In March 2022, Disney Channel viewers were introduced to the original movie Cadet Kelly, which starred Hilary Duff and Christy Carlson Romano.
The film followed Kelly Collins, who was forced to move upstate with her mom and stepfather after he was promoted to the position of Commandant at the George Washington Military Academy. Because of her stepfather’s promotion, Kelly was forced to leave her friends behind and attend the boarding school.
Yeas after the film premiered, Andrea Lewis — who played the role of Carla — shared her experience on the film’s set in a February 2021 TikTok video. “Let’s have a little story time from a former child actor,” she gushed in the clip. “I had a lot of fun filming [Cadet Kelly]. We shot this over the course of an entire summer, so June, July, August — I had to miss a few days of school, and one of my only days off was on my birthday, which is August 15.”
She continued, “I really loved playing Carla. I thought she was such a fun character and I worked really hard on her backstory,” she said. “Her character description was nothing like me. I wanted to come across authentic and luckily, I booked it.”
Andrea also shared a story about her friendship with Hilary and noted that the former Disney Channel star was one of the first people to encourage her to kick off her acting career. “She was so generous. She set me up with her agents and let me see [Los Angeles],” the actress recalled.
Hilary, for her part, also looked back on the DCOM while chatting with Cosmopolitan in January 2022.
“I have to watch the movie again. No one has brought that to my attention except for Tien Tran on [How I Met Your Father] who plays Ellen,” the Disney Channel alum said. “She was like, ‘Oh, my god. [Cadet Kelly] is a moment in the queer community. All that close-talking with Jennifer.’ I didn’t know that. But if it helped anybody, I hope so.”
These stars aren’t the only ones who’ve stayed in Hollywood! The rest of the cast has changed so much over the years. Scroll through our gallery and check out what the Cadet Kelly stars are up to now!
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