Let’s never forget one of the most iconic movies of all time! Sleepover premiered in 2004 and kickstarted the career of some major stars. While fans already knew Alexa PenaVega as Carmen Cortez from the Spy Kids franchise, her star continued to rise playing Julie Corky in this fan-favorite flick.
In the film, Alexa’s Julie and her three friends plan a sleepover before one of them, Hannah (Mika Boorem), moves away. Simultaneously, a group of popular girls led by Staci (Sara Paxton) has a sleepover of their own, so they challenge Julie and her friends to a pretty epic scavenger hunt. While performing the tasks, Julie gets the attention of high school boy Steve (Sean Faris). While he’s trying to figure out her identity, Julie and her friends are busy winning the scavenger hunt. At the last minute, they end up attending the high school dance where Steve wins homecoming king and gives Julie the crown — which secures her scavenger hunt win.
When it came to taking on this role, Alexa hoped that it would allow her to transition from her Spy Kids days.
“I wanted something with a good transition from Spy Kids to growing up and I thought that this was a good film,” the actress shared in an interview ahead of the movie’s premiere. “I wanted it to be a nice, subtle adjustment, so that parents would be going: Oh OK, she is growing up too quickly.”
Because she had gone to normal school before becoming famous, the Hallmark actress was able to understand what her character was going through.
“I experienced a regular junior high and so there’s so much reality to this film of what you have to go through to be cool,” she shared. “This film has great messages in it and is something I think that young girls [and] parents would enjoy, even some young guys because there’s plenty of cute girls to be seen.”
Aside from allowing Alexa to grow up on screen, Sleepover also marked one of Evan Peters’ first roles. Look how far he’s come! Scroll through our gallery to see what the cast of Sleepover is up to now.
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