Behind The Scenes With The Yard's Latest Child Star

On Tuesday night, Eden J. Riegel '02 was worried. It wasn't being away from home, an impending Expos assignment or roommate troubles that had the first-year distracted.

It was the mail.

"I need to find an overnight FedEx place!" Riegel said urgently, shaking the envelope in question.

The sentiment is not unusual among upper-class students this season, busy with medical school and job applications, but as Riegel said, her reason for evening exasperation was unique:

"I need to send something to my agent!"

Her agent--as in the person who has helped get the first-year cast in commercials, television shows, movies and Broadway plays.

Riegel and her agent have done well. The easily-excitable brunette entered Harvard this year already an accomplished actor. At age eight, Riegel and her grandmother moved to New York City from Arlington, Virginia, when she was offered a switch from playing the younger version of Cosette in the touring company of Les Miserablesto the Broadway show.

"After about a year on tour, they said, 'Do you want to go to Broadway?' and I said sure," Riegel recalled.

Riegel called going to New York City "not a big deal."

"I was excited: I was going to New York and I loved it," she said. "I didn't know I was going to be gone for so long."

That role led to a swing part in The Will Rogers Follies, also on Broadway, where she ultimately took on a major role as Mary Rogers. It was in that role that Riegel learned to lasso, a skill she now markets, along with several accents.

But most of her acting skills originated in New York, where she attended Professional Children's School (PCS), an institution for child star hopefuls, while working as an actress. There she and current roommate Allison E. Lane '02 rubbed shoulders with the likes of Macauley Culkin and Christina Ricci, a talented actor she says is genuinely nice in person.

"She's very down-to-earth," Riegel said. "She's so excited that she doesn't have to play 10-year-olds anymore."

The typical undergraduate schedule is a switch for Riegel. At PCS, she went to class about two days a week and her limited schoolday was the norm.

"Everybody in school had something other than school as the center of their lives," Riegel said.

Her graduating class included less than 40 people, among them Duke Ellington's grandson (also known as her ex-boyfriend).

While still at PCS, Riegel accepted roles on various television shows, including "As the World Turns," "Guiding Light," and "Late Night with Conan O' Brien."

She also admitted to appearing on a Kathie Lee Gifford Christmas special and singing backup on Michael Jackson's HIStory album.

Despite the stress of working through her formative years, Riegel said she does not feel like she missed out on just being a kid.

"I wouldn't have given it up for anything in the world," she said. "I had a normal childhood."

But showbiz can be a reality check when it comes to hard knocks and business sense.

"It is true, though, that in the world we live in, you have to grow up quickly," she said.

This fall, Riegel will be a featured voice and soloist in the upcoming Dreamworks animated release "Prince of Egypt." She plays Young Miriam in the film, the childhood version of Sandra Bullock's character.

They like to hire me because I pick up on things faster than younger kids and I can make my voice sound young,"Riegel said.

But for Riegel, acting is all aboutversatility. In a turn onscreen that seems 180degrees from the animated mainstream, she willappear in "East Great Falls High," a flick sheopenly refers to as "a teen sex comedy."

"My roles have been satisfying; they've beenchallenging," she said. "I don't want to get intoa rut. I would like to be challenged."

A potential social studies concentrator, Riegelis concerned primarily with getting the fullestcollege experience possible. Although she did notaudition for any shows at common casting, she wasinvited to join the Pitches and accepted thechance to try a cappella, especially since thegroup will head to Asia this summer for a full tour.

She is surprisingly relaxed about college as acareer break. After returning to New YorkWednesday to do a commercial, Riegel described herrelief on the trip back.

"I wasn't too happy going to New York," shesaid. "I really want to be here. I felt like I wasliving on the edge."

Although she will work on occasion while inschool, Riegel has her priorities straight.

"I can leave my career for four years and cometo college and learn and expand myself," she said."That world will still be there for me. I'm goingto be a college student for four years.

But for Riegel, acting is all aboutversatility. In a turn onscreen that seems 180degrees from the animated mainstream, she willappear in "East Great Falls High," a flick sheopenly refers to as "a teen sex comedy."

"My roles have been satisfying; they've beenchallenging," she said. "I don't want to get intoa rut. I would like to be challenged."

A potential social studies concentrator, Riegelis concerned primarily with getting the fullestcollege experience possible. Although she did notaudition for any shows at common casting, she wasinvited to join the Pitches and accepted thechance to try a cappella, especially since thegroup will head to Asia this summer for a full tour.

She is surprisingly relaxed about college as acareer break. After returning to New YorkWednesday to do a commercial, Riegel described herrelief on the trip back.

"I wasn't too happy going to New York," shesaid. "I really want to be here. I felt like I wasliving on the edge."

Although she will work on occasion while inschool, Riegel has her priorities straight.

"I can leave my career for four years and cometo college and learn and expand myself," she said."That world will still be there for me. I'm goingto be a college student for four years.