Atkinson girl hits the silver screen

From the Eagle Tribune;

Atkinson girl hits the silver screen
By Meghan Carey
mcarey@eagletribune.com

ATKINSON — Emily Stikeman used to search the game aisle at toy stores, looking for her face on the back of a box.

But the young actress will soon have to gape at the big screen to spot herself.

Although the 12-year-old Timberlane Regional Middle School student spends most of her time studying, dancing and swimming, Emily's budding acting career took off earlier this year when she was cast in the lead role as Louisa May Alcott in a PBS documentary. She previously performed small parts in commercials and appeared in toy advertisements.

"Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women" premieres at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston this month. The film received the grand prize at the recent Providence Film Festival.

Since her role in the Alcott film, she's played a prisoner of war in Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," a student in "The Box" with Cameron Diaz, and Anne Hathaway's bridesmaid and student in "Bride Wars." For the last movie, she even had her own trailer. The films won't be released until next year.

"It's a lot of hard work, but it usually pays off," the humble actress said.

Her friends and classmates barely know about the young star. Emily doesn't talk about it much, especially since she never knows if her brief appearances will be cut when the film is edited.

But her performance in the Alcott documentary remained intact. It's the largest role Emily has been cast in — she plays 10-year-old Alcott for 15 of the film's 82 minutes.

In a single nine-hour day, Emily learned what it's like to have to shoot and reshoot scene after scene, all while wearing what she said were five, musty layers of clothing in the blazing heat.

"It was tiring," she said.

Emily has had an agent since she was 3, but hasn't received any professional training. A family friend got her older sister, Taylor, 14, interested in acting in commercials and Emily soon followed in her footsteps, going to auditions about once a month and winning small roles. She has done commercials for Papa Gino's, Liberty Mutual and even Fixodent, to name a few.

Now, Emily can't even remember how many roles she's had.

Becoming an actress involves a lot of driving to the Boston area and some long, odd hours, but Emily's mother, Chris, doesn't mind.

"Boston is part-time acting," Chris said. "It's few and far between. If she gets it, great. If not, oh well."

But with so many movies being filmed in Boston recently, Emily has been spoiled by receiving extra parts in addition to help with her hair, makeup and wardrobe. In "Bride Wars," she wears a Vera Wang gown fitted just for her, but that she didn't get to keep.

Her next goal is to appear in another movie, but she's shooting for only a line or two, again — at least for now.

"I want to hopefully, maybe, star in some movie as the main character someday," Emily said. "If it doesn't work out, I still want to be involved as a director or a writer because I like writing. So, I have a backup plan."