Actress Brooklynn Prince is Making Waves in Hollywood at Only 13-Years-Old

When I watched a low-key movie called The Florida Project back in 2017, I immediately took note of a plucky young actress who played the six-year-old daughter of a single mother in the film. Her name was Brooklynn Prince, and she gave a spirited, poignant performance in a movie that was one of the best I saw that year. I had a strong feeling that Prince would be offered even more memorable roles.

Fast forward nearly seven years, and Brooklyn Prince is one of the fastest-rising young actresses in Hollywood today. Last year, she was the centerpiece of a crazy comedy-thriller called Cocaine Bear. She played Dee Dee, who, along with her friend, were lost in the woods while a grizzly bear high off several kilos of cocaine was terrorizing the community. It was a drastic departure from her role in The Florida Project, sure, but it was no less a memorable performance.

I was lucky enough to talk to Brooklynn Prince about her new movie, Little Wing, which is now streaming on Paramount+. The coming-of-age drama revolves around a teenager named Kaitlyn (played by Prince), a child of divorced parents whose mom is gearing up to sell their family home. Kaitlyn is given two pigeons by her family friend, and with that, she becomes entangled in a plot with her best friend to steal a valuable racing pigeon from a breeder who lives nearby.

This is a very original premise, even by coming-of-age movie standards. Prince talked about what attracted her to the role and what makes this story especially unique:

What attracted me to this movie is just that it's your typical 13-year-old girl, and I never read that in a script. It talks about mental health, and it talks about what it's like to be 13 because when you're 13, everything feels huge [....] For 13-year-olds, it's the first time we're really experiencing big emotions or big things in our lives, and I think it really beautifully illustrates what it's like to be a 13-year-old girl. - Brooklynn Prince

While she might just be entering her teenage years, Prince has acted in movies big and small. She's even published a new comic series called Misfortune's Eye, which she said was inspired by her work with director Elizabeth Banks on Cocaine Bear.

Prince talked quite a bit about the experience of working on a movie as outrageously silly as Cocaine Bear, including her reaction to reading the script for the first time. She's also done some voice-work in big projects like The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and The Angry Birds Movie 2.

Take a listen to my interview with Brooklynn Prince below, and check out Little Wing, now streaming on Paramount+!