Siena Agudong was 7 years old when she auditioned for a production of “Willy Wonka, The Musical” by the Hawaii’s Children’s Theatre on Kauai. She asked the casting director if she could be “the main Oompa-Loompa.” The cast didn’t include such a part, but she passed the audition and became an ordinary Oompa-Loompa. It was the start of a whirlwind career.
At the age of 8 she made her television debut as Lulu Parker in “Killer Women.” From there came roles in “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky &Dawn,” “Teachers” and “Sydney to the Max.” She then starred as Reagan Willis in the Warner Bros. direct-to-video film “Alex &Me.”
In 2018 Agudong was cast as Sophia Miller in the Nickelodean series, “Star Falls.” In 2019 she starred in the title role of the Netflix drama/sitcom, “No Good Nick.”
In her current project, the Disney Channel Original Movie “Upside-Down Magic,” Agudong, 15, plays Riena Carvajal, a top student at the Sage Academy for Magical Studies. Riena’s skill at using her “flare” power puts her at the head of her class, but her best friend, Nory Boxwood Horace (played by Izabela Rose), is exiled to the scorned UDM class for “defective” students whose magic is “upside-down.”
“Upside-Down Magic” premieres Friday on Disney (disneychannel.ca).
Agudong lives in Los Angeles, but spoke by telephone while visiting her family on Kauai.
What do you like most about your character?
I like the irony that she is very complex — she’s very powerful but she’s very insecure. It was really fun to play around with that on different levels.
Do you have a favorite scene we can talk about?
Definitely the audition scenes when all the students are being sorted out into different classes. I loved those scenes because that was your introduction to all the characters — including the UDMs, which are the kids with “wonky” magic.
If you could have a magic power what would you like it to be?
The cast and I have actually debated this for a while and we came to the conclusion that being a Fluxer (someone who can change into any type of animal) would be super awesome.
What do you see as “the messages” in the story?
One of the messages that I really love is the friendship (between Riena and Nory), being there for each other and the power of supporting one another. Another message that I loved is self-worth and self-identity and embracing individualism — just because your power is different from other people’s, that doesn’t make it bad. You should embrace unique qualities because that’s what makes you who you are.
You said last year that you want to do action films and work with The Rock, Steven Spielberg and Melissa McCarthy, be hooked up in a harness and work with special effects. Any progress there?
I am going to continue to manifest that (desire), but I have been able to work on a big franchise movie that will be coming out in 2021 that I can’t talk about, and I was able to work with special effects in “Upside- Down Magic.”
How did that go for you?
The crew worked very hard to make all the special effects look so realistic. For my “flare” work, they wired me with wires down my jacket and lights taped to my palms. It was so cool to see it all come together.
What would you like to be doing 10 years from now?
I would really love to be working on a bunch of action movies — and a wide range of things. Working on different projects all the time teaches you a lot of different things that I think are very necessary in the industry, and I hope to keep growing as an actor.
