Amish Grace can be viewed online at: http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/amish-grace

By Kenn Gold

 At a young age, Karley Scott Collins is already making a name for herself in Hollywood.  The young actress has already played a young Paris Hilton in The Hottie & The Nottie, starred as the daughter of Jamie Bamber’s character in the horror film Pulse 2: Afterlife, and has a role as the daughter of Julie Benz’s character in the upcoming Answers to Nothing.  She also recently completed her first voice over work in Open Season 3, and has had multiple TV show appearances in The Class, and on Private Practice.  She recently completed the TV movie for Lifetime Movie Network, Amish Grace, based on the true story of a gunman killing five Amish children in the 2006 Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania school house shooting.  The story is based on the book by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher, and is told through the eyes of Ida Graber, the mother of one of the girls killed.  Karley plays Katie, Ida’s daughter, the sister of the murdered girl in the moving story of forgiveness after tragedy. 

Karley recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about her role in Amish Grace, and her other projects, and what it is like to find success at such a young age.

MediaBlvd> Let’s start off by talking about your movie, Amish Grace, and the character that you play.  Can you tell us about it?

Karley> Amish Grace is based on the true story of the Amish school shooting back in 2006.  I play Katie Graber, the daughter of Kimberly Williams-Paisley’s character, Ida Graber.  And my sister, Mary Beth, is one of the girls shot and killed.  I ran so I’m dealing with a lot of guilt and anger, and I’m really, really struggling with forgiveness.

MediaBlvd> The movie is a really sad story based on a true event, but how was it to film it? Was it a fun experience and did you have a good time doing the movie?

Karley> The movie is sad, but it has a wonderful, wonderful message.  And everyone on the set was so sweet.  It was so great to film that movie.  Kimberly taught me how to make grass flutes between the takes.  And all of the kids on the set were so sweet, and the crew was nice and everything was just perfect.  I love it. 

Karley> For someone your age, you have a pretty amazing resume, with the number of movies you’ve been in and the TV shows.  Can you tell me, how did you get started in acting?  How did you realize that was something you wanted to do, and how did that come about?

MediaBlvd> Someone suggested, there was this small town theatre where I live, and I did it.  I fell in love with it and I loved it so much.  I asked my parents, can I go to pilot season?  Thankfully they said yes and here I am.

MediaBlvd> Of all the movies and TV shows you’ve done, which have been your favorite so far? 

Karley> Actually, my favorite thing to do was Amish Grace.  I think that anyone in the world could watch that movie and they would get something out of it.  I think anyone could apply that movie to their lives and it would help them be better, and be a better person. I feel like that was my favorite movie to do, because it touched a lot of lives. 

Listen to Karley's interview on the Pop Culture Hour

Karley> The Hottie & The Nottie was actually my very first film that I ever did.  It was so exciting to film it, and when I got on set I was so excited.  I did meet Paris, and she invited me to her trailer.  I met her dog Tinkerbelle, who is so adorable.  But Paris is very, very sweet.

MediaBlvd> That must be a great experience, in your very first role you play someone like Paris.  Was that just a lot of fun to do?

Karley> Yeah, it was great!  I loved it so much.   I think the big thing is it was my very first movie, so it was one of the most exciting things to ever happen to me.  It was like, “Wow, it’s my first movie!”

MediaBlvd> The movie that really hit me when I found out I was going to get to talk to you was Pulse 2.  That is a really scary movie I think.  What was it like doing a horror movie, and what was it like working with Jamie Bamber?

Karley> I love Jamie Bamber!  He has three little girls of his own. Whenever I met him, we had great chemistry and he was so sweet.  Right now, I’m still staying in contact with him.  But when you are shooting a scary movie, it’s not scary.  Most of the things that are scary are generated by either green screen or editing.  So when you are shooting it, it’s not scary at all.  It’s never really scary to do it. 

MediaBlvd> So you’ve probably got a really good insight to horror movies since you’ve been behind the scenes.  They probably wouldn’t scare you very much at this point.

Karley> I also love getting to see the special effects, and what they can do with the makeup on the people.  The mom is all white because she is a ghost, and it is just so real.  The makeup artist, and hair artist and everything, it just amazes me every time I go on set, what they can do with that.

(From left to right) Karley Scott Collins, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Jessica Dickey star in the Lifetime Movie Network Original Movie "Amish Grace."

Karley> With the scary movie, some of the parts in it are not age appropriate, so what my mom and dad do is they watch it, then they fast forward to the parts that I was in, so that is usually what we do.  Amish Grace is actually the first movie that I got to watch the entire thing.

MediaBlvd> How does school work for you?  Do you do school on the set, are you home schooled, or do you have a tutor on the set?

Karley> I go to a Montessori school and when I’m on set, my school sends the work and I do it and fax it back to them.  And I have a set teacher, so if I have a question, he helps me out, he or she.  So it does work out really well, and it’s a good system. 

MediaBlvd> What kind of movie or TV show would you really like to be in?  Say you could do anything that you wanted to right now, what would it be?

Karley> I’d love to do an action film.  I think that would be so much fun to do my own stunts, and the Karate thing!  I think that would be really, really fun to do. 

MediaBlvd> Do you have any favorite TV shows that you watch, or movies that you like?

Karley> I loved the Percy Jackson movie, and when it came out, I was so excited to see it!  I loved that one, and we watched Avatar in 3D.  I was amazed at all of the special effects in that, and it was really cool.  Just recently, with my mom and dad, I went to Wonderland.  And I thought that was really awesome.  I really liked the Tweedle Dee and Twiddle Dum, they were funny.

MediaBlvd> You’ve been exposed to acting at a very young age.  Do you think this is something that you want to do for the rest of your life?  Is this what you want to be doing when you are an adult?

Karley> I want to try to act as long as I possibly can, and as long as I still love it, and it’s fun, then I always want to be doing it.  The minute it’s not fun, I won’t be doing it.  But for now, my decision is yeah, I want to do it for my entire life! 

MediaBlvd> What is it about acting that makes it fun for you, if there is one thing?

Karley> I really, really love that when I’m acting, I discover new things in myself that I didn’t know about myself.  I love that when you are telling a story, you are doing things that you wouldn’t normally do, but the big thing is finding out things about myself that I didn’t know. 

MediaBlvd> What kinds of things do you do for fun when you aren’t acting, or is that pretty much a full time job now?

Karley> I love to be with my family whenever I come home.  I love to hang out with them.  I love reading. I mentioned I’d read all of the Percy Jackson books, and I really love drawing.  I love swimming, and I love to have my friends over; that type of thing.

MediaBlvd> What do your friends and family think about this job?  It’s got to be really cool having a friend that is a movie star.  Are they all really supportive?

Karley> Everyone really has been so supportive.  I receive so many emails and phone calls from my family telling me that they are so proud of me.  I’m really, really blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends.  Everyone is really happy for me.

MediaBlvd> What other projects do you have coming up?  Are there any other movies, TV shows, or other projects coming up?

Karley> I have a voice over project called Open Season 3.  It’s actually my first voice over movie.  I play a deer named Giselle, the daughter of Elliot.  I actually got to a screening and it’s hilarious, so I can’t wait to see it come out.  I also have Answers to Nothing, which is a film about how we all affect each others lives in ways that we may not realize.  Julie Benz plays my mom, the detective trying to find the missing girl.  And I play Tina, and she uses how I would do things to find the missing girl, so I’m excited about those. 

MediaBlvd> What advice would you give to other kids out there who might want to get into acting?  What could you say to them about your experiences?

Karley> I would probably tell them not to take it seriously, and to just have fun.

MediaBlvd> So you are definitely having fun with this, right?

Karley> I am, I love it.