MADDI STARS IN CHRISTMAS AD
MEET Maddi Platt – the little Welsh girl whose super cute performance in the new Sainsbury’s Christmas advert will melt your heart.
The bubbly six-year-old from Cwmbach in the Cynon Valley is one of the stars of the highly-anticipated advert from the national supermarket chain.
For Maddi, who attends JKs Performance Academy and Agency in Aberdare, her show-stopping performance as a purple bauble was the first time she has ever appeared on TV.
The ad – “The Big Night” – which was filmed in October and directed by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, takes the form of a Christmas show and features a huge cast of 59 kids aged 6-11, all dressed as a variety of Christmas staples – including a turkey drummer and set of Christmas lights – plug included.
Featuring a cover of You Get what You Give by The New Radicals, the cast all dance and sing along as the stage transforms to reveal a 40ft Christmas tree and a 14ft glitter-filled gravy boat.
The children’s real parents were featured in the crowd too, and were intentionally kept away from the castings and rehearsals until shoot day, so the cameras could capture their emotions when they see their children perform.
Maddi’s adventure started during the school summer holidays, when the pupil at Cwmbach Community Primary School attended an open audition in Cardiff.
“She sang A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman,” said Maddi’s mum Jamie-Lee.
“At the time obviously we didn’t know that the director of The Greatest Showman was actually directing the advert.
“She got recalled to an audition in London, where she had to sing and dance again. Then after that Julia, who runs JKs Performance Academy, rang me to say she was pencilled in. Then she rang me to say she was heavily pencilled in. Then she finally rang me to say she was in the advert.”
Maddi, who has been attending JKs for two years, took everything in her stride when she had to travel to London for rehearsals and to film the advert.
“We knew from when she could talk that she was a little star,” said JamieLee. “She’s just a funny character. We took Maddi to that first audition on a whim as we thought it would be good experience for her.
“We never expected her to get the advert. This is the first thing that she has ever done.”
Maddi’s mum said the hardest thing for her daughter has been keeping the advert a secret.
“Maddi hasn’t been allowed to tell anyone anything,” she laughed. “She got so sick of people asking her questions she started telling people she was a carrot for Home Bargains!
“I told her ‘Mad, you can’t tell people that they’re all going to be looking for it!’ She replied: “Well, I’m not allowed to tell them anything else. For a six-year-old not to tell anyone is incredible. She loved Michael Gracey because she loves The Greatest Showman, so for her not to even tell people she met him is amazing.”
Jamie-Lee added that being six years old her daughter doesn’t quite grasp how big the advert is.
“Maddi and her older sister Courtney dance in a dance school as well and she sang A Million Dreams at the Coliseum in Aberdare on her own, so she doesn’t get phased by anything.
“We showed the advert to her and her reaction was ‘wow Mammy it’s beautiful.’ S
“he thinks it’s wonderful and doesn’t realise how massive it is, which of course is a good thing.
“She’s so young she just enjoyed doing it and getting dressed up as a bauble. She loved being a purple bauble so much.”
In a hilarious behind-the-scenes video that has also been released to coincide with the advert, Maddi is interviewed and tells viewers how she feels “like a superstar” in her outfit.
“My costume’s very purple, just like I wanted it to be – very beautiful.”
In another clip she topples over as she rehearses dance steps and as she struggles to get up she says: “I’m OK.”
For Jamie-Lee and Maddi’s dad, Michael, the whole process has been an emotional one.
“Oh my gosh we haven’t stopped crying,” said Jamie-Lee. “When we saw the advert and then the interviews we were crying and laughing. All my family, my sister, my mother, we’ve all been crying.”
Maddi’s starring role is yet another notable achievement for JK s Performance Academy, who have had several of their pupils appearing in films, adverts and on television.
Nerys Stocks, who is 10, is currently starring in the Samsung Christmas advert. Alfie Ford, had a part in the John Lewis “Bohemian Rhapsody” advert released in September, while another local boy, Oliver Berry, has starred in two global campaigns for Nutella and Persil, as well as a lots of other productions.
“Julia works really hard to give these kids opportunities, showing that you don’t have to live in London and spend hundreds on massive agencies,” said Jamie Lee.
“For her to get all these children on these adverts is incredible. In an economically deprived area like Aberdare for her to go up against all these London agencies is brilliant.”