For Madison, career in acting came by chance

PASADENA, Calif. — Although she’s been acting almost all her life, Bailee Madison said she never planned to be an actress.

“It just happened,” she said.

It happened early in her life, too. While most youngsters perform for auditions, Bailee was still in her stroller when she became part of a commercial her mom was shooting.

“Apparently I used to unbuckle myself from the stroller and try and crash their auditions,” she said with a laugh.

She was 5 when her older sister was auditioning for the movie “Lonelyhearts.”

“I was in the waiting room with mom waiting for her to get out and ride back down to Florida, and they came out and saw me and said, ‘Does she act?’

“They were, like, ‘I don’t know.’ They said, ‘We have a role for that age and haven’t been able to find someone right for it, would she want to try it?’ They asked me and I said, ‘Yeah. Let’s try it!’

“So I went in there and ended up booking that film and got a selftape randomly for a movie called ‘Bridge to Terabithia.’ ... I was on the verge of 6 and then booked that movie.”

It escalated from there with Madison experiencing an on-the-job childhood. Now 19, she’s is co-starring on the Hallmark Channel’s popular series “Good Witch,” which will return to the network on July 28.

“There’s never been a time when I thought I don’t love this,” she said.

“I love my job and now that’s a very special thing for me to have so early on in my life — basically my whole life. I think the idea that you can make someone feel

something that comes with music, movies, TV, that’s an escape for so many people — someone going through a breakup; they put on their favorite show. That’s such an amazing thing to be possibly a small part of the reason behind someone feeling a little bit better, getting through something.”

Madison will turn 20 in October and she acknowledges that this has been a pivotal year.

“I think this last opening of the year was one of my hardest in the most beautiful way,” she said.

“Things shifted and changed quickly and made me sit down and evaluate what brought me joy, what I want to do, what different passions I have outside of things. That’s a hard thing to accept once you’re in your comfort zone. It’s hard to step out of that box.”

Madison has a new boyfriend.

“I told myself at the beginning of the year I am done with guys for a while … then I was like, ‘No, can’t say no to this one!’ I’m in a very happy place right now.”

He’s a British musician with a three-man band, and Madison is making the trek across the pond as often as work permits.

“I always used to feel guilty for doing things that were just for fun, taking four days off to go fly somewhere for a personal reason.” she said. “I was, ‘You know what? You’re young. Life is short. You deserve to go spend four days and go do something that fulfills your heart and you should because once that’s fulfilled, your work will be fulfilled even more.’"