Homewood-Flossmoor High School junior Aria Harrell already has a film credit on her résumé and will soon be featured in several upcoming commercials.
And, she’s gotten kudos and a letter of introduction from her mentor, the actor and director Ed Harris, who she stays in touch with on a regular basis.
Aria may be only 17, but she’s sure a career in film and television is in her future.
“I think the reason I even started was because I wanted to do something different and I just fell in love with seeing people’s faces, watching it, just wanting to put a smile or a laugh or inspiration in someone’s heart through a camera,” she said, and “wanting to make people feel certain emotions.”
At 15, Aria got herself an agent through GillTalent, had great presentation photos taken and made an immediate impression. Her first stop was the Sundance Film Festival where she got to work with Harris, known for his work in “Apollo 13,” “The Truman Show,” “Kodachrome” and the current HBO series “WestWorld.”
Sundance, the internationally recognized film festival organized by Robert Redford, gave Aria and other young actors the chance to work with the top 10 directors in the world “and you shoot their short film and it’s broadcast there,” she explained.
During her two weeks at Sundance in summer 2019, Aria starred in the film “Pretty Red Dress.”
Also that summer, she completed an acting course at the New York Film Academy.
After Sundance, Aria got a role in the film “Six Pack” directed by Rita Usher. The 12-minute short film was featured at the International Black Film Festival 2020. Aria plays the oldest of six sisters living in South Central L.A. After the family’s bike goes missing, the sisters discover who has the bike and plot their water-fight revenge to get it back.
“Six Pack” sparked interest in Aria’s work. She since has been in several short projects, although under contract she can’t reveal what they are.
Aria said the average viewer would probably be surprised by how much work goes into even a short project.
“When you see it on the screen we probably did it 100 times” as the director calls for takes from different angles or different close-ups, she said. The day also can mean a lot of standing around waiting for the next shot or retakes. “There’s nothing easy about it. You’ll be on set for eight hours and you probably have shot only two scenes.”
Aria is managing to fit her acting work into a busy H-F schedule. She recently was named Student of the Month in the math department and was inducted into the Spanish National Honor Society in September. She also is a member of the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta, math honor society.
“I had an acting coach who was very helpful. I stopped going when school came up,” she said. “Once you have one project you can do more projects. I’m getting scripts every week now. It’s really fun because I get to practice (acting skills) with people.”
Aria, the daughter of Lisa and Douglas Harrell of Flossmoor, said she will be going to college, although she hasn’t begun a serious search yet.
“I don’t have a specific (college) in mind, but the West or East Coasts would be cool” and would give her the chance to pursue an acting profession.
“I definitely want to continue acting. I like film and TV more than theater. I definitely want to continue doing this. I want to go to California. I love it over there or New York,” she said.