I
NTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE HORN, THE RUBY PRINCESSQ. Michelle, when did you start acting?
A. I was six years old and I said, "Mommy, I know what I want to do. I want to be an actress." My mother signed me up for acting classes and when I turned seven I got my first job. I played Jodie in the movie, "Stuart Saves His Family."
Q. Do you take special classes to be an actress?
A. I take a master acting class at Center Stage LA. The kids in the class are all actors on television series. My teacher also coaches me with scripts that I’m working on. Besides acting, I take horseback riding lessons, ice-skating, dance, and even sign language.
Q. What are you working on now?
A. I play the continuing role of Cassie Holt in the television series, Family Law. Just recently, I played a Lister Demon on Angel. I looked really creepy!
Q. Your film, Return to the Secret Garden, will be released in January. Was it fun working on that movie?
A. I loved it! I played an English girl named Margaret Craven. We shot part of the film in Salt Lake City and were hit by a tornado. Then we went to North Carolina and were in a hurricane. I was afraid we were going to have an earthquake when I returned home to LA.
Q. You did the voice of young Kiara in Lion King 2. How does that work?
A. I spent about a week recording Kiara’s lines. They gave me pictures of my character and I looked at a storyboard, which are drawings of the movie. They videotaped me recording the lines and then gave the tape to the animators so they could draw my facial expressions. I also did Kiara’s voice for the toys.
Q. What was the premiere like?
A. It was amazing. I was driven to the theatre in a limousine and then escorted down a red carpet that was surrounded by elephants, lions, zebras, panthers, tigers and monkeys. During the film, I sat next to Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas. (Yes, he’s really handsome!) Then we went to a party in a huge tent that was decorated to look like the Serengeti Plain in Africa. It even had a waterfall.
Q. What’s the best thing about being an actress?
A. The best moment is finding out I’ve been cast in a film or TV show. Then I love traveling to fun places and working with good actors.
Q. What’s the hardest thing about being an actress?
A. Keeping up with my schoolwork. I’m in seventh grade and I have a tutor for three hours on the set but that’s not enough time to finish. I have tons of homework!
Q. What was your favorite thing about playing the Ruby Princess?
A. Riding on the Gorax. Dressing in a princess costume and eating Gummi Worms on the set!