ON A ROLE

Winnetka native Maddie McCormick—an alumna of the Lake Forest Children’s Theatre Company and Children’s Theatre of Winnetka—lands breakthrough gig, starring as the lead in the Passionflix series The Secret Life of Amy Bensen

BY BILL MCLEAN ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT

The first word Maddie McCormick ever uttered at her home in Winnetka wasn’t “Mama” or “Dada.”

It was “beast.”

“I loved the movie Beauty and the Beast at a young age,” says McCormick, a graduate of New Trier High School and UCLA. “I’d shout, ‘Beast, beast, beast,’ at home whenever I wanted to watch it again.”

Later, shortly after her vocabulary reached double figures, McCormick declared, “I want to move to Los Angeles and become an actor,” to her parents, Catherine Grace O’Connell and Tony McCormick.

McCormick has lived in Los Angeles since 2009. Her profession?

Acting.

“The highs in acting are very high, and the lows in acting can get pretty low,” says McCormick, whose credits include appearing on a couple of episodes of Showtime’s Shameless and a role in the 2018 television movie Christmas at Pemberley Manor, which aired on the Hallmark Channel.

“There were times I asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ But what kept me going, what will always keep me going, is knowing that I’ve never felt so alive as I do when I’m performing.”

McCormick’s career reached an Alps-high point in late December, with the airing of Episode One of the Passionflix series The Secret Life of Amy Bensen. Elon Musk’s younger sister, Tosca, created the Passionflix streaming platform and production company in 2017.

The suspense-thriller series—the sixth and final 30-minute episode of Season One streamed January 26—is based on author Lisa Renee Jones’ bestselling Amy Bensen book series. McCormick portrays Amy Bensen, a woman who has spent several years on the run from an unknown danger after losing her entire family in an accident.

“I was nervous and scared about taking on the role, because of the expectations of the book series’ fan base,” admits McCormick, normally fearless. “I’d wondered if I would have to carry the series. I called a friend, who told me, ‘If you’re scared, you have to do it.’”

An image of McCormick, no surprise, predominates the series’ poster. That happens when you’re No. 1 on a call sheet. And a photo of McCormick—trained by acting coaches and Highland Park natives Lesly Kahn and Susan “Sooze” Handelman—adorns the covers of the re-released Amy Bensen books.

“It’s a cool, strong character,” McCormick says, adding that Season Two of The Secret Life of Amy Bensen was filmed ahead of the premiere on December 22. “The days on-set were long, 12-14 hours; I’m in practically every scene. But I loved the challenge and working with the actors and crew. There was a scene of me looking right at the camera, which, to the viewer, served as a mirror. I had to cry for the scene, because Amy’s parents and brother had died in a fire. I had no problem crying because I had empathy for Amy’s character from the start of the scene.”

Filming of the scene ended.

Cast and crew then applauded McCormick’s performance.

William H. Macy and his Shameless colleagues clapped for McCormick, too, after a table reading.

“I couldn’t believe that, seeing the William H. Macy do that,” McCormick says. “Emmy

Rossum (Fiona Gallagher, in Shameless) was so good to me. One day, she took me outside and said, ‘Anything you need, come to me. I’m here for you.’

“I would love, someday, to be on a gritty drama series, something like Ozark. To be on-set and learn from A-list co-stars, that would thrill me. Seeing other actors act inspires me. When I watched On the Waterfront, the performances by Eva Marie Saint and Marlon Brando moved me. Actors acting in my acting classes move me.”

McCormick landed her very first speaking role as a youngster in the production of Cinderella at the Lake Forest Children’s Theatre Company. She was a mouse, squeaking the line, “Don’t ask me; I just work here.”

But getting a nonspeaking part, in the fifth grade—as a cheerleader in the Children’s The- atre of Winnetka’s musical Good News, alongside future best friend and professional actor Natalie Pelletier—nearly launched an elated McCormick to Neptune.

“I saw my name at the top of the cast list, after auditions, and immediately thought, ‘Yes, I made it to the big leagues,’ ” McCormick says. “I was on top of the world. It didn’t bother me in the least that I wouldn’t get to speak or sing. This was Children’s Theatre of Winnetka, a big deal.

“That was a moment of pure joy,” she adds.

McCormick portrayed Minnie Fay in the Children’s Theatre of Winnetka (CTW) production of Hello, Dolly as an eighth grader.

CTW is a nonprofit, volunteer organization dedicated to promoting theatrical performances for New Trier Township children, grades 4-8. It will stage its next show, Singin’ in the Rain, April 27-30.

“I loved that movie, loved the high-pitched, Hollywood starlet character (Lina Lamont),” says McCormick, who lives a nine-minute drive from Pelletier in Los Angeles. “I’m excited for everyone involved in Children’s Theatre of Winnetka, kids and adults. I will always be grateful for the opportunities I got to perform there and at New Trier.

“I’m so passionate about the arts, and I’m a big proponent of putting lots of money into it, especially to (nonprofits like CTW). Acting built my confidence, taught me a lot, gave me a skill set, allowed me to do what I wanted to do since I was little—tell stories. And I made lifelong friends through acting.”

She met her future husband, Michael Short, when they took classes together as film minors at UCLA. McCormick majored in psychology.

Short now works for a tech startup in California.

“He’d been my close friend for two years when he asked me out on a date,” McCormick recalls. “I told him, ‘No,’ because I didn’t want to risk losing him as a friend. I then called up Natalie (studying in North Carolina at the time) and asked her for advice.”

Pelletier told McCormick to go on the date.

“You want to hear something funny?” McCormick says. “Natalie said, while encouraging me to change my mind, ‘Hey, he didn’t ask you to marry him.’”

Maddie and Michael got married 10 years later.

“My husband and I have two mantras this year,” McCormick says. “One is, ‘Upward spiral.’ The other is, ‘What goes up, can go higher.’”

Children’s Theatre of Winnetka stages its productions at Community House Winnetka, 620 Lincoln Avenue, in Winnetka. Its next show, Singin’ in the Rain, runs April 27-30. Visit childrenstheatrewinnetka.com for more information.