Mallory James Mahoney

Photo by: Cami Liberty

Saving animals, rehabilitating the physically disadvantaged, and providing fresh water for those in need are only a fraction of what 15 year old actress Mallory James Mahoney has been conquering thus far in her life. This Swiss-army knife of a kid has been spending every moment of her early life achieving goals many of us can only dream of.

At the age of two, Mahoney had an undoubted resemblance to the famous child actress Shirley Temple. Mahoney says, “I was with my grandfather who I call my Popeye and he said that I look just like Shirley Temple, but I had no idea who Shirely Temple was at the time. So he bought me a box set full of her movies.” She continues, “I went home and watched them... after a little while I’m watching and I look at my parents and I say ‘are you sure that isn’t me?’... and I think I’ve always wanted to be on TV since then.”

It did not take long for Mahoney to step into the acting business. According to an interview with YSB Now, Mahoney spent an entire year begging her parents to enroll her in a local Texas theatre after seeing the play Stuart Little. Once her parents caved and enrolled her in the theatre, she quickly scored her first solo. Soon after her time in the theatre, Mahoney started to make her way towards TV and film.

At the age of eight, Mahoney went on a family vacation to Florida where she attended her first audition for television. “I remember it was like a Chuck E. Cheese commercial and I ended up actually booking the commercial,” she says.

Although a little nervous, Mahoney says the experience opened her eyes even further to this passion of acting. She says, “It was amazing. It was such a fun day and I was so excited because I realized that this is what I want to do.”

Since that first commercial, Mahoney has refused to slow down. In 2014, she appeared as the lead in a short film called Dig, which was an official YouTube selection at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Two years later, in 2016, she even starred in the Lifetime holiday movie, Heaven Sent.

One of Mahoney’s most recognizable roles was her portrayal of Katy Cooper, the fashionable, pink-loving kid in the Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) Adventures in Babysitting (based off the 1987 teen comedy film). Starring alongside Sabrina Carpenter, Sofia Carson and many others, Mahoney found herself feeling at home with the cast. She says, “Honestly, our whole cast there was basically like hanging out with your friends on vacation the entire time. We all got along really well. I loved working with Sabrina and Sophia.”

She continues, “Every saturday night we would just hang out in one of our hotel rooms and we’d all just hang out and sing songs. It was basically a ton of fun.” To this day, whenever the girls are in town together, they make an effort to hang out.

Today, Mahoney has become well-known amongst many Disney Channel fans for not only her appearance in Adventures in Babysitting, but also for her role as Destiny Baker in the Disney Channel Original Series Bunk’d.

Unknown to many, the character Destiny Baker was actually some-what designed around Mahoney herself. She says, “When I did the audition for Bunk’d it was not for the character of Destiny.”

She continues, “It was actually a different role of a girl who was like a theatre actress. Her name was Anastasia. After I booked that role, then the writers and creator talked to me on like a Skype call and asked me if I’d ever done pageants. I said no. They asked me well do you know what pageants are? I said well, I am from Texas so yes...They asked if I ever was in a pageant what I thought my skill would be and I said tap dancing. They said Oh, do you know how to tap? No I don’t…” She concludes, “... and that is kind of how Destiny was born, and I love to get her to grow through the years.”

The character Destiny Baker was introduced to the show Bunk’d during its third season. According to Mahoney, this was a little intimidating. “I was kind of worried because I didn’t want to mess with their routine coming in because I didn’t know anyone there. They had already been an established show for so long and they’re all great friends and everything. I just didn’t want to mess up their routine by me coming in,” she says. However, like her experience with Adventures in Babysitting, Mahoney soon felt welcomed and enjoyed working with the entire cast.

As Mahoney continued to grow as an actress through these various opportunities, she still made time to not only improve her personal life goals, but improve the lives of others.

“I love animals. I’m very passionate about animals and protecting them,” states Mahoney. Through this passion, Mahoney has made the personal decision to become a vegetarian by the age of six and got involved with organizations such as Project Chimps in Georgia and The Gentle Barn in California.

The Gentle Barn rescues mistreated animals of all types while encouraging a world free of animal cruelty by bringing the issue to the forefront of conversation. Project Chimps rescues chimpanzees from laboratory testing. “They are great organizations to help out animals. It is so much fun to visit and see all the cute little animals,” Mahoney says.

She has been using her platform as an actress to spread awareness of animal cruelty while also sharing word of organzations, such as these, to encourage others to support the cause. With the help of monetary donations as well as regular visits, Mahoney hopes to better the lives of animals on our planet for a better future.

Alongside her work with animals, Mahoney has also made efforts to better the lives of families in other countries. Currently, she is a Junior Ambassador for the Freshwater Project International. Mahoney explains, “It’s helping to get water for all these girls in Malawi.”

She continues, “It’s an amazing project because they are getting freshwater pumps for all the girls in Malawi because they used to have to go to the ponds and bring back all the water when it wasn’t even clean. They couldn’t go to school because they were busy fetching water for their family. It was very hard because the water is not clean for them. (The Freshwater Project International) is putting fresh water pumps in.”

Photo by: Cami Liberty

Much like her acting career, Mahoney just keeps moving forward. In addition to The Gentle Barn, Project Chimps and The Fresh Water International, she has become involved in the Christopher Reed Foundation; an organization that resonates with her on a personal level.

“I actually got started with the Christopher Reed Foundation because my uncle is a quadriplegic (a person affected by paralysis of all four limbs),” she states. “He works for the company and kind of told me about them. I just love the work that they’re doing and helping people. It’s so inspiring so I love working with them,” she says.

Alongside the Christopher Reed Foundation, Mahoney also helps with the Neurofitness Foundation. She says, “It’s a gym for people with disabilities or right out of surgery. It helps with slow steps to help get them back to their right exercise ability...It just kind of helps them work on these different kinds of machines that were made specifically to help with these types of disabilities and physical challenges.”

To bring that into perspective, at only 15 years of age, Ms. Mahoney has emerged herself in helping over five very different organizations, monetarily and physically, while also maintaining her thriving acting career; not to mention her straight A’s in school. “I’m thinking I might want to major in Biology when I go to college,” she says.

For Mallory James Mahoney, it has never been a slow paced, “go-with-the-flow” life. From age 2 and beyond, she has done nothing but push for greatness in all she does. When asked why she pushes the envelope in every single aspect of her life, Mahoney says, “I want to help people and I really care about our human society. I want to help people grow.”

Mahoney has a personal motto in which she lives by and hopes others to follow as well. That motto is as follows:

“Leave the Earth better than when you came into it. It fits for anything, not just the Earth. It can also be a place where you go and visit or when you eat at someone's house. Always make sure you clean up after yourself. Help in whatever way you can.”

Look forward to hearing more from Mallory James Mahoney in the near future as she keeps adding to her agenda.

Original article found at: Unclearmag.com