Danielle Fishel wants child actors to know they are in a "safe space" with her
The 43-year-old actress was just 12 years old herself when she was cast as Topanga Lawrence on the Disney Channel sitcom 'Boy Meets World' in the early 1990s and now she is directing episodes of 'Wizards Beyond Waverly Place' for the network, she wants younger actors on set to feel as if they can approach her with suggestions.
19 January 2025
She told UsWeekly: "If something I'm telling you to do doesn't feel good for you or doesn't feel natural for you, I want you to tell me and let's come up with something else.
"You make a suggestion, 'Let's try it. This is a safe space and let's just find the best way to do it.' And it's worked very well for me thus far.
"I think one of the really important things is having conversations with each kid, and not in front of everybody.
"When you're rehearsing you're on a set and everyone is standing around - there are crew members, the parents of the children are there, or their guardians; whoever's there watching them that day. And when you are giving notes and you're trying to make a scene better, sometimes it can feel like, 'Everybody's eyes are on me and I was just given a note.' And I never want them to think that if I've given them a note, it's that I'm correcting something they've done."
The former 'Girl Meets World' star also explained that she will politely ask parents to leave the set if she feels they are becoming "insecure" with their guardians watching them.
She said: "And so when I can tell that an actor is maybe feeling a little insecure or needs a bit of a pep talk for whatever reason. I will ask the parent or guardian and that actor to step aside where nobody can really see us and just have a one-on-one conversation where [I say], 'Tell me what's going on for you.'"
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