A dream is a wish your heart makes, and Disney is a hub for making wishes come true. From an unexpected upgrade from a Cast Member to an unknown actress cast in a big-budget film, Disney practices what it preaches when it comes to making dreams a reality.
Disney even offers the Disney Dreamers Academy to teens aspiring to become filmmakers like Walt Disney. Two students from the program were invited to join Halle Bailey at The Little Mermaid live-action remake premiere after being hand-selected by the actress.
In the same film, director Rob Marshall cast Jessica Alexander in a small role as Vanessa, and she became a break-out star. More recently, a young teen from Arkansas got a break on Disney Plus, and her story will warm your heart.
From Conway to Broadway
In a city where most residents don't even leave town to commute to work, a young teen is breaking ground as a Disney actress. Based in Conway, Arkansas, musical theater fan Piper Wallace stepped out of her town's bubble significantly. Wallace, a certified theater star among locals, always dreamed of hitting it big time in a feature film. According to an interview with Kark.com, Wallace said:
I definitely don’t try to get my hopes up for every role because like oh yeah a Marvel movie never going to hear back, Disney you know
After auditioning for HBO Max and Marvel projects, Wallace finally got the news that she scored a role in the new Disney Plus film World's Best. The Disney original movie premiered on June 23, and it follows a young boy, Prem Patel (Manny Magnus), who defies his math prowess to follow in his father's famous rapper footsteps and pursue a rap career. Check out the film's trailer here:
https://youtu.be/S2SqLK_FUPI
Written by Jamie King and Utkarsh Ambudkar and directed by Roshan Sethi, World's Best features Wallace as Claire, the 12-year-old best friend of the aspiring rap superstar, as he uncovers his father's past. Wallace spent two months in Canada—far from Conway—and hopped to New York City for the Disney movie premiere. The Big Apple was a highlight to Wallace, especially with her dreams of being on Broadway one day. Acknowledging the magnitude of her movie break, she said:
It’s really cool because like I grew up, no one, I have never really seen people from Arkansas like on the screen and when you do it’s like of wow look that person is from Arkansas.
Disney Plus streamers can catch Wallace as Claire in World's Best and hopefully see her appear in more dreamy Disney projects in the future.
