Teen sensation Malia Baker is everywhere lately, thanks to the July 2026 release of “Descendants: Wicked Wonderland” — the fifth movie in Disney’s wildly successful franchise that follows the offspring of iconic heroes and villains from other Disney franchises.
Baker, 19, plays Chloe, the daughter of Cinderella and King Charming, but it’s a role she may never have landed if it weren’t for her tenacity as a young girl. In 2018, she snuck her way onto the set of Hallmark’s 2018 holiday movie “Hope at Christmas” starring Ryan Paevey and Scottie Thompson, and she miraculously secured her first acting role when a member of the cast fell ill.
Malia Baker Says Being Chosen to Fill In for Girl Who Got Sick Was a ‘Magical Moment’
Baker detailed her Hallmark movie experience in a couple of interviews before the “Descendants” movie premiere, including on Zach Sang’s podcast. Growing up in Vancouver, she told him, she was a competitive dancer and tried her hand at some local musicals.
When Baker landed the role of “Orphan #2” in a local production of “Annie,” she felt like she’d “made it,” she said. But she told Sang her first onscreen role came when she “stuck myself onto a movie set, which was a Hallmark movie, in my small little town in Vancouver.”
“It was, like, a Christmas movie that was filmed in the summertime,” she explained, “and I put on a Christmas cardigan, and I got myself to that set really, really fast.”
Beaming as she recalled getting chosen to replace a girl in the cast who got sick, Baker said, “It feels like a magical moment. This girl — well, this isn’t magical — this girl got pink eye … and the director was looking for a replacement stat (for) like two lines tops. She was only in this one scene.”
“And he just looked at me and said, ‘You’re gonna do it,'” Baker told Sang. “And I said, ‘Okay!’ I got to, like, come up with my character name — her name’s like Malia Snow or something — which was really special. I think it just kind of gave me the bug of ‘this is a whole new world I haven’t explored into,’ and I’ve been very fortunate to have an amazing team of family and friends that have just kind of pushed me along.”
Malia Baker Says It’s ‘Wild’ to Look at Her Quick Progression From Hallmark Extra to Disney Star
Baker’s role as “Malia Weir” technically went uncredited in the “Hope For Christmas” cast list, but is included in her list of roles on IMDb. She went on to nab a handful of similar, small roles over the next couple of years before getting her big break, playing Mary Anne Spier in Netflix’s “The Baby-Sitter’s Club” series in 2020 and 2021. She also starred in the Nickelodeon series “Are You Afraid of the Dark: Ghost Island” before landing the role of Chloe in “Descendants: Rise of Red” in 2024.
During her podcast chat with Sang, he marveled that if she hadn’t taken a risk and shown up for “Hope at Christmas,” she could still be trying to make her way as a dancer today.
“It’s wild to think of,” Baker admitted. “I really was just, like, a little tiny tot. Had my little braces on, had my little glasses. It’s really wild to think of the progression (from), kind of, where you start.”
Baker continued, “I think seeing little clips of myself when I’m younger, like on stage performing, doing like this routine that I practiced in my room for so long, to now, getting to go to a premiere and see all the hard work. It’s weird to see the milestones in your life that feel like you were training for a moment you didn’t even know was going to come.”
“Descendants: Wicked Wonderland” is available to stream via Disney+ and “Hope For Christmas” is available to stream via Hallmark+.
