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Carly Schroeder |
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Carly Schroeder |
Schroeder’s tag-along trip to her cousin’s audition in 1993 turned out to be her lucky day and the start of her career as an actress.
While there, the cute three-year-old was spotted by the casting director and asked if she would consider working for them. While Schroeder’s mother was hesitant at first, the prospects of earning money for a college education appealed to her.
After her first job, she began doing print work in Chicago for Sears, Roebuck and Company, Kmart, Spiegel, Land’s End, Chuck E. Cheese's, and many other print advertisers. Two years later in 1995, renowned child director Bob Ebel was so taken by Schroeder’s wide-eyed innocence and extra spark of enthusiasm, he asked her to do a few television commercials.
It was one of Ebel’s commercials - the one for Shake 'n Bake - which caught the eye of General Hospital cast member Kin Shriner. In 1997, American Broadcasting Company (ABC) decided that Shriner’s character, Scott Baldwin, should have a daughter. Since he would be working very closely with the new cast member, Shriner asked if he could participate in the selection of his television daughter, Serena Baldwin.
Two weeks before a decision was to be made, the studio was down to five candidates for the part and still uncertain of whom to cast. It was at this serendipitous time that Schroeder’s commercial for Shake ‘N’ Bake began to air on national television.
Shriner said stated that every time he turned on the tube, there was “this blonde-haired, blue-eyed, quirky little girl” that made him laugh. Knowing that Scotty Baldwin had found his daughter at last, Shriner immediately showed the commercial to GH casting director Mark Teschner and executive producer, Wendy Riche.
They agreed to fly Schroeder out from her hometown of Valparaiso, Indiana for the screen test. Her open, honest and friendly attitude quickly won over Shriner, Teschner, and everyone else she met. Schroeder returned home with a four-year contract.
Life on the set
The newly formed father and daughter team made their acting genuinely sincere on both General Hospital and the spin-off, Port Charles, with Schroeder performing in over 480 episodes during a six-year period. She was twice nominated for a Young Artist Award; once in 1999 and again in 2000, as well as a Young Star Award nomination in 1999 for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Daytime TV Program.
During this time, Schroeder also worked on several television shows and movies including two episodes of Dawson’s Creek (2000) as the soccer girl Molly Sey, as well as playing Susan Olsen in the television movie Growing Up Brady (2000). She also appeared in one episode of The George Lopez Show (2002) as Ashley.
Schroeder’s voice is featured in Babe: Pig in the City (1998) and also in Pixar’s Toy Story 2 (1999), serving as additional voices for the films. During this time, Schroeder worked with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for FOX News. She also appeared in several commercials, including Got Milk?, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and McDonald’s as well as getting cast in an unsecured Disney Channel pilot called Web Girl (working title: Virtually Casey).
While Schroeder might have been disappointed Web Girl wasn’t picked up by the studio, her worries would come to nothing due to her winning the role of the manipulative and rascally (yet lovable) prankster Melina Bianco in The Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire (2001-2003). Schroeder shot 12 episodes of Lizzie McGuire and also appeared in The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), reprising her role as the free-spirited Melina.
Time for the big screen
In 2003, with The Lizzie McGuire Movie under her belt, Schroeder auditioned for her first feature film and won the part of Millie in Jacob Estes’ Mean Creek. The story of a trip up river and a practical joke going tragically wrong, Mean Creek won wide acclaim and dramatic credibility for Schroeder and the rest of the cast, winning the Humanitas Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and also being awarded the 2005 Independent Spirit Festival Special Distinction Award for best ensemble cast.
During this time, Schroeder made a return to television in an episode of Cold Case (2004). In August of 2004, she took a working vacation to France as she visited Cannes for Mean Creek’s entry onto the film contest, as well as a trip in January 2005 to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Finding a true passion for film, she appeared in a small student film called We All Fall Down (2005). Schroeder also found time to squeeze in three other films that year; Firewall (2006), with Harrison Ford, Eye of the Dolphin (2006), and Prey (2007).
At this time, Schroeder again tried her hand at modeling, having done print work for Abercrombie & Fitch in 2005. She worked a few projects for designer Jessica McClintock in the early part of 2006, but had to postpone modeling when she had the opportunity to do her biggest role to date.
Getting a kick out of ''Gracie
An avid soccer player since the age of five, Schroeder finally had the chance in 2006 to combine two of her passions in a single project called Gracie.
Set in 1978, Gracie is an inspirational film about a teenage girl who overcomes the loss of her brother and fights the odds to achieve her dream of playing competitive soccer at a time when girls soccer did not exist.
However, Schroeder was faced with a battle of her own when director Davis Guggenheim and Elizabeth Shue, producer were set on finding a real female soccer player and even initiated a nationwide casting call for the part of Grace Bowen.
Undeterred, Schroeder began an intense three-month work-out that included a daily regime of not only physical fitness, but training in advanced soccer skills with professional athletes and trainers.
Once she received the part, Schroeder trained even harder in order to hone her soccer skills. All this on top of the normal demands of shooting a feature film, including memorizing lines, taking direction and working with other actors.
A month before Gracie opened, Schroeder toured 19 cities in 33 days and premiered in June 2007.
'An "Eye" for the environment
While ''Gracie'' was in theaters, Schroeder’s other movie, ''Eye of the Dolphin'' (2006), was getting noticed, winning two awards from the 2007 International Family Film Festival; a Best Child Actor win for Schroeder, and a Drama Feature win for the movie.
The movie has been well received and continues to receive honors, including being named as an Official Selection for the Tribeca Film Festival, Delray Beach Film Festival, Kids First! Film Festival, Tiburon Film Festival, USA Family Film Festival and the Worldfest Houston Film festival.
At the 2007 Kids First Awards in October, Carly received the award for Best Emerging Actress; while the film received the Best Feature Award (ages 12-18).
Currently...
At this time, Schroeder's resume is growing; she is looking into two to three other projects while attending school where she’s a junior. She enjoys sports, including baseball, scuba diving, karate, surfing, grappling, soccer and horseback riding.
As of April 2008, she is getting ready to work on the sequel to Eye of the Dolphin, called Way of the Dolphin. She is also modeling for Jessica McClintock.
bio courtesy of L. Neira/CarlyBSchroeder.com
* Special Distinction Award at Independent Spirit Awards for ''Mean Creek'' (2004)
* Best Child Actor Award at Int. Family Film Festival for ''Eye of the Dolphin'' (2007)
* Best Emerging Actress''' at 2007 Kids First! Awards for Eye of the Dolphin
* Port Charles, Serena Baldwin - over 480 appearances 1997-2003
* Lizzie McGuire, Melina Bianco, recurring role in 12 episodes, 2001-2003
* Cold Case, Brandi Beaudry, 2003
* The George Lopez Show, Ashley, 2002
* Dawson's Creek, Molly Sey, 2000
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