Meet Bernie Mac's Lil' Dictator

Since Jeremy Suarez co-stars on The Bernie Mac Show and lends his voice to Disney's Brother Bear (opening today), you'd think the child star gets whatever he wants. But that's not exactly the case for this spunky kid.

"I'm trying to convince my mom to get me a monkey," Suarez says. "She [keeps saying] no, though. My favorite animal is the little capuchin monkey. They are so active and silly."

Why the obsession with this particular pet, especially since he already has a dog and a snake? "Who doesn't want a monkey?" the pint-sized actor retorts. "I would train it to operate [things]. I saw this school where you send your monkey. They can train it to use microwaves, and they potty train it, too.

"That's what I want to do," he adds, excitedly. "He'd help me clean up my room. All I do [for chores] is take out the trash and get the mail. So he can get the mail."

Well, until he wears Mom down, the precocious 13-year-old will just have to settle for bossing around his two younger brothers. "I'm a nice brother," he insists, "but my mom says that I'm really strict. They have to listen to me. They don't have to listen to anybody else, but they have to listen to me. I'm like, 'Sit down and be quiet!'

"My mom says that I rule with an iron fist," he laughs. "Or [she] says that I'm a dictator. But hey, you've got to do what you've got to do."