Move over Margot Robbie. Belrose actor Lexie Hallett may only be 10, but she has her sights firmly set on Hollywood.
Netball, music practice and homework are on the schedule of most schoolgirls on the Northern Beaches. For Belrose 10-year-old Lexie Hallett, ‘meetings with film directors’ is fast becoming a normal part of her school day. Lexie already has a string of casting credits to her name, filming three television shows and one commercial last year.
Since signing with her agent in April 2022, Lexie has had to pretend to be in a car crash in the Australian dark comedy series Totally Completely Fine, currently screening on Stan. She’s been a kidnapped child in Channel 9’s Under Investigation, and was the tearful face of the Barnardos Australia summer campaign to raise awareness of domestic violence. Not to mention playing the part of a young Audrey, the main character in this year’s ABC series The Messenger.
While that list is long over such a short period of time, there is no doubt that Lexie has had to work hard to get noticed. There are the weekly acting classes, and hours of practice on her very own green screen at home, complete with a camera to help her hone her skills.
The training has paid off, with mother Sarah-Jane saying directors love Lexie’s ability to follow directions and focus, even when having to repeat scenes several times during an eight-hour shoot.
“It really surprises me how focused she can be when it’s time to be ‘on,’” Sarah-Jane says.
Under state laws, a guardian must accompany their child on set, so Lexie’s parents get to see first hand what happens during filming. Imagine at least four cameras, adults running around organising props, the director barking instructions, as well as make-up artists hovering around the actors.
“I was blown away by everything that was happening around her,” Sarah-Jane says of when she accompanied Lexie on a shoot. “And then when it was time to be ‘on,’ she was just bang on.
“She just took it in a stride and was just so natural and relaxed with it all. She was right in her place, listened to what she had to do and she just did it.
“The directors came up to me and said that it was really rare for a child to be able to focus like that.
“A lot of kids would be distracted, or get over it after doing it over and over. But she just did it all day.”
At this point during our interview, Lexie pipes up and says, “Tell her about how I hit her head!” Laughing, Lexie explains that in a scene filmed for Totally Completely Fine, she had to throw a water bottle at her on-screen mum. Which she did very accurately, just as the script called for. “Did you hurt her?” I asked. “No! She was saying it was fine. But I think she was just being nice.”
Lexie’s career all started when aged eight, she ‘begged’ her father to get her an agent. It was around the time she had been watching Netflix global hit horror series, Stranger Things, and main character Eleven/Jane resonated with her.
Lexie holds that water bottle while about to film the car crash scene for Totally Completely Fine.
Father Ben Hallett had one condition – that Lexie get the proper training. “I started doing acting classes and after I did it for about a year, I begged my dad to get an agent and I got one,” Lexie declares.
Ben says Lexie has always been ‘really clear in her mind what she wants’.
“Once she had expressed that desire (to act), I really wanted to nurture that in her and give her the opportunity to explore it and see if it was something she did really like,” Ben says.
And enjoy it, she does. “It’s really fun and I like meeting new people all the time,” Lexie says.
If you ask Lexie what she wants to get out of acting, she is very clear: “I want to become a famous actor one day so that lots of people would know me and that I could make more friends.”
At age 10, Lexie is allowed to work eight hours a day, with regular breaks. While filming Totally Completely Fine, she did around 28 scenes over two days, and features in every single episode.
When she’s not filming, Lexie loves her netball and the beach.
“You’ve got to put a lot of hard work into it,” Ben says. “And the great thing about Lexie, is that none of it is hard work for her.
“Every single bit of it is just fun and excitement. That’s a passion, and I think you can’t really hold that back.”
When Peninsula Living Pittwater spoke to Lexie, her agent was in discussions with a film director about playing twins in a feature film – yes, both of them. Given Lexie is a non-identical twin, it would seem she has a lot of material to work with. “It just feels like it’s real life I reckon because I already have a twin in real life,” says Lexie of non-identical twin sister Samara. As for how she would portray two characters, Lexie says she would make them like herself and Samara. “We are complete opposites. I really like being social and making new friends all the time, where as she is really creative and has lots of ideas for craft.”
Just to keep her on her toes, Lexie is also auditioning for a long-standing US television series which will be shooting in Australia later this year. Auditions are mostly submitted online these days, and lines can be learnt using apps.
While Lexie’s entry into the acting world may seem surreal for the family, Ben and Sarah-Jane insist Lexie is still grounded by weekly netball matches and chores like cleaning her room, just like any other child.
Lexie with big brother Flynn, twin Samara and parents Ben and Sarah-Jane.
“Acting is really fun and I like meeting new people all the time.” Lexie
And when Lexie is not learning her lines, she is content playing with her Border Collie, Sunny, and watching the latest instalment of Disney’s The Mandalorian. And above all, chatting with friends, including her new ‘bestie’ who was her ‘double’ on the set of Totally Completely Fine. The double was another young girl who the director used, to ensure everything was correct for the shot before Lexie filmed the take. Just like being in the make-up chair and having her own trailer, Lexie quietly accepts every aspect of the job.
As for where Lexie’s career will take her, Sarah-Jane says life has to be balanced with their other two children, Samara, and Flynn, 13. “We are just going along for the ride. We did not expect it to be at this point so soon.
“As long as she’s happy doing it, we’ll go the full mile with her and just see where it takes her.”