On the way to visit her future talent agency, 6-year-old Hendrix Yancey asked her mom, Timie Yancey, if she should do a British accent during the interview.
Brushing it off, Timie said, “Sure, whatever.”
“[The agency] takes the kids in by themselves to make sure their heart is in it,” Timie said. “And about 15 minutes later, they call me and [my husband], Jake, in.”
She said that usually, the first question people ask when they meet Jake is, “How tall are you?” because he is 6-10.
“We sit down in a room of seven super high-powered agents, and the first thing they ask is, ‘Which one of you is from England?’” Timie said. “Apparently, the whole time, [Hendrix] was in and out of accent. She made up this whole story about traveling back and forth to England and that it was a long flight.”
“You just walked the prank!” Hendrix said during the interview for this story, quoting the catch phrase from her favorite television show, Walk the Prank, a kids’ comedy series.
Timie said the agency had pulled out an application for a working visa but were very glad to hear that Hendrix is from the United States.
“So I guess, British accent, check,” Timie said.
Hendrix, of Benton, recently starred in a new online series called Versus. The six-episode series premiered Nov. 22, and its season finale aired Dec. 27. The show centers around two rival lacrosse players who have to play on the same team during a summer tournament. Hendrix stars as one of the players’ nieces.
“It has all happened really quickly,” Timie said. “You hear about struggling actors or people trying to break into the business, and honestly, I thought that’s what would happen with us.”
Timie said the show is Gatorade’s first scripted series, and it is produced by AwesomenessTV. The show is available to watch on the go90 app and website at www.go90.com.
Timie said she started Hendrix’s entertainment career by reluctantly placing her in the pageant system. Timie, who never competed in pageants growing up, said it was Hendrix’s idea — something she wanted to do.
“You do what you can to make your kids happy,” Timie said. “Within the first year, [Hendrix] took several huge titles. Right now, she is currently Miss Tiny Arkansas, and she has won Cinderella Tot and went on to get a national title with that.”
The decision paid off for Hendrix as she grew to be a better entertainer during her time with pageants.
“What I have learned from the pageant system is that it did actually teach Hendrix stage presence, posture and manners, and that she is an entertainer,” Timie said.
She said that during Hendrix’s time with pageants, she was an Arkansas State Fair Talent winner.
“Out of all the kids, I think she was youngest, and it went all the way up to high school,” Timie said. “Through that, I just really saw that she was meant to entertain.”
Following Hendrix’s turn in pageants, Timie finally took her friends’ advice and placed her daughter on a couple of casting websites.
“When I first met Hendrix, she wasn’t shy, and she loved to entertain, and she took to me almost immediately,” said Holly Wolfe, a casting director and a friend of Timie’s. “In Hollywood, kids can’t be shy because they have to take directions and warm up to people very quickly.
“So I knew it was something Hendrix could do.”
Wolfe has been a casting director for 15 years, and one of the first shows she worked for was Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? She was recently casting for a pilot centered around the game Minecraft and a public-service announcement for Fox Sports.
“I like working with kids because I don’t have any of my own,” Wolfe said, “but it has been kind of nice to be able to help someone from my hometown.”
Wolfe and Timie met about three years ago but actually went to Benton High School together, although they were two grades apart.
“This take a lot of dedication, and I knew Timie wouldn’t shy away from it,” Wolfe said. “She would embrace it and get the ball rolling.
“Because its not just the kids — the parents have to do the work, too. They have to make the trek out to LA and go to the auditions.
“It is a big process. It is not as easy as people think.”
Timie said it was a little rough in the early goings.
“We didn’t have headshots; we didn’t have demo reels,” Timie said. “We didn’t know what we were doing, but here we are.
“But just from the stuff that we had, [Hendrix was] booked in a student film at [California State University, Long Beach] and was asked to be in a music video in New York.”
While shooting the student film in March of last year in California, Timie and Hendrix visited Gray Studios, which is owned by Shanelle Gray, to make a professional demo reel.
“[Shanelle] is sister to Ariel Winter, who plays Alex on Modern Family,” Timie said. “And she said, ‘How much time are you willing to spend out here, because I can see her doing amazing.’
“This was like the second person who had seen something in Hendrix.”
So Timie set up private acting lessons through Skype for every Thursday, and in June of last summer, Hendrix was asked to perform in the studio’s summer showcase.
“The top acting students perform a scene in front of the top 100 bi-coastal agencies and managers,” Timie said. “We really didn’t think anything would come of it.”
Although Timie and Jake weren’t allowed to be there to see Hendrix perform, David Gray — Shanelle’s husband — told them later at a cast party that Hendrix “freaking killed it.”
“He said he would be shocked if Hendrix didn’t have people lined up at the door,” Timie said.
She said that when they got home that night, Hendrix received her first email at midnight, and the next day, they stopped counting after 30. Hendrix is currently signed with The Osbrink Agency, and her manager is Susie Mains with Triology Talent.
“We are a super close family,” Timie said, “so it was a real big adjustment.”
For the most part, Hendrix is a typical 6-year-old. She likes to play with her toys, snack on Cheez Whiz and crackers, and tell corny jokes.
“Why did the carrot cross the road?” Hendrix said. “To get to the ranch.”
Hendrix said her favorite part of the whole experience is making new friends — real and imaginary.
“She has become good friends with Jillian Spaeder of Walk the Prank,” Timie said. “They message and follow each other on Instagram.”
Hendrix even wants to dye her hair red, just like one of her favorite characters on the TV show Riverdale.
“We are very normal people,” Timie said. “We try to keep things as normal as possible. We try to treat people nicely and be polite with ‘Yes ma’am’ and ‘No ma’am.’
“I expect her to still use her Southern manners, even in Los Angeles.”
Hendrix, who is home-schooled by her mom, was real proud of the fidget spinner that she got as a Christmas gift for her older brother, Hudson, who just turned 11.
Hudson also has a YouTube channel and has aspirations of one day being an outdoor personality because he enjoys hunting and being outdoors with his dad.
While at home in Benton, Hendrix and Timie self-tape — or audition — for different productions, including a project for Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg and a Netflix original movie titled The Dirt, a film based on a New York Times bestseller.
“The movie is about Motley Crew, and Hendrix auditioned for the part of Vince Neal’s daughter,” Timie said. “She also auditioned for the upcoming Frozen sequel as a young Anna.”
That is the part Hendrix really hopes to get because Frozen is one of her favorite movies.
“She has worked her tail off for the last year,” Timie said. “Between acting lessons, voice lessons, learning scripts and doing self-tapes, it takes up so much time.
“She really works hard.”
“Literally, the buzz around town about Hendrix is that she is the next Dakota Fanning,” Wolfe said. “I am interested to see where she goes because she is naturally talented, and she works really hard and picks things up very quickly.
“Watching her journey, it is going to be epic. She is amazing.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.