Spotlight Alisha

Remember the name Alisha Mullally. The 13-year-old Danville actress has two feature films coming out in the next two months, one with major star power attached.

In early 2004, she landed her first role, in a holiday-themed family film called The 12 Dogs of Christmas, which will be released on DVD November 1. Then she was cast as the childhood version of Juliette Binoche’s character in Bee Season, filmed here in the East Bay and due for release in theaters on November 11.

“Every scene I had, Juliette would watch on the monitors and give me tips on how to act so it would be consistent with her as a grown-up,” Alisha recalls. “She told me to open my eyes really wide to feel my vibe coming through the screen.” It wasn’t all shoptalk between the two actors, however. “We had a long discussion about Converse sneakers, which we both like to wear,” she says.

Alisha’s introduction to the business was somewhat accidental. “When I was nine years old, I went to a Miss Junior America Pageant that my sister was in. I was really, really bored, so my mom let me join the pageant,” says the Charlotte Wood Middle School eighth-grader. “I ended up winning, and some agents contacted us. My first audition was for a Toyota commercial in San Francisco, and I got it.”