The Truth About Bailee Madison Is Tumbling Out
Some child actors burn out quickly and retire young. Then there's Bailee Madison. From acting before she could walk to working alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood, it seems this star's decades-long career is only just beginning.
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00:00Some child actors burn out quickly and retire young. Then there's Baylee Madison. From acting
00:05before she could walk to working alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood,
00:09it seems this star's decades-long career is only just beginning.
00:13Baylee Madison was born in 1999 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The youngest of seven kids,
00:18Madison's mother was an actor who appeared in local TV commercials.
00:22As Madison explained in an interview with Story & Rain, her mother would often bring
00:25her along when auditioning and would suggest her daughter for commercials that needed a baby.
00:30Madison recalled,
00:31"'I think I did my first one at like two weeks old. It was a Home Depot or Office
00:35Depot commercial. I don't remember.'"
00:37Like their mom, Madison's older sister, Caitlin Villasuso, was also an actor,
00:41and Madison tagged along when she auditioned for a role in Lonely Hearts.
00:44The film was a major Hollywood production with an A-list cast that included John Travolta,
00:49James Gandolfini, and Oscar nominee Salma Hayek. The film's casting director saw Madison and asked
00:54her mother if she could act. Her sister took her around a corner and read the lines.
00:58She was shocked to find the 3-year-old recited them back flawlessly.
01:01Madison recalled,
01:02"'My sister was like, oh s—t, yeah, okay, go in there.'"
01:06She also recalled that when she was told her character should be sad, she cried on cue.
01:10Unsurprisingly, she got the part, opening the door to an unexpected career as a child star.
01:15Having appeared in horror, fantasy, and comedy, Baylee Madison has demonstrated
01:20an impressive degree of versatility as an actor. She also displayed that acting was
01:24just one of her many talents when she teamed up with a friend, writer Stephanie Miller,
01:28to write the mystery novel Losing Brave. When interviewed for In Love, Madison revealed that
01:32the book's genesis came when she and Miller were working together on some script adjustments for
01:36a movie she was filming. She recalled,
01:38"'Stephanie turned to me and said,
01:39"'Would you ever think about writing a book?' A few minutes later,
01:42we had a whole story in our mind and the process began."
01:45"'I was like, would you ever want to write a book? And I was like, let's write a book.'"
01:49The two had first envisioned a coming-of-age tale with a quirky sensibility. However,
01:53as Madison explained to Coveteur, when they dug in, they decided that the story they really wanted
01:58to tell was a psychological thriller. When asked if she would take on another writing project down
02:02the line, Madison replied,
02:04"'I hope so. It's something that I love.'"
02:06Caitlin Villasuso paved the way for Madison's acting career, and over the years,
02:10Madison has continued to rely on her big sis for guidance and support. She even gushed to Forbes,
02:15"'When I'm doubting myself, my sister is there to remind me who I am and why I do what I do.'"
02:20When both siblings were all grown up,
02:21they even teamed up on their own project, starting the podcast Just Between Us.
02:25It launched in 2018 and ran for 54 episodes until it concluded the following year.
02:30Madison's sister took her surname from her husband, actor Jordi Villasuso.
02:34As fans of daytime drama should know, Villasuso's extensive soap opera credits
02:38include playing Dr. Griffin Castillo on All My Children, Dario Hernandez on Days of Our Lives,
02:42and more recently, Ray Rosales on The Young and the Restless.
02:46Madison has even worked with her brother-in-law,
02:48who appeared in her 2017 film, A Cowgirl Story.
02:51"'Who us?' The plane kicks off in 45 minutes."
02:54Meanwhile, it appears that another generation is entering the family business, with Villasuso's
02:58daughter, Everly, playing the child version of her aunt's character in Pretty Little Liars'
03:03Summer School. Back in 2019, Madison confirmed that she was dating British singer Blake Richardson,
03:08one-third of the boy band New Hope Club. Since then, Richardson has become a regular fixture
03:13on Madison's social media accounts. During a 2024 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show,
03:18Madison revealed the unusual way that she and her beau came to meet.
03:21"'I found him online in the sense of, like, he's in a band. He's a musician."
03:25After she followed him on social media, they began corresponding casually. A year later,
03:29Madison was single, and they wound up reconnecting on a dating app. However,
03:33circumstances kept them apart, at least in the physical sense.
03:36"'We didn't see each other for three months. We FaceTimed for, like,
03:38hours at a time, and then we finally saw each other.'"
03:41Because of their varied schedules, they've continued to go through extended periods of
03:45not seeing each other. However, Madison hasn't found their long-distance relationship to be
03:49as problematic as one might imagine. As she gushed to Teen Vogue,
03:52"'I'm proud of our 19-year-old selves for surviving distance,
03:55and also trying to navigate and grow in your 20s.'"
03:58One fringe benefit of Madison's relationship with a musician has been the ability to explore her
04:03own musical side. In fact, when she and Richardson hang out together, they'll sometimes make some
04:07music in his home recording studio. That was the case when the pair laid down a track while
04:11sipping a few glasses of wine. They thought little of their composition until the next day,
04:16when they listened to what they'd recorded and were blown away by what they heard.
04:19"'He was like, let's just write a song, and so we wrote it together, and then he produced it.'"
04:23That was the genesis of Kinda Fun, Madison's debut single. Prior to the single's release
04:28in early 2024, Billboard reported that she had landed a record deal with Red Van Records.
04:32While Madison is modest about her musical ambitions, she's hopeful that the song's
04:36themes — which she described to People magazine as, quote,
04:38"'holding on to your roots and holding on to your inner child' — will resonate with listeners.
04:43She reflected,
04:43"'I've been saved by music so many times,
04:46and if by any chance I'm able to have that connection with people, that would be such a
04:49treat.'" Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Madison revealed that her interest in singing
04:54goes way back, further than her fans may realize, saying,
04:57"'It's something I've wanted to do, really, since I was little.'"
05:00As a Hollywood actor, it would be very easy for Madison to simply hit her mark,
05:04say her lines, and go relax in her trailer until she's needed for the next scene.
05:08She, however, sees each day on a set as an opportunity to learn — and figure out how
05:12all the various pieces fit together to create a story that will entertain viewers.
05:16Over time, she felt an urge to expand her horizons from acting. She told Forbes,
05:20"...the idea to move behind the lens and care for the entire crew was something that,
05:24as a woman in business, was very intriguing to me."
05:27That was the impetus for Madison to begin producing her own projects.
05:30The first of these was the 2016 film Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket,
05:35in which she also starred. She went on to produce two more films,
05:382017's A Cowgirl Story and 2020's A Week Away. For her first project as a producer,
05:43Madison put together a team of experienced people with whom she'd worked before,
05:47so that they could mentor her through the process. As she explained to Teen Vogue,
05:50"...I really just wanted to get down and dirty with it, and I've learned so much."
05:55In 2021, Madison was cast in Pretty Little Liars Original Sin,
05:59a spinoff of the hit teen series Pretty Little Liars that, like the original,
06:02is centered upon a deep and ever-unfolding mystery. In the series, she plays Imogen Adams,
06:07a damaged teenager grappling with an unintended pregnancy and a traumatic past. As she explains
06:12in an interview with ScreenRant, viewers first encounter Imogen at a particularly dark point
06:17in her young life. She said,
06:18"...her entire world, everything that was safe to her,
06:21everything that was sacred and personal, has been taken away."
06:24"...my mom would hate that. Would've hated that."
06:30For Madison, Imogen has been a world apart from the kind of roles for which she's best known,
06:34like the bubbly teenager she played on Good Witch. As a result,
06:37she's admitted that delving deep into the character's psyche was daunting.
06:40She revealed in an interview with The Bear magazine,
06:43"...this role was the biggest challenge to date for myself as an actor,
06:46and also the most fulfilling. I had to strip everything that I knew and try my best to
06:50completely dive into the mind of Imogen. It forced me to go to some really dark places mentally."
06:56Playing out Imogen's struggles with mental health led Madison to take a hard look at her own.
07:00What she came to learn is that it's ever-changing and constantly evolving,
07:03along with the circumstances that arise in her life. As she told Wondermind,
07:07"...my mental health is a work in progress, as I think all of ours is."
07:10That was a lesson that she learned while filming the series' first season,
07:13and brought with her when she returned for the second. She explained,
07:16"...I was a lot more mindful this season of taking care of my mental health.
07:20Last season really put me through the wringer."
07:22Madison said that after she'd wrapped the first season,
07:24her sister observed that she still hadn't let go of Imogen, and was only a fraction of herself.
07:29Looking back on that first season,
07:30Madison recalled having an epiphany that resulted in some serious soul-searching. She reflected,
07:35"...I remember having this moment of, I'm doing a show that has always been a dream of mine,
07:39and I'm the happiest I've ever been. I'm also the lowest I've ever been. I didn't necessarily
07:44know what to do with that." What she did was begin to build herself back up, to shift her
07:48focus to the positive and away from the negative. She explained,
07:51"...from that point on, at my lowest, I was like,
07:53OK, we've got to start." And with that came a lot of reflection.
07:57Having worked with some of Hollywood's biggest stars, Madison has learned not to be intimidated.
08:02As she told Forbes, that was wisdom imparted by her mother. She said,
08:05"...my mom always taught me to look at people as human beings. So when I think about those names,
08:09I obviously think of their immense talent. But I got to know them on a personal level,
08:13and to me that means so much, the conversations I had and will cherish the rest of my life."
08:18She also acknowledged the cast and crew of the TV sitcom Trophy Wife for helping
08:22her to develop as an actor. She explained to Story & Reign,
08:25"...oh man, I'll credit the people I worked with because I do think, very early on,
08:29I had the privilege, whether I knew it or not, of choosing to be a sponge around the
08:33actors I worked with." In fact, she told Forbes that each project she undertakes isn't just a
08:37job but also an opportunity to learn from the more experienced actors with whom she co-stars.
08:42She mused,
08:43"...every person I'm able to work with and become friends with shapes who I am today."
08:47"...I would have done it for the experience."
08:49Of all the lessons that Bailey Madison has taken from those years spent on soundstages,
08:54the biggest has been that creating movies and television is a collaborative effort.
08:58She told Story & Reign,
08:59"...from the moment I started, it became so blatantly aware to me that it takes a village."
09:03That knowledge has left her with a desire to expand her role even further.
09:07Having already stepped in as a producer, she's also eager to direct. She explained,
09:11"...I see myself directing and creating. I love a set way too much just to act."
09:15Just as she'd learned from her fellow actors,
09:17Madison has also learned from the directors she's worked with over the years. As she observed to
09:21Forbes,
09:22"...I've had the honor to work with incredible directors who've allowed me to shadow them on
09:26set."
09:26She got the chance to step behind the camera for the first time in 2020 when she directed
09:30the music video for New Hope Club's single,
09:32"'Worse.'" As she explains in an interview with Build Series,
09:35the group hadn't been able to make a music video while Madison hadn't had the chance to direct.
09:39This created a win-win scenario for everyone, and gave the star an outlet to try out a new
09:43skill set.
09:44"...So happy that I was able to do it with, you know, so much support around me and vice versa."