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Faster than you can say Shirley Temple, Mae landed her first role, in a Tyson's
chicken ad. Six years later she has built a resume most grownup actors would
envy-including prominent parts as the First Daughter in Independance Day, Goerge
Clooney's soulful child in One Fine Day, and since 1996, the recurring role
of Sara Wilmette, Christine Lahiti's wise daughter in CBS's Chicago Hope. Currently,
Mae is starring in as Sandra Bullock's precocious offspring in Hope Floats. "I
love doing movies," says Mae, 10. "I like meeting people-that's the best part."
People like meeting her too. "I had more fun hanging out with Mae than I do with most people." says Bullock. On the Independance Day set, says Bill Pullman, who played her father, Mae was like a surrogate daughter. And Clooney, whom she nicknamed "Big Ugly George", gave the young actress an open invitation to babysit his pet pig, Max-is simply smitten. "Mae promised she would wait until I was old enough to marry her," he jokes. As for her acting ability, "She's frighteningly gifted," says Bullock. "What she does now blows most adults away." Nothing to it, says Mae. To prepare for the scene in Hope Floats in which her character's father walks out on her, she says she thought about "the band going down on the Titanic. (She hasnt seen the movie, but has "studied about the real deal.") "She was acting much like a water faucet," says her costar Harry Connick Jr. admiringly. "She would turn on these emotions and shut them down just as easily. She's just a pro." |
But when she's not on camera, Mae acts her age. She is amassing a
Beanie Baby collection-27 and counting-and always takes stuffed animals with her
on location. (Sadly, she explains, Tommy the tiger has to stay home, since he
"doesnt like to fly") When she's at home, Mae, an only child, is far more
interested in playing with her real pets-a dog, two cats and a turtle-than
in going to premeirs or sampling the L.A. party scene with other child actors.
Her healty attitude, say her costars, comes from her parents, her mother, whose voice over credits include the film, An American Tale, and her father, a former set-construction coordinator who manages both wife's and daughter's careers. Though Mae has appeared in films since age 4, when she beat out 700 other girls for the part of Meg Ryan's younger daughter in When A Man Loves A Woman, "she's balancing it all out," says her father. When not filming, she attends private school in LA (math, and science are her favorite subjects) takes weekend riding horseback-riding lessons and roller skates with friends. On the set, at least one parent is always by her side, and a private tutor keeps her from falling behind in her schoolwork. As a result, her father doesnt worry about her becoming fodder for the tabloids someday. "My fears" he says, "are the usual stuff-that no matter how cool I think I am, she will, at some point just decide to to hate me and go out with guys I cant stand." Indeed, Mae, who says that she might become a lawyer or teacher someday, is already preoccupied with preteen trends. She hates Barney, but adores Friends. ("I LOVE Joey") and her Jewel and Spice Girls CD's. So it's not suprising that one perk of acting particularly appeals to her: "It's fun to try out being new people," she says with a smile. "Sometimes, you get to talk back to your mom." |
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