story by: Kara Adkins
video by: Lauren Gurevitz
If there is one thing students are good at its cramming last minute. But imagine being given a script you have to memorize while flying across the country to an audition where you must have the script down pat.
Welcome to Mia Ford’s life.
Mia Ford is an eighth grader at Coppell Middle School West and unlike most middle school students who play volleyball or babysit Mia chose a different hobby; acting. Ever since she was five she has been pursuing acting and travels to LA for two to three months throughout the school year. Mia has been in many shows and movies, including “Barney and Friends”, “Jericho”,” Wonderful World”, “Far Sighted” and “Imaginary Friend” but her most recent movie has created quite a stir in her young career.
The movie Within premiered on Lifetime July 28 and was the number one rated movie on Lifetime for the day with an overwhelming 2.5 million viewers.
“The day Within premiered I had a party with everyone over and I was sitting there and I was thinking this is crazy that people in Kansas could be watching it,” Ford said. “It’s so weird; I had trouble getting that thought through my mind.”
Within is a psychological thriller where Mia plays the main character Rachel who sees the evil spirits within others. After her mother gets shot by a possessed person, Rachel moves to a new town. She befriends Michelle, who seems sweet but is in actuality, evil.
“I was working 30 days straight,” she said. “Nine-and-a-half hours every day and I was having so much fun. There were a bunch of kids on set since we were the main roles.”
Aileen Ford, Mia’s mom, believes that even with all of the time Mia spends on acting she still is able to juggle academics and keep a good balance of acting and schoolwork even with her hectic schedule. Ford was an actress and jazz musician when she was younger and has been able to instill a lot of her wisdom into her children who have all pursued acting.
“You can’t do it to be rich or famous because you will be so miserable,” she said. “You have to do it because you love it… One time I played for 10,000 people then the next it was 30 people in a club. It has no different a value; it’s the passion and the project, the love of getting to do it.”
Aileen has taught Mia to always follow her passions as an actress and to be sure to pursue acting for the right reasons. Mia would like to continue to act in hopes of someday making a career out of it.
“I want to be a respected actress. I would like to explore my ranges and do comedy, drama, and action adventure,” she said.
Hanelle M. Culpepper is an award winning writer and directed the movie Within. She felt a strong connection to the character of Rachel because as a child Hanelle felt out of place where she grew up. She loved Rachels sympathetic and kind hearted nature and had no doubt Mia was best for this part.
“She was such a fun person to work with. Mia always worked hard to give me what I needed for Rachel…she made my job easier because she had spent the time preparing for it ahead of time” Culpepper said.
Culpepper interviewed over 20 girls for the role but all along knew that Mia was right for the character because of her past auditions. She believed the Mia had the perfect personality to play this sort of character and really embodied what Rachel was all about.
“She was who I wanted from the get go,” Culpepper said. “My casting director went to look for girls who had more experience…but it was like Mia who set the standard for what I wanted and nobody came close to capturing the perfect blend of intelligence but also being gentle and innocent. It was natural for her.”
Ford isn’t your typical middle school student and has already won awards for her acting accomplishments including “Best Child Actress Award” from the Hollywood Investigator for her role in Within. There’s no doubt that Mia is definitely worth watching out for in the future because this girls career is taking off and so are her dreams.
