“My dad was in the movie ‘Moonwalker’ and I knew he could sing really well, but I didn’t know he could act,” Paris Jackson told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, according to a transcript of the episode to air Thursday. “I saw that and I said, ‘Wow, I want to be just like him.'”

The film featuring Jackson’s signature dance move and other videos was released in 1988.

Paris said her father encouraged her and did improvisation sessions to develop her skills. The 13-year-old has been cast alongside Larry King in a film based on a new children’s book, “Lundon’s Bridge and the Three Keys,” which is in early stages of development.

The Internet Movie Database, known as IMDB, shows the film is tentatively scheduled for a 2013 release, although filmmakers have not presented the teen’s proposed acting contract to a Los Angeles court as required because she is a minor.

Paris also talked about the lengths that her father took to protect her identity for an episode that will air on Thursday.

She said her father protected her and her two brothers from the media, such as by placing them in masks or dressing them in costumes when they were in public. She said she initially thought wearing the mask was stupid, but later came to realize that it was for her and her brothers’ protection.

She said no one recognized her when she began attending school after her father’s death in June 2009.

“I was like, yes, I have a chance to be normal,” she said.

Jackson’s children have since been in the public eye, appearing onstage at their father’s televised memorial service, the Grammy Awards and other television appearances.

___

Online: http://ellen.warnerbros.com/