The kid stood out.
Abby Fry waited with her father and brother to enter a Minnesota Twins game last week when she and her family were approached by a reporter for yet another story about her. Eleven-year-old Abby was so informative and ebullient that the reporter said, "You've got a future, kid."
Abby has already made her mark. She won a national Girl Scouts contest last year and starred in a commercial for cookie-flavored coffee creamer. You can see the video at http://tinyurl.com/ntm7wfz and the behind-the-scenes action at http://tinyurl.com/kuwuvgj.
Abby had an in-person and two Skype auditions after submitting a video created with help from her mom, Michele.
"At first I was reluctant," she said of Mom's ideas. "Then we started going with it, and it was a fun script."
Abby's interest in make-believe started years ago. "I was always playing house in preschool," she said.
She said she was smitten with acting after landing the role of narrator in her first-grade production of "Three Billy Goats Gruff."
"I'm very outgoing, and I just feel comfortable in front of the camera for some reason," she said. "Acting perks me up and keeps me going."
An agent encouraged the family to move to Hollywood, but Abby wanted to stay in River Falls, Wis., and go to school with her friends. Still, she landed a movie role in "Dragonfly," which starts shooting this month in Minnesota.
She admitted to being more anxious about going camping on an upcoming weeklong trip than about acting in the movie.
"That is the longest time I've ever been away from my parents," Abby said.
Her future may or may not involve acting.
"For most of my life, I've wanted to be a lawyer and a politician," she said.
She wasn't sure about her dream role on screen, but it doesn't involve donning a tiara to play a princess.
"I want to play somebody strong — not butterflies and rainbows," she said.
Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747
