By Kate E. Salute
³It¹s a bit part on ŒLaw & Order: SVU¹, but it¹s something, right?² said Elise¹s mother Julia. ³I think the episode name is ŒBlast¹ she¹s in the background of a scene and they didn¹t tell us exactly when it¹s suppose to air but they said after Christmas.²
When asked who was more excited about Elise¹s part on SVU, the fifth grader who sat in her dining room sucking on a candy cane, grinned and pointed to her mother. ³She was definitely more excited than I was,² said Elise.
At just 10-years-old Elise got paid $100 for her part on SVU, though she was more excited about getting to take a day off of school for the shoot.
Elise¹s part on the episode is one that she can relate to, ³I play a student,² she said.
The budding actress attends George Washington Elementary where she is in Mr. Wisotsky¹s fifth-grade class. She enjoys playing with her grandmother¹s dog, Ginger, eating ice-cream, Hilary Duff movies and, ³I love, love, love soccer,² said Elise.
³I¹ve been playing soccer for five years and I bowl. I do the Cherry Tree (the G.W. student newspaper) and was on the student council until this year. I¹ve been in the school plays every year, like the fourth and fifth-grade plays,² said Elise.
³She played Frenchie from Grease in a sequence for one of the plays,² said Julia.
³Oh yeah, that was fun,² said Elise who caught the acting-bug after performing for a talent show. ³I like being on stage and being in front of cameras,² said Elise.
Supportive of Elise¹s dreams, Julia got her daughter a manager who Elise has been with for only a couple of months and who quickly found Elise work.
³It¹s a lot of work,² said Julia, ³It¹s so hard to be in this business because there¹s a lot of paper work to do. [Our manager] gave me this big book, it¹s so involved. I found out that she needs an acting permit and a modeling permit, and all of this paper work.²
The $100 that Elise received for her day¹s work had to be put into a new sealed account that her mother had to open for her, ³10 percent goes to Adeles and then 15 percent has to go into the Actors Credit Union in the City and then I guess they mail whatever is left to us.²
Julia continued, ³But it¹s something that she really loves and enjoys, so I said, Œyou know what, we can call and try.¹ So we sent in pictures, they interviewed her, they liked her and they took her on to Adele¹s Kids. But I know that it¹s hard and there are a lot of children out there who are interested in this.²
³My manager called and said that there was going to be this shoot in the city, so I went,² said Elise of her first job. ³I wasn¹t nervous but it was very exciting.²
Julia, who managed to snap an entire roll of film on the Harlem set said, ³I didn¹t think she was ready for it, I thought she would do the modeling first and then get into the acting, but she loved it.²
Look for Elise on SVU in a blue and white stripped hat and jacket set.
Comments about this story? KSalute@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.
