Lilla Crawford

Lilla Crawford (born February 23, 2001 ) is an American actress best known for portraying the title role in the 2012 Broadway revival of Annie. She made her feature-film debut playing Red Riding Hood in the 2014 Disney film Into the Woods

Personal life
Lilla Crawford was raised in Los Angeles, California. She began her career at the age of six in a Cool Whip commercial, and since then has appeared in several more. She states that she begged her mother to find her an agent because it was her dream to be an animated voice and a star on Broadway, and was not pushed into becoming an actress. Crawford has also participated in many shows at the iconic 54 Below broadway club, including those sponsored by Scott Alan and Don't Quit Your Night Job. She also has a little sister, Savvy Crawford, who also has appeared on TV show Mike and Molly, a film, and was recently featured in an off-Broadway production of The Little Princess. Lilla is also a supporter of many charities such as Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids and Broadway Barks of which she has performed numbers at events. She currently resides in Midtown, New York and is actively participating in and auditioning for numerous projects.

Career
Crawford moved from Los Angeles to New York City where she made her Broadway debut in 2011 as Debbie in the closing cast of the musical Billy Elliot. She previously auditioned for the role while she had been on vacation in New York City and was not planning on auditioning. Later, after a nationwide search, she won the title role in James Lapine’s 2012 revival of the Tony-winning musical Annie at the age of 11 after having previously been in a community theatre production of the same show, where she played Bert Healy. She competed against over 5,000 other girls auditioning to play Annie over a span of nine months. After her initial audition in New York she had five or six callbacks, the final one with a dozen girls. While performing in Annie, she filmed the Broadway.com video blog "Simply Red" for the show, which earned her a broadway.com title of "most clicked stars of 2013". She has also played "The Little Girl" in Ragtime at Avery Fisher Hall, alongside Lea Salonga, Norm Lewis, and many others. Additionally, Crawford played Little Katie in a workshop production of Home the Musical by Scott Alan in New York City. Crawford has also appeared in a workshop of Melissa Arctic. Crawford has also held many musical theater workshops for children in NYC that focus on audition singing techniques and stage presence. She has partnered with her vocal coach Philip Pelkington and the performing company A Class Act to hold these workshops. She also held a workshop at the Marymount School of New York where she mentored the middle school's cast of Into the Woods Junior.

Crawford made her feature-film debut playing Little Red Riding Hood in the Disney film adaption of the musical Into the Woods, a role that was originally given to Sophia Grace Brownlee. The film was released on December 25, 2014, at the Ziegfeld Theater.