Girl talk/Young star of `Harriet the Spy' aims energy, well, everywhere by Bruce Westbrook

From Houston Chronicle - March 2nd, 1997

MICHELLE Trachtenberg is 11 years old, and "Harriet the Spy,"" new on video, is her first film.

Perhaps that explains why she doesn't yet consider interviews a chore.

"I like being interviewed," the youngster says by phone from her home in New York. "I like to talk to people. I'm a talker."

Is she ever. Trachtenberg buzzes and bubbles with energy and enthusiasm, whether discussing her acting idol (Dustin Hoffman), her best friend from "Harriet's" cast (Rosie O'Donnell) or her favorite pastime (collecting Barbie dolls).

"Rosie got me started," the young actress says. "I have about 25 now. One of my favorites is `Goddess of the Sun' by Bob Mackie. Many famous designers make Barbies, but I love Bob Mackie."

As for Hoffman, she adores his performance as an autistic man in "Rain Man," especially since she played an autistic child on the soap "All My Children."

"Dustin Hoffman inspired me tremendously," says Trachtenberg, who hopes to meet her idol one day.

She also likes Broadway musicals, and there, too, O'Donnell has made a mark.

"Rosie took me to see 'Big,'" says Trachtenberg, who has appeared on O'Donnell's talk show and stays in touch with her new pal. ""I love Broadway and see as many shows as I can."

In "Harriet" (from Paramount, rated PG, $19.95), the two play child and nanny. When the nanny departs - in a scene straight out of "Mary Poppins" - Harriet is left with her neglectful parents and an erupting conflict at school, where kids have read aloud the critical things she wrote about them in her journal.

"Harriet," based on Louise Fitzhugh's novel, is an unusually edgy comedy for kids. Harriet's classmates inflict tortures - such as spilling blue paint over her - and Harriet counterattacks.

But Trachtenberg sees it all as part of life.

"Unfortunately, kids can be very cruel," she says. "But Harriet was just being honest, and they (her friends) invaded her privacy.

"I think the film is honest, too," she says. "This is real life. This is how kids act. It's what happens in school on an everyday basis."

Trachtenberg isn't always in school, but she's always learning.

At home, she's in sixth grade at a school for gifted students, where she most enjoys English - "for writing and reading" - and drama class. While working, as during "Harriet's" 14-week shoot in Toronto, she has a tutor for the same lessons.

Her mom goes with her when she works. Her dad is a telephone engineer. Her sister, Irene, is 18 and a college freshman. Trachtenberg has a cat.

Trachtenberg hopes to remain an actress when she grows up, and her goal is to write and direct a movie.

She does mime and poetry readings in her drama class but has never taken formal acting training. "It just comes naturally, I guess," she says.

But on-the-job training helps. For her "Harriet" scene in which the nanny leaves, "Rosie gave me some advice, and we worked on it together," Trachtenberg says. "Then I actually cried, because it was so sad.

"I've never had a nanny personally. My sister baby-sits me sometimes when my mom's out. But I feel Harriet and I are very much alike."

Trachtenberg also is a fixture on Nickelodeon, where she has appeared in "The Adventures of Pete & Pete," and she was in a recent CBS movie called "Christmas in My Hometown."

Next up is her first trip to Europe to promote "Harriet's" theatrical run there.

When she's not working, she likes to read, write, draw, dress her Barbies and listen to music. She especially likes Alanis Morissette and old-timers ABBA, although she was surprised when informed that her namesake song, "Michelle,"is by the Beatles.

"I also keep a diary, like Harriet, although she called it a journal," Trachtenberg says.

She's been acting since she was 3, when she made the first of her more than 100 TV commercials. But movies were a goal, and when she was 5, she met Steven Spielberg for a screen test for "Hook."

"I didn't get it," Trachtenberg says. "I was too young."

Now, thanks to "Harriet," she's even being nominated for awards, such as "favorite female movie star" in a poll of Teen Beat magazine readers.

But the movie-star experience doesn't seem to faze her. She sees it as learning, especially when she is watching herself on the screen.

"I'm always thinking of something I can improve," she says, "though sometimes I watch not just 'cause I'm in it, but to see the movie overall."

Still, it's the experience of filming that she treasures as much as the finished product.

"Some of the kids on "Harriet" and I became good friends, and we keep in touch," Trachtenberg says. "And I love Rosie. She's such a nice down-to-earth lady and very, very sweet.

"We were always singing different tunes on the set. She taught me to sing songs from "Les Miserables." But I didn't need that to stay energized for the work. I'm naturally energized."