Photos by Glenn Nutley
“ We are very close and talk and FaceTime all the time,” says Maddie of her relationship with Sia.“ I love being on stage with Sia because I just love to dance and know we are there together doing it. Being on tour was the most amazing experience!”
She is also generating buzz for her acting talent. She has made appearances on“ Pretty Little Liars,”“ Austin & Ally,” and“ Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn,” and voiced the character Camille in the animated film“ Ballerina,” which was released in 2016. She also appeared on Fox’ s“ So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation,” where she was the show’ s youngest judge.
This summer, Maddie will make her big-screen debut in“ The Book of Henry,” in which she stars alongside Naomi Watts, Jacob Tremblay and Sarah Silverman. The film is slated for release in June.
“ I love learning the craft of acting,” Maddie says.“ Being in front of a camera is so amazing, too.”
While she loves acting, she notes that she will always dance. Since the Abby Lee Dance Company’ s Pittsburgh location closed, Maddie continues to train at Dance Mechanics in Allison Park.
“ When I’ m in L. A., I dance everywhere,” she says.“ It’ s so great out there because there are open dance classes from 8 in the morning until 10 at night, so if I’ m working I can always fit dance in my schedule.”
With numerous projects requiring frequent travel, Maddie is now homeschooled, including while she’ s on set. Industry regulations state that children under age 15 are only permitted to spend nine hours a day at work on a film or television show, including school.
“ I really have to stay focused and get the job done,” she says.“ When the day is over, I just can’ t wait until the next day.”
All of her hard work has certainly paid off. In 2016, she earned a People’ s Choice Award and was named the Teen Choice Award’ s Choice Dancer. She’ s also been named to Time Magazine’ s list of the 30 Most Influential Teens— twice.
“ I was so excited and shocked I was on the same list as President Obama’ s daughters,” says Maddie of the Time Magazine accolades.
While she’ s accomplished so much already, Maddie Ziegler shows no signs of slowing down. Before her feature film debut this summer, her memoir,“ The Maddie Diaries,” is slated for publication in March, and she’ s also continuing to work on her clothing line, Maddie, which is available online and at select Nordstrom stores.
As for others hoping to follow in the dance prodigy’ s footsteps, she has this advice:“ Always be kind and stay humble,” she says.“ If you think you are working hard, work harder!” n
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