Eleanor Claire - commercial actress!

When Ellie was about seven months old I signed her up with my agency, thinking "why the heck not?". They told me that there is very little work for babies, so I honestly didn't think too much about it.
Well, last week we got a call that Miss ECK had an audition! They wanted a baby that was crawling, and thankfully crawling is still our preferred mode of movement. So off we went to do our best crawling towards a camera. There were a TON of babies there of varying ages and ethnicities, so I just left super proud of E for keeping her cool and looking damn cute while crawling.

A few days later we got an email that Ellie was asked to a call back. I couldn't believe it! So off we went last Saturday to the call back. There were 6 babies there, 3 boys and 3 girls, again, of varying ages and ethnicities. When we got in the room, the entire production team for the commercial was there (this is common) and E didn't bat an eye. Same drill as the audition - I put her in the back of the room, ran behind the camera and tried to get her to crawl to me. First go, brilliant. Her pigtails were bopping, she was smiling and it was adorable. The casting director asked for one more shot, so once again, I placed her in the back of the room and ran behind the camera. This time, however, the little stinker looked right at me, smiled, and stood up and WALKED the entire length of the room to the camera, probably 10 feet. Everyone was cracking up, E was clearly proud of herself and I was completely flabbergasted both trying to be excited she was doing some AMAZING walking, but also trying to get her to sit down and crawl. It was pretty funny. We tried again, and sure enough she did the exact same thing. What are you gonna do? So we said our thank yous and left, and I was certain there would be no commercial in our future (even though what she did was absolutely darling).

Lo and behold that evening I got a phone call that she BOOKED IT! I was shocked! But obviously she's adorable - I mean who could resist that face...and those piggies?!

The house had peach trees! Ellie was a fan :)

We filmed yesterday - it took about 3 hours in total - and I cannot even begin to express how proud I am of her. We filmed at a gorgeous old house in Central Phoenix and Ellie's part took place in this small-ish room in the guest house. There were probably 7 men, three of whom had cameras and Ellie wasn't phased a bit.
They apparently liked the walking because they told us they wanted her to do both so they could decide which they liked better. Of course I can't control what she decides to do and was a little nervous she'd decide to do only one or the other, but little bug just rose to the occasion. She played with some toys until they were ready, and then did exactly what they wanted her to do. Every. Single. Time. Everyone in the room was so blown away - they all kept commenting that it was like she truly knew what they were asking her to do! We'd run to the back of the room and have her crawl, and again, and again, and again, and then they'd decide they wanted to see some walking. So I'd set her back and she'd just walk! And again, and again, and again. She never cried, never fussed, never seemed nervous and switched from crawling to walking without the slightest hesitation.

I say this all the time, but seriously this kid is just something special.

I'm not supposed to know this but the commercial will likely start airing in June, and it will be in the state of AZ only. They did say they thought it would go up on You Tube, though, so I will DEFINITELY post it here when it does. So proud of my girl. What a fun, fun day watching her learn, explore, and shine.

Ellie with her on camera mommy (whose shoulder you may end up seeing)