Erica-Marie Sanchez

Girls love to play dress-up, but have you ever heard of one putting on a bad dress (think: frilly pink and white lace with an awkward boxy shape) on purpose? Well, that’s what thirteen-year old Erica-Marie Sanchez did for the sake of her first role in a feature film.

The role? A contestant in a karaoke competition. The movie?

Honeysuckle Blues, directed by Jacob Gentry (who also directed the horror film “The Signal,” screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007). The setting? A flashback to the ‘90s (which explains the dress).

“I had to wear this really interesting dress. It was pink and had white lace over it, huge shoulders, and a slit up the back,” Sanchez, who also revealed she had her hair styled into a side ponytail with a scrunchie, said.

Someday, Sanchez may have a team of stylists all her own. This young woman is no newcomer to show business. Indeed, Sanchez is a triple threat: She sings, dances and acts, has done a few commercials and records her own music.

But even with all that experience, Sanchez said there are sometimes a few surprises.

“At the movie audition, I didn’t know I’d have to sing. One thing Janette (Luffred, Sanchez’s vocal coach) and I worked on was building a repertoire which practically saved my life,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said she also didn’t know that she would have to sing for the part that she was playing—and that she would only have a half hour to learn the song. “They gave me an iPod, lyrics, and said, ‘Here you go, learn the song.’ I tried to keep it cool and say ‘Sure, I can do that! No problem!’”

In addition to her budding acting career, Sanchez is attending The Westminster School, where she keeps up with rigorous academics, writes horoscopes for the school newsletter “Track of the Cat,” and has a role in the middle school play.

“Sometimes I get really stressed if I have a lot of homework. I’m lucky if I get to bed before 11,” Sanchez said.

But despite the demands on her time, Sanchez said she would never give up acting and wants to move to New York someday to pursue it professionally.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a thirteen-year-old girl in 7th grade who performs and takes classes, but it’s really fun portraying other characters because you get to see how other people live and go through life day to day.”

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