Southlake's own American Girl, Sidney Fullmer.
Sidney Fullmer Brings American Girl Saige Copeland to Life
By Linden Wilson, Assistant Editor
Four years ago, Sidney Fullmer only wantedbrone thing for her 9th birthday: an American Girl doll. Her parents,brJeff and Allison, drove her to the Galleria Dallas, a short drive from theirbrhome in Southlake, so she could pick out her birthday gift. After carefulbrconsideration, Sidney selected strawberry blond, blue-eyed Emily, a doll frombrthe 1940s, before the family enjoyed a birthday lunch at the American GirlbrBistro. Little did they know that later, in a bustling shopping mall on abrscorching day in June, unassuming Sidney would come face-to-face with anbropportunity that would change her life.
A Stroke of Luck
“There's a television and film actingbrworkshop this weekend, and we'd really like for you to come and audition.” Thebrwords of a complete stranger who approached Sidney at the Galleria are oftenbrassociated with what can usually be considered cliché: A girl gets approachedbrin a mall by a talent scout searching for young models or actresses, but thebrstory ends quickly when dreams are dashed — after all, the chance of making itbris one in a million. Allison, a firm believer in exploring everything thatbrfalls into your lap, chose to investigate the invitation, despite the odds.
“Itbrwas kind of a big cattle call,” she says. “About 350 kids showed up, but afterbrSidney did her little spill, they asked her to come back the next day.” Afterbrtwo more callbacks — one that involved doing a special workshop with an actorbrfrom Disney's then-hit show The SuitebrLife of Zack and Cody — Sidney was chosen as one of three Dallas-area kidsbrinvited to Los Angeles for a five-week summer camp run by various industrybrprofessionals including casting directors, agents and coaches as well asbrseveral Disney stars. The Fullmers packed up their car and their kids — Sidneybrplus her three younger brothers, one of whom was only two months old at thebrtime — and hit the road for Hollywood. Although this particular adventure endedbrafter the camp concluded, Sidney’s eyes had been opened to a whole new world.
“Bybrthe time we came back, she was hooked,” Allison says. “She loves a challenge,brshe's a perfectionist, and she's an old soul, which are three really greatbrqualities for an actor.” Recognizing that her daughter had talent and passionbrfor the craft, Allison signed her up to take acting lessons from CathrynbrSullivan, a Lewisville-based coach who has trained stars including SelenabrGomez, Demi Lovato and Cody Linley. As their schedules permitted, Allison drovebrSidney to two-hour classes at Cathryn's studios once a week for three years,brand auditioning for various projects was soon part of her regular routine.
“She's so adorable with so much talent,brwhich is an irresistible combination,” Cathryn says.
An American Girl Audition
With several years of acting experience underbrher belt, Sidney became familiar with the rejection that usually comes afterbrauditions, although she remained resilient and taught herself to not let itbrfaze her.
“OncebrI do an audition, I forget about it because there's one chance in a millionbrthat I'll actually get the role,” she says. “I love acting so much, so it'sbrjust fun to be able to try.”
In thebrsummer of 2012, three years after she received her first American Girl doll,br12-year-old Sidney's chance finally arrived. In late August of that year,brauditions were held for An American Girl:brSaige Paints the Sky, abrdirect-to-video release about a young girl with a passion for art and horses.brIt’s the latest in a line of successful American Girl films, following popularbrTV movies An American Girl Holiday(starring Anna Sophia Robb) and AnbrAmerican Girl Adventure (starring Shailene Woodley) as well as thebrtheatrical release of Kit Kittredge: AnbrAmerican Girl, which starred Abigail Breslin. Sidney recorded an auditionbrtape to send to L.A.
“I firstbrauditioned for Tessa, Saige's best friend, because she's blond,” Sidney says.br“But after I mailed in my tape, the studio called and asked me to audition forbrSaige.” After making sure Sidney could ride a horse and was willing to dye herbrblond locks red, the studio immediately flew the young actress and her mom tobrL.A. for a chemistry mix-and-match with 15 other kids.
“Sidneybrwas ecstatic, over the moon,” Allison recalls. “The parent is not part of the process, so I just satbrin another room and read my book while the studio tried to find a goodbrfoursome. They kept her back there for about five hours, so I had a really goodbrfeeling.” That evening, mother and daughter made their way back to Texas, andbras soon as the plane touched down, they received the phone call they’d bothbrbeen waiting for.
“Thisbris her dream,” Allison adds. “She was just so excited. It's something that youbrcan be proud of and show your kids. It's just a wonderful family movie and thebrbest first project you can ask for.”
Eventful on Set
One week after discovering she'd landed thebrlead role, Sidney and Allison flew to Arizona for horse-training lessons andbrNew Mexico for painting lessons, where a man named Pedro taught Sidney the artbrof the paintbrush.
“Mybrmom even joined in,” she says. “It was a great bonding experience. Pedro hadbrthis really neat, open adobe studio that was out in these fields in the middlebrof nowhere.” After a quick stop back in Dallas — Sidney, missing one of herbrback teeth, had to get fitted for a flipper to fake a full set — the pairbrheaded to Canada, where Sidney had her light blond hair dyed auburn red andbrreceived flowing extensions. It was also in Canada where the first three weeksbrof filming began in September (followed by three weeks back in the Southwest) —brand where Sidney's nerves kicked in.
“Itbrwas crazy,” she says. “The first scene had like 200 extras. It was my firstbrtime to ever be on camera, I had 200 people watching me, and I had this bigbrparagraph I had to say. I was very scared, but I got through it, and it was sobrfun.” After making it through her first big scene, Sidney quickly adjusted tobrlife on set and, with the help of one of her costars, created some fun of herbrown. She and Alex Peters, who plays the role of Tessa, bought fart machines onlinebrto play pranks on several film crewmembers.
“Duringbrlunch break, we set one up under the dessert table, and every time someonebrreached to get a dessert, we pressed a remote,” Sidney says. “It was so funny.brI also put it under the director's chair and pressed it. We had so much fun.” Shebreven used a secret language to communicate with her costars on set about theirbrnext tricks.
“It'sbrcalled Haywire,” Sidney explains. “My mom made it up when she was little. Shebrtaught it to me, so I taught it to the three other girls. We always hadbrmicrophones on us, so we'd use Haywire to talk about what we were going to dobrnext. All the hair and makeup people would be like, ‘What?'” Yet along with thebrfun memories she made, Sidney also recalls an on-set experience that scared herbrto death. The horse she first trained with in Arizona didn't have the rightbrcoloring for the movie, so a new horse, 1-year-old Sharky, came in as abrreplacement. Unaccustomed to the crowds of extras gathered for a parade scene,brthe young stallion got spooked, bucking Sidney while she tried to hold on.
“Ibrremember my heart beating so fast,” she says. “I didn't know what to do. Ibrtried to tell him to stop by grabbing the reins, but he wouldn't. He rode allbrthe way to where our trailers were and started slamming into them. The stuntbrcoordinator ran up, held out his arms and told me to jump, so I did. He caughtbrme by the leg and dragged me off. It was terrifying.” The film's director wasbrso nerve-wracked he became emotional, and when Sidney had to get back on Sharkybrto film the scene, he made sure four stunt coordinators surrounded her tobrprevent another incident.
Ofbrthe movie's 21 scenes, Sidney appears in 20. Many included acting legend JanebrSeymour, who plays her grandmother, Mimi, and whom Sidney quickly bonded withbrduring the course of filming.
“Shebrwas awesome and so sweet,” Sidney says. “We had so much fun together.” The pairbrusually wrapped a day's filming at the same time, so they would talk to eachbrother on the way home, covering topics like Jane's passion for painting and herbrOpen Hearts Foundation.
“Jane lovedbrher,” Allison says. “She really took Sidney under her wing and gave her allbrsorts of advice. They still keep in touch.” One of Sidney's favorite scenes tobrfilm was a touching one with her TV dad Kerr Smith (of Dawson's Creek fame) in a hot-air balloon because it allowed her tobrevoke poignant memories of a close family member.
“Mybrcharacter was going through a lot of stuff, so she was really emotional all thebrtime,” she says. “I had a lot of crying scenes. That summer, my grandpa gotbrdiagnosed with lung cancer, so I would think about that, and it would justbrbring me right to the moment. He passed away three days before we endedbrshooting, but my mom and the director didn't tell me until after we wrapped. Ibrfeel like the last few days, my grandpa couldn't see me from where he was inbrUtah, but he got to see me from heaven.”
Thebrlast day of shooting in October brought many tearful goodbyes, but Sidney hasbrplenty of photos and mementos to remember her time as an American Girl —breverything from paintbrushes and palettes to New Mexico trinkets like a ristrabr(chili-pepper strings) to hang in her room. The film's costume designer alsobrmailed her Saige's clothes, including a red fringe jacket with a horse patternbrshe enjoys having as a keepsake.
“Ibrlove the people I worked with because we were all a family,” Sidney says. “Ibrwas with them for 12 hours a day for six weeks. We played pranks on onebranother, laughed and had so much fun but also worked hard together. It was abrblast to meet so many cool people.”
Post-Saige
Sidney, who celebrated her 13thbirthday in June, has used her newfound fame to help many others, frombrappearances at birthday parties to SaigebrPaints the Sky book signings to hospital visits for sick children who lovebrAmerican Girl dolls. Three years ago, Sidney started her own charity calledbrKindness for Kids with Cancer in honor of her aunt who was diagnosed with thebrdisease. She’s raised thousands of dollars through lemonade stands, bake sales,brRelay for Life teams and by putting jars in classrooms when she attendedbrEubanks Intermediate School. She’s kept every cent and will be able to get herbrcharity accredited when she turns 14. Sidney also waited a long time forbrsomething she recently received as a present for completing her first moviebrproject.
“Shebrloves dogs,” Allison says. “She's wanted one since she was 2, but I've alwaysbrbeen scared of them. We tried hamsters, rats and fish, but Sidney wasbrrelentless. When she was 9, she had just started acting, so my husband and Ibrtold her if she ever booked a movie, she could get a dog, because we thought itbrwould never happen.” When they were in Canada, Sidney reminded her mom of thebrpromise.
“Webrwaited forever to find the right one,” Sidney says. “I wanted a red dog tobrmatch my hair in honor of the movie. I did finally get her — she's a cockapoo,brand she's just so little and sweet. I had to name her Saige.”