Local actor's film premieres at Sundance

Avery Phillips, front, with "Stockholm, Pennsylvania" co-star Saoirse Ronan and director Nikole Beckwith at the Sundance Film Festival.
Avery Phillips, front, with "Stockholm, Pennsylvania" co-star Saoirse Ronan and director Nikole Beckwith at the Sundance Film Festival.

The last time we caught up with actor Avery Phillips, the 10-year-old was working on "Stockholm, Pennsylvania," a full-length feature film about Leia, a young girl held captive for 17 years and is then reunited with her parents.

The film stars Saoirse Ronan as the teenage Leia, and Cynthia Nixon ("Sex in the City") as her mother; Phillips plays Ronan's character as a young girl when she was first kidnapped.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where Phillips walked the red carpet and had her photo taken with Academy Award-winning actor Nicole Kidman, who was there promoting her film.

"We were at a press event, and that's how she met her," said her mother, Traci Phillips. "Nicole was about 5 feet away from us, and Avery went over and said hello to Nicole and asked if she could be photographed with her. Nicole was very gracious."

Pretty heady stuff for the Jefferson City native who turned 10 on Jan. 20. Acting since she was 5 years old, Avery has had small roles in television shows and movies and worked in commercials, too. She is the daughter of Dr. Victor Phillips, a vascular surgeon at Total Vein Care of Missouri in Jefferson City, and his wife, Traci.

This past summer, Avery shot a new film, "Rock the Kasbah," where she plays the daughter of Bill Murray's character. The film, which also stars Kate Hudson, Bruce Willis and Zooey Deschanel, premieres in Los Angeles on April 24.

Now home for a few days before heading back to Los Angeles, where the family keeps an apartment, Avery is spending time with her two siblings and her grandparents, Janie and Gary Phillips.

Related video:

Meet the Artists: Director Nikole Beckwith on her film 'Stockholm Pennsylvania'

Link:

Avery Phillips' credits at IMDb