Aaralyn Anderson is just 8 years old, but the young South Jersey actress already has serious acting chops – and the roles to prove it.
Aaralyn, of Clayton, is costarring in the new Netflix original series “Maniac,” a remake of the Norwegian television show that explores the dreams of an institutionalized man. The series will air later this year and has already been slated as one of the biggest releases of 2018.
Aaralyn will appear in several episodes, but details about her character have yet to be revealed. The excitement surrounding the role first started during the audition process – Aaralyn’s mom received a call one morning from her manager telling them that Aaralyn had been directly requested to audition in New York City at 11:45 am, so the pair scrambled to get there on time. They walked into the audition at exactly 11:44 am and finished just a few minutes later.
It only took a few hours after the audition for the casting directors to call Aaralyn back for a director’s session and chemistry read the next day. By the end of the audition, her mom was signing paperwork and Aaralyn was booked. Still, neither of them knew what the role was for.
It wasn’t until a few days later at the first official table read that Aaralyn realized what she was getting herself into. Aaralyn’s Maniac script cover read “Primary Cast,” then three names were listed in order: Jonah Hill, Emma Stone, Aaralyn Anderson. The show also stars Gabriel Byrne, Trudie Styler, Billy Magnussen, Justin Theroux and Sally Field.
“Everybody in Maniac is fantastic,” Aaralyn says. “They love kids, they loved me. What I love about acting is I get to meet new people, I get to be myself and I get to travel to new places.”
It’s all in a day’s work for the Aaralyn, who has been acting since age 2 when she was featured in a “Thank You, Mom” campaign for Procter and Gamble. Since then, she’s appeared on “The Good Wife,” “Good Morning America,” “Access Hollywood” and more.
Aaralyn spent months at the end of 2017 filming Maniac with the cast in different locations, including the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Her mom says they opted to drive to all filming locations so they could bring everything they needed with them. This helpful commitment is the reason Aaralyn credits her mom with a lot of her own success.
“My mom takes me to all these places and she gets me there on time,” she says. “If I didn’t have such a good mom, I don’t think I’d be in the acting business.”
