PROVIDED PHOTOS
Feature
Never g ve up After COVID setbacks, Amarillo actress leads English voice cast of major animated film By Chip Chandler
TAYLOR PAIGE HENDERSON AT WORK
“EARWIG AND THE WITCH”
22
AMARILLO.COM/AMARILLO-MAGAZINE • FEBRUARY 2021
Y
ou won’t see her face, and her voice betrays no trace of her Texas home, but young Amarillo actress Taylor Paige Henderson will make her feature-film debut in a major new release in February. Henderson, daughter of Todd and Melissa Henderson, voices one of the title characters in the English-language version of “Earwig and the Witch,” the latest release from Japanese animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli. The dubbed version of “Earwig” will screen at 7 p.m., Feb. 3, at the Cinemark Hollywood 16, 9100 Canyon Drive; a subtitled version, not featuring Henderson’s voice, will screen at 7 p.m., Feb. 4. The film will then begin streaming on HBO Max beginning Feb. 5. Based on a novel by Diana Wynn Jones, who also wrote “Howl’s Moving Castle” (adapted by Studio Ghibli in 2004), “Earwig” tells the story of a 10-year-old foundling – and, unbeknownst to her, the daughter of a witch – in 1990s England. Tackling that accent was nothing new for Henderson, who played Jane Banks in Amarillo Little Theatre’s 2017 production of “Mary Poppins” and had plenty of playful practice with the dialect on her own. “Me and my dad, when I was younger, would always talk in a British accent,” Henderson says. “We just thought it was funny.” After ruling the roost at her orphanage, Earwig is unexpectedly adopted by an odd couple, the witch Bella Yaga (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) and the Mandrake (Richard E. Grant), and conscripted into becoming an apprentice witch herself. “She has a very never-give-up attitude,” Henderson says, “and I think I’m definitely like that.” It shows. Though she just turned 14, Henderson already has acting credits around the state, including professional San Antonio productions of “Fun Home” and “Matilda,” in addition to several roles at ALT and in its Academy. In 2020, she planned to make her off-Broadway debut in “The Bedwetter,” based on the acclaimed memoir of comedian Sarah Silverman, and she was slated to star as the irrepressible title character in “Annie” for Broadway Sacramento in California. Then, of course, the pandemic struck, and Henderson’s plans were suddenly shot. “I was super excited about ‘The Bedwetter,’ but obviously, with
