The Luck of the Irish is a 2001 American Disney Channel original movie. Plot With his lucky gold coin on his side, 15-year-old Kyle Johnson (Ryan Merriman) gets everything in life, and is also the best basketball player on his team. Heritage Day is approaching and every time Kyle asks where his family came from, his parents, Kate and Bob (Marita Geraghty and Paul Kierman) change the subject. He finds out that his dad changed his last name, but doesn't know why. One day, Kyle and his best friend, Russell Halloway (Glenndon Chatman) go to an Irish festival. There he sees coins just like his and wonders if he's Irish. When Kyle can't stop step dancing during Seamus McTieran (Timothy Omundson) and the Saint of the Step's show, he gets knocked down. The next morning, Kyle wakes up and notices something is different about him. At breakfast, his mother is acting differently, and she confesses to him that they are Irish. On his way to school, his day of bad luck starts to begin. The next day, Kyle begins to notice the changes more noticeably; he's shorter, and his hair is turning red. In science class, a magnet attaches to his coin, and he realizes that his lucky gold coin was stolen. He rushes home to tell his parents and walks in to see that his mother has shrunk to one foot tall. She reveals to him that she is really a leprechaun and that he is one too. He tells them who he thinks stole it, and his mom says that was his grandfather, Reilly O'Reilly, founder of the Emerald Isle potato chip company. Kate and her father had a falling out over her having a "mixed marriage". They all go to the factory to ask for the coin back. After being kicked out by security, Kyle sneaks in with the Young Achievers group from school. A girl from school, Bonnie Lopez (Alexis Lopez) asks why he is there, and he tells her. They get chased by security and end up getting caught by his grandfather. Turns out Reilly didn't steal it. Reilly tells him that this is their family's lucky coin. The youngest must have possession of it so all the leprechauns in the O'Reilly clan can pass as humans. Bonnie tells Kyle that his ears have changed, and are now pointy. Reilly starts to grow a beard.