Kyla Pratt is diving headfirst into drama with her latest role in Lifetime’s Girl In television movie series.

The actress plays Rebecca in Girl in the Cellar, a film inspired by real stories. It depicts a single mother who takes it to the extreme when it comes to raising her teenage daughter.

What is ‘Girl in the Cellar’ about?

According to the official film synopsis, “Rebecca (Pratt) grows increasingly concerned that her daughter Lory (Mawema) is not making the right life choices. The final straw comes when Rebecca learns that Lory has a secret boyfriend, and to prevent any further mistakes, she decides to confine Lory in their basement cellar. What Lory doesn’t know is that this is the same cellar where Rebecca was held captive by her abusive father years ago. As Lory battles for survival, the neighbors begin to notice her absence, and Rebecca’s behavior draws suspicion, making her a prime suspect in her daughter’s disappearance. Haunted by her traumatic past, Rebecca grapples with her actions and the conflicting feelings of guilt and justification over what she has done.”

Pratt said reading the script for the first time was a riveting experience.

“[While] reading the script, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t put it down. It came my way, and I felt like I was reading a great book,” Pratt told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “I don’t finish scripts that quickly, because I have so much going on. But reading it — and then also, I’ve always done a lot of comedy, and a lot of people know me from being funny and being loud and being Penny Proud and doing all this different stuff.”

She added, “I was like, I love doing drama as well, and a lot of people don’t recognize that I do that. So I was like, this would be fun. Let’s shoot this real quick, and I’ll just be a little crazy. And I also thought it was really fun because, with my kids, I’m the cool mom. I’ll be chilling, well, chilling until you can’t chill, you know what I mean? The fact that I could tell my kids, ‘Baby, I’m playing a crazy lady, and the crazy lady locked her baby in the cellar,’ and they’re like, ‘What?’ So even just talking to them about it was so much fun for me, and them watching it will be hilarious. I also love a challenge. We shot these really quickly, but we had a great director. And then Kelcey [Mawema], who plays my daughter, is absolutely amazing and so talented. I just think we hit the jackpot with this one. I had so much fun, but it was hard to be her.”

The most brutal scene to film as a mother

Most don’t realize that Pratt has a child (in real life) who is 18 years old, and the mother of two spoke about the hardest scene to film in her portrayal of Rebecca in Girl in the Cellar.

“The first thing I can think about that was hardest for me was when my daughter was sneaking back into the house and I caught her,” she said. “I think, mainly, because I’m playing her mom. But so many people have known me from being a kid, and then I have such a youthful essence that people don’t understand, like, baby’s about to hit another decade. My youngest kid just turned 12, so I’ve been in this mama thing, but I’m also still young enough to still connect with a young girl wanting to have her life and wanting to be out with friends and be able to live her life to the fullest. And so for her to sneak back in and to be the mom that has to kill her vibe and kill her moment, and put all this guilt on her, it was kind of hard for me — just because I’ve seen situations where there’s many parents who do that to their children and it stifles their kids’ way of life.”

“I just feel like a lot of times, parents are a little unhealed and they don’t recognize it. And they put that on their children; it gives their kids more things to heal from as they get older,” Pratt continued. “I’m all into mental health, so that’s all I’m thinking about while I’m filming, where I’m like, ‘Oh god, this is horrible.’ This really happens, and it’s just a reminder to never be that parent to my children.”

Kyla Pratt on embracing her legacy

No stranger to our television screens, Pratt has won the hearts of audiences through her roles in hit series like UPN’s One on One, Disney’s The Proud Family, and her work in numerous films, including Dr. Dolittle, Fat Albert, Love & Basketball, and many others. She is what one would consider a national treasure, and her fans have allowed her to grow beyond her childhood roles, such as the iconic Penny Proud.

“I was never the girl who really realized that people were watching. I was just like, ‘Oh, this is acting. This is fun. My mom was an actress. I want to be like my mom,’” she said. “I would literally film One on One and Proud Family, and be like, ‘Alright, I’m going to go hang out with my friends. It’s homecoming this weekend.’ I didn’t realize that people were actually watching the things that I was on. And then as I got older, it was hard, because after One on One ended, that’s my childhood. And I was like, ‘Oh, this is so sad, and I want to work. How old am I? How old do I look?’ I went through all these different emotions. But then, as I got older and I met people, and the things that they say — I wasn’t able to recognize that I was growing up with so many people, and it’s an amazing feeling.”

She added, “It’s great that we’ve grown up together. I appreciate the love so much that I get from people who enjoy my work, I really do, and it’s just a bonus on top of what I get to do for a living. I’m very fortunate to do something I love for a living, and then to have people react the way that they do is just an amazing feeling. I hope that they continue to enjoy everything that I have going on in this journey, and continue to allow me to grow as an artist and not keep me in one space. Because even though they know me as Penny or they know me as Breanna, they still support me in other roles, and I appreciate that so much.”

What Kyla Pratt is looking forward to now

Despite her love for comedy and her continued foray into drama through her latest role in Girl in the Cellar, Pratt has her sights set on continuing her evolution as an actor, noting that she’d love to explore a role that requires physical training.

“What I love about what I do, and being able to do different angles, is that I never know what’s coming my way,” Pratt said. “I really love a challenge, and I’m looking for something that’s going to challenge me physically as well as emotionally. So I think that will be exciting for me, if I were able to be a part of a project that I had to train for physically.”

“Other than that, I’m just really focused. I’m a writer. I’m producing, directing, just trying to spread my wings in every way possible, and live my life to the fullest because I can’t just tell my babies to do it, I gotta show by example. I’m just trying to continue to do what I love, and I’m very blessed to be able to do it well,” Pratt said.

Girl in the Cellar

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