With roots in traveling back and forth from Georgia to Los Angeles so she could balance middle school and acting, Elizabeth Hunter has emerged as an extremely talented young actress.
From playing Reagan on MTV's "Finding Carter," to appearing in episodes of "Nashville," to now landing a huge role on the big screen as the main character's daughter Nicole in "90 Minutes in Heaven," Hunter is a rising star.
It all started when Hunter was just 7 years old, doing theater in her hometown.
"I decided I wanted to push this whole acting thing further," she told HNGN exclusively. "I got an agent in Atlanta when I was 8 and started doing commercials. Eventually I got representation in L.A." Hunter says that traveling back and forth from Georgia to L.A. can be exhausting, "but in the end it's definitely worth it."
With acting came a lot of modeling gigs, and her previous dance and ballet experience from performing in musicals at her community theater didn't hurt either.
"My agents would send me out on modeling and acting gigs at the same time," the now 12-year-old actress said of the busy start to her career, "but acting is my main thing." Hunter continues to attend school while she takes on these roles and she has no plans of stopping. She'd even like to go to college in England one day.
She's been in many theatrical roles, a few small TV roles, and now she plays a key role in the true story that is "90 Minutes in Heaven." Once she started acting at that young age, she knew there was no turning back.
"I love to make up the characters," she explained. "It's so much fun to get a script and read about a character that nobody knows anything about and you get to make it your own. It's really fun because its a challenge." And the same thing goes for dancing. "When you dance, you get to be free and make up whatever emotions or storyline that you want," she said.
Luckily for Hunter, she got to play a 12-year-old in the movie, so the age wasn't such a stretch. "90 Minutes in Heaven" is about Don Piper (Hayden Christensen), who lives a completely normal life, until one day his car is run over by an 18-wheeler. He is declared dead at the scene, and for 90 minutes, he goes to heaven, until he comes back to life. He continues on with his life, suffering from the pain and wondering why God gave him a glimpse of heaven only to take it all away. He wants to give up, but his friends and family won't let him. As Don's daughter, Hunter's character Nicole is "pretty shaken up about what happened," Hunter explained. "But she's doing her best not to show it."
Playing this role came pretty easy to Hunter as she finds she is pretty similar to Nicole. "I think that Nicole and I are a lot alike because we're both very introverted," she continued. "I think I would act pretty similar to her if I were in her situation."
Hunter also stars alongside Kate Bosworth, who plays Eva Piper. While she had never seen Bosworth or Christensen in anything prior to filming, she had heard of them before. She even watched Christensen in "Star Wars" after filming was over because she was so intrigued by their acting abilities.
"They're both really nice," she said of her co-stars. "I learned a lot from just watching them act. And Hayden, during filming and after the accident took place, he was really feeling his character's emotions and it was cool to watch how into it he got."
The film is based on Cecil Murphey and Don Piper's Christian book "90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life." With such an emotional story, Hunter hopes viewers "leave the room with a new kind of energy."
"It's a great film for anyone to see," she continued. "It's a family film and it's a lot like the book."
One-hundred percent of the movie's profits will go to charity. It is the first film to ever be released by Giving Films, a non-profit ministry company committed to creating outstanding faith films while also giving back to those in need. All of "90 Minutes in Heaven's" profits go to either Christian Alliance for Orphans, FaithBridge Foster Care, Hire Heroes USA, Hope International, LifeWater, Street Grace, Sunshine on a Ranney Day or World Vision. It is completely up to you, as a viewer, which charity your ticket's profit goes to. When you see the movie, the website will be listed on your ticket where you can then pick which of these eight organizations you'd like to donate to.
Hunter couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to play such a key role in a movie that's all about giving back.
"It feels really great to work on something that helps all these different charities," she said. "I'm happy that everyone's hard work is being put to good use."
Learn more about Giving Films HERE and see Elizabeth Hunter take on this emotional and amazing role when "90 Minutes in Heaven" hits theaters Friday, Sept. 11.
