Sun, 25 Jan 2015

What Is The Child Star Mara Wilson Doing Today?


The bittersweet truth about child wonders is that, no matter how long the cute and cuddly images of them stay in the audience's minds, sooner or later, they will grow up. For most people, growing up is either for better or for worse. And when it comes to child actors, the gauging and measurement of accomplishments are based on how famous the actor is even after the baby factor wears off.

Unfortunately, in Hollywood, when one glides smoothly under the limelight, it would take a lot faster for them to lose in the fame game. Truth be told, however, one may lose the glitz, glamour, and glitter of the red carpet life - but there's more to success than being a celebrity.

When child stars stray off the show business radar for quite some time, where do they go? There is no single definitive answer for all of them but there is one for Mara Wilson. The name may sound familiar. Fans would recognize her most especially for her role as Natalie Hillard in the film "Mrs. Doubtfire" and as the lead character in the movie "Matilda". After so much success in Hollywood at a very young age, you might wonder what happened to child star Mara Wilson - and what exactly is she doing today?


Mara's Acting Career


Before going into that, it's best to first trace how Wilson got involved in television in the first place. The acting aspect in her family did not start with her. She started taking an interest in the television industry when she was 5 years old, watching her eldest brother star in TV commercials. Like every protective family in the world, her parents refused to let her appear on television but they eventually had to let her follow her dreams.

Her big break came when she was cast in the remake of "Miracle on 34th Street". It wasn't long before she became an audience favorite, garnering recognition left and right - in 1995, she was named Young Star of the Year at the ShoWest Award. When Mara Wilson was filming "Matilda", the movie adaptation of Roald Dhal's book, she lost her mom to breast cancer but she was brave and professional enough to finish the project.

Her last film as a child star was "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" which, no matter how well it did in the UK cinemas, did not do as well in the American box office. This was the signal to Wilson's eventual disappearance from the limelight to focus on her studies.

This move from Mara Wilson is not unprecedented at all. Earlier in her acting career, when Katic Couric interviewed her on the Today's Show and asked her if she wanted to grow up like Natalie Wood (who previously played the role she was cast for in Miracle in 34th Street), she hesitantly answered: "I might not want to be an actress all my life." She revealed that she wanted to be a scriptwriter and that she had a lot of stories in her head.


Mara Wilson Will Not Go Back To The Film Industry


Wilson's sharp wit has always been her edge, which only grew over the years. She went to New York University after graduating from Idyllwild School of Music and Arts. She remained firm about not going back to the film and TV industry by revealing her decision in 2012 through her blog. She explained that the film industry did not allow for very much creative freedom. And she made this pretty clear when she wrote an article entitled "7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy (An Insider's Perspective)." She wrote, "I'm not a celebrity and wouldn't want to be one."

Mara Wilson may not have become the scriptwriter that she had dreamed of before, but she sure is a writer now and is admired for her writings. She keeps a blog called "Mara Wilson Writes Stuff." She has written her first off-Broadway play, Sheeple. She signed a deal with Penguin Books for K for Kid, a collection of essays, which is due for release in 2016.

Despite her firm stance to not return to film, acting hasn't been something easy for Wilson to shed off. She made appearances in an episode of the web series Missed Connection in the role of Bitty. She has been active in stage acting when she starred in Ector Theatrical's production of Cinderella and had her one-woman show in NYU, "Weren't You that Girl?" Mara Wilson is indeed a chameleon - she's a writer, stage actress, voice actress, and a playwright. More importantly, she's off the film industry, and boy is she loving it.



Read:
Meg Ryan's Filmography and Charm
Fit for Fits: The Howard Stern Show
Fawlty Towers - One Of The Funniest Sitcoms Ever
David Letterman's Late-Night Legacy
John D. Rockefeller And His Million Dollars Legacy
Henry Ford Started His Career As An Engineer For Thomas Edison
Christiane Amanpour's Career
Babe Ruth - A Baseball Legend