for a bit with the movies’ stars, but the extras were informed they had to wait for the professionals to talk to them first.

“That was so hard not to go up and talk to them!” Bird said. “But you gotta be professional and do your part.”

He did enjoy talking with all of them, however.

“Rob Schneider said, ‘How old are you? You’re taller than I am!’” he chuckled.

New Mexico is known as “Hollywood for Natives” in the film industry, he explained. Now that he has a credit and his photo in front of agents, he wants to be in other films. He tried out last weekend for “I Am That,” another Native American movie. He also might try to attend some acting camps in Albuquerque this summer to get some more experience.

On the set, young extras have to strictly adhere to child labor laws. They could work up to eight hours a day, and they also had to attend school for three hours a day.

Their parents also have to be close by at all times. Bird said he got in trouble once when he and another extra wandered off to go play by a river.

“They are very protective of their underage actors,” his mother said.

Bird said his dad, Timothy Ryder, also is proud of him.

Although he’s now a professional actor, Bird is still excited about appearing in his school play next week, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”