Sanchez was diagnosed at a young age with autism and ADHD. His mother enrolled him in acting classes at the age of five because he enjoyed role-playing.

“The instructor told me I wouldn’t do well because I had the attention span of a gnat,” Sanchez said in an interview.

He continued role-playing on his own until a few years back, when he was signed with a Hollywood agent. Soon after, he booked his first role as a recurring character on the ABC series The Rookie.

The experience taught him a lot.

“..I didn’t realize we’d have to do the scenes over and over and over again, because of the angles and the camera changes,” he said. “I gained a much higher respect for the actors.”

He said he liked the script for Our Christmas Journey because it was an accurate portrayal of life with autism.

“In real autistic families, everybody is affected,” he said. “Everybody plays a role and this movie really portrays that.”

Sanchez described working with Robinson Peete as “amazing.”

“Working with her was probably the closest I’ll ever get to making a movie with my own mom,” he said. “She just knew things. Being around her felt very natural from day one.”

The actor said he wishes people would stop seeing autism as something negative.

“Autism isn’t a weakness,” he said. “…For me, I say that I’m awesomely autistic because I view autism as my superpower. My autism allows me to view the world in a different way.”