SAMANTHA BAILEY Actress on the Rise We caught up with rising actress, Samantha Bailey. What is the favorite character you’ve played? I have played several different types of characters but I had the most fun playing Young Rebecca (Becky) Quinn from the Amazon Prime Series “Just Add Magic”. What sort of person is going to love this character? The target audience for this show is mainly tweens and early teens but I think this show is intriguing for any age. The characters on this show really focus on the power of friendship and the importance of learning to work together even when times get tough. How is this character like you? Different? This character is very relatable for me because she is caring and always tries to find the bright side of any situation. She loves her friends and wants to help them in any way she can. She also loves cooking and creating things in the kitchen which I find a lot of fun!
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Is it easier to play this character or to be yourself on camera? I don’t get to play myself on camera very often so I always try to find elements of myself within the characters personality and dialogue. I wouldn’t say this character was easy to play because there was a certain complexity to her that needed to shine through but it was fun getting to bring her to life on screen.
What do you love about this character? I played the younger version of one of the grandmothers in the series, so my scenes took place in the 1960’s. I loved the style of clothing that I got to wear in the scenes and loved playing with the dialogue to include words that were used in the time period. What do you hate about this character? There really is nothing that I could hate about Becky Quinn because of her big heart and thoughtful personality. What’s the biggest challenge about taking on this role? The biggest challenge I had with taking on this role was matching my character to Dee Wallace’s older version of the character so that I was a believable younger version of her. Dee is an absolutely amazing actress and unbelievably talented so I knew I was going to be in for a challenge. I was able to sit down and talk with Dee for a little bit before filming to get an idea of her personality and presence. This was incredibly helpful so that our characters were realistic. Besides yourself, what celebrity would you like to see tackle this character? I think Millie Bobby Brown would be amazing in this role. She is such a talented actress and can take on any character that she is given.
