Channah Zeitung to appear on Nickelodeon’s ‘Game Shakers’

A young, local martial arts champion is taking her talents to a new venue this weekend — a popular tween television show.

Channah Zeitung, 9, will have a guest role on the scripted Nickelodeon show “Game Shakers” on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.

The sitcom, one of the highest rated on the children’s television channel, follows a group of kids who develop video games. Channah, in her debut role, performs as a young girl named Sophie who is a karate master.

Channah, who has been practicing martial arts since she was 2 and has been taking acting lessons for about five years, said getting cast on the show was like a dream.

“I was very excited and very shocked that I got it,” she said. “But I was also really happy.”

She said she wants to pursue more acting roles in the future, regardless if martial arts is involved.

To prepare for the “Game Shakers” role, she worked with Master Ken Church of Encinitas and Carmel Valley-based Church’s ATA Martial Arts, where Channah practices. Church helped Channah with her moves for her audition, and Channah was cast almost immediately, said the girl’s mother, Gloria Zeitung.

Channah worked with stunt coordinators and performed all her own stunts during the filming, which took place in Los Angeles last August.

Previously, the 9-year-old has become known for her big wins in martial arts and appearances on television morning talk shows. Last year, Channah won four world titles in the 8 and under division (she turned 9 after the competition), including traditional weapons, creative forms, creative weapons and extreme weapons.

She has also been the subject of viral online videos in which she shows off her training.

Gloria said Nickelodeon was unaware of Channah’s previous achievements and only knew about her through a referral from her manager.

“This has kind of given her a revamp of fame,” the mother said. “We would just post on her training videos on Instagram and they went viral with more than 400 million views. Game Shakers knew nothing about that. Hopefully they’ll utilize that.”

For more information about Channah, visit www.channahzeitung.com.