Hallmark Channel fan favorite Lacey Chabert is having a bit of full-circle moment.
As Hallmark’s Queen of Christmas revealed during a recent appearance on NBC’s “Today with Jenna and Sheinelle,” her daughter — Julia Mimi Bella Nehdar — is now nine years old.
This, she explained, is the same age she was when she made her Broadway debut.
A Broadway Kid
Chabert started acting professionally at a young age, booking television commercials while kids her age were still learning to tie there shoes.
However, seeing her daughter at nine has led her to revisit her own chidhood.
“She was the age I was when I was performing in ‘Les Misérables’ on Broadway,” recalled Chabert, who played Young Cosette in the iconic musical.
A ‘Surreal’ Experience
Now that she’s the parent of a nine-year-old, Chabert admitted it’s put certain aspects of her own childhood in perspective — particularly the efforts that her parents made in setting boundaries when she was young.
“It is surreal as a parent to see my daughter the same age,” she said.
“It’s made me appreciate more how protective my parents were,” Chabert added. “Now I understand why they were so strict, too. I get it now.”
An Acting Prodigy
As Chabert told the Clarion Ledger, her first professional acting gigs came in TV commercials. “I started going on commercial auditions, and the first one I got was a Triaminic cough syrup commercial [around 1990],” she said, with the experience and exposure she gained leading to “Les Misérables.
“Certainly at that age, I didn’t understand the weight of the opportunity,” she told the newspaper. “We had other children cast for the part, as well, so I only had to do six shows a week. But it taught me such a great work ethic. You know, the show must go on. And it taught me to be responsible, to really care about my job and how to be part of a team.”
From Stage to Soaps
After appearing on Broadway, Chabert landed an early TV role when she was cast as Bianca Montgomery on “All My Children,” daughter of Erica Kane (soap legend Susan Lucci). “I was 10 years old,” she told co-host and “All My Children” alum Kelly Ripa while appearing on “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” “and I mean this [with] total sincerity, my favorite part of being on that show was when I would get to hang out with you …”
The training that she received in the fast-paced world of soap operas proved to be invaluable as her acting career exploded. “I mean, day in and day out, the amount of dialogue that has to be memorized … I was a child,” she told Soap Opera Digest.
Her Big Break with ‘Party of Five’
Chabert shot to national stardom when she was cast in Fox TV drama “Party of Five,” winning the role over numerous other child actors who’d auditioned. “She just had this sparkle,” the show’s co-executive producer, Amy Lippman, told the Los Angeles Times in 1994.
“Sometimes it feels like she’s a much older person in the body of a 12-year-old,” Chabert’s mother told the Times. “But right now, she’s sure having the time of her life.”
Years later, Chabert was able to recognize that her mother’s observation had not been wrong. “I mean, I was just a little girl, and I just loved pretending to be this character,” Chabert told “Access Hollywood,” admitting that “Party of Five” was the catalyst for everything that followed. “But there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not grateful for it,” she added.
