Mackenzie Aladjem had to watched her house be torn down right in front of her. Of course, the Peyton family home only came with three walls and no ceilings, but the actress, who plays Fiona on Showtime's "Nurse Jackie," had called the set home for the last six seasons.
"The last week we would be like, 'Okay, this is the last time I'll be in my fake house,'" Aladjem, who plays Fiona Peyton, tells Headlines & Global News in an exclusive interview. "I watched them take down my house. That was really strange to watch someone take down your house of six years."
The 13-year-old actress joined the show in season two, replacing Daisy Tahan as the younger daughter of Edie Falco's Jackie Peyton. She found a second family on "Nurse Jackie," learning valuable life lessons from Falco and Dominic Fumusa, who played her father Kevin, and gaining a best friend in Ruby Jerins, her on-screen big sister Grace.
"[Jerins is] an amazing actress. She became one of my bestest friends and it was really nice to have a really close friend in New York since I'm not from there," said Aladjem, who lives with her parents in Los Angeles. "We did a lot of craft service runs. We'd make up dances. We just did all these fun things. She was a great person to share all this with."
Her love of both art forms also led her to a diverse group of friends. Homeschooled for much of her life, she has not missed out on the exciting social life of a typical middle school student with her dance friends enrolled in public and private institutions.
"It's really nice because all my friends are in public schools so now I'm friends with people who go to their schools. I go with my friends to football games and I went to homecoming in November, which was really cool," she says.
The more demanding schedule of dance usually finds the girls hanging out at each other's houses when they have free time, watching movies and ordering Chinese food. For her friends who also act, they have a less hectic and structured schedule, which gives them the energy and time to run around Universal Studios or Disneyland.
Both options are fun and exciting for a 13-year-old, but nothing will compare with Aladjem's first big Hollywood awards ceremony. She attended the 2013 SAG Awards and had the opportunity to meet one of her favorite actors in person.
"That was the best night of my life," she says. "It was so much fun. First of all, I met Hugh Jackman and I love Hugh Jackman. I found out that he loves the show. It was a really fun night."
Aladjem has no projects lined up for her post-"Nurse Jackie" career, but will continue to dance. Since more of her acting credits came on more adult programming, she would like to star next on a series that caters to kids her age.
"I really want to do something geared toward teens and kids. That would be such a change for me," she says, adding that she does enjoy the material on shows for adults as well.
"Nurse Jackie" will premiere on Sunday, April 12 at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
