Production Notes & Screen Credits - SYE Publicity

DANA GAIER (Edith) is a 12-year-old, seventh
grade honors student from
New Jersey. She has always
loved all aspects of performing
since the age of one,
when she picked up a play
guitar and started singing the
Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It
That Way,” for a room full of
friends and family. At age
five, while Gaier was “entertaining”
people in a restaurant, a talent manager handed
Gaier’s mother her card. At that time, Gaier’s mom
decided it wasn’t the right time for Gaier to expand her
interests beyond the local/community level. At age
eight, Gaier was asked to open and close her school’s
talent show with her rendition of Aretha Franklin’s
After hearing that she resembles Dakota Fanning
throughout the first five years
of her life, ELSIE FISHER
(Agnes) decided she wanted to
be an actress. With her parents
blessing, she took the plunge
and, in the very first month
of her career, was cast in
Despicable Me. Since doing
the film, Fisher has also made
appearances in several national
commercials and on the hit television show Medium.
When she is not driving back and forth to auditions
in Los Angeles, Fisher enjoys being in first grade, playing
video games and spending time with her best friend,
Deanna. When she grows up, Fisher says she would like
to be a scientist, the President or a pink kitty cat.
“Respect.” Gaier has great comedic timing and a terrific
sense of humor, and is often compared to the television
character Punky Brewster.
Gaier has always loved being on the stage, and has
performed the title roles in Annie and Alice in
Wonderland, Shprintze in Fiddler on the Roof, Iago in
Aladdin and a Fagin’s boy in Oliver, to name a few.
Last year, at an audition for Seussical: The Musical,
Gaier won the role of JoJo (a male role) over the boys
at the callbacks, and the show was nominated for a
Perry Award (New Jersey’s theater equivalent to the
JULIE ANDREWS (Gru’s Mom) has been a
beloved and much honored
star of stage, screen and television
for more than half a
century. She was already a
Broadway legend when she
made her feature-film debut
in 1964’s Mary Poppins.
Andrews’ iconic performance
in the title role of the magical
Tony Awards). In September 2009, Gaier performed at
nanny brought her an
the Perry Awards ceremony, reprising her role as JoJo.
She also enjoyed making two national television
appearances on Nickelodeon’s ME:TV.
Academy Award ® , a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. The
following year, she earned a second Oscar ® nomination
and won another Golden Globe Award for her unforgettable
portrayal of Maria von Trapp in The Sound of
Music. She received her third Academy Award ® nomination
and won another Golden Globe Award for her
“dual” role in Victor Victoria.
Today’s young film audiences may be more familiar
with Andrews as a queen trying to train her teenage
granddaughter to be a princess in the hit film The
Princess Diaries and its sequel, The Princess Diaries 2:
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