Why The Little Girl From Annabelle Comes Home Looks So Familiar

At age 12, Mckenna Grace has already accomplished more in her acting career than some adults could ever dream of doing. The up-and-coming star, who started acting in 2013, has appeared in a wide variety of projects, ranging from children's TV shows to blockbuster movies. She's also stranger to the horror genre: the newest addition to Grace's resume is the role of Judy Warren in Annabelle Comes Home.

In the film, Judy — the daughter of the Conjuring universe's Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) — unknowingly unleashes evil spirits from the Warrens' famous haunted trophy room. The early reactions for the sequel have been relatively positive, and it seems as though Grace's first adventure into the world of Annabelle is on track for a respectable opening at the box office.

Although Grace is still very young, scary movies have never deterred her, and she was understandably excited about getting this role. "My dad and I like to watch horror movies together on weekends," she enthused. "I just think that they're really good and [producer] James Wan is a genius." Before you watch her become a scream queen in Annabelle Comes Home, here are some of the other films and television series where you might have seen Mckenna Grace.

ABC's Once Upon a Time incorporated a dramatic hodgepodge of fantasy elements, ranging from classic Disney characters to those of western folklore. The series, which debuted in October of 2011, went through seven seasons; during its run, one of the main characters was Emma Swan, the daughter of Ginnifer Goodwin's Snow White and Josh Dallas' Prince Charming. Although Emma was mostly played by Jennifer Morrison, Mckenna Grace portrayed a younger version of the character.

In fact, Grace has built quite a reputation for portraying younger versions of main characters. In Once Upon a Time, she played the younger version of Morrison's Emma Swan in flashback sequences. Although she only appeared in four episodes, the part was one of her first opportunities to work with a big network during primetime. On Grace's official Twitter page, her mother posted a picture of Grace with Morrison declaring her excitement. "It was a dream come true for Mckenna to get to play young Emma!"

In late 2015, fan anticipation for Netflix's new series, Fuller House, was at an all-time high. The show, a sequel to the long-running sitcom Full House, focuses on the life of D.J. Tanner as she struggles to raise three children with the help of her sister Stephanie and her childhood best friend, Kimmy. The show reunites Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and Andrea Barber from the original series, and also includes appearances and cameos from various Full House vets.

In the show's second season, Mckenna Grace joined the Fuller crew as Rose Harbenberger, the girlfriend of DJ's precocious son Max, played by Elias Harger. As it turns out, the two young performers appear to be as close offscreen as they are in front of the camera, as evidenced by this video of them dancing and lip-syncing to the Pokémon theme song.

Annabelle Come Home isn't Mckenna Grace's first horror film — she made her genre debut in 2017, when she played Juliet in Amityville: The Awakening. Starring alongside the likes of Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cameron Monaghan, and even her old Once Upon a Time co-star Jennifer Morrison, Grace got her first real experience with things that go bump in the big-screen night.

Unfortunately, the film absolutely tanked. It received extremely negative reviews from both audiences and critics alike, and only brought in $7,701,908 worldwide. It even, somewhat amazingly, grossed an incredibly low total of $742 at the box office on a Saturday a couple of weeks after its streaming release. Still, at least Grace can say she made a new friend out of the ordeal. She and Bella Thorne, who played her older sister in the movie, grew close while filming. Grace even visited Thorne on the set of her music video. Perhaps the two will remain sisterly in real life, too.

Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House was a surprise hit in 2018, becoming one of the streaming platform's best-reviewed shows to date. The creepy horror series centers around a broken family that has to face the terrifyingly traumatic memories of their childhood home. Mckenna Grace plays the childhood version of Kate Siegel's Theo Crain, joining a prestigious cast rounded out by Carla Gugino and Michiel Huisman.

The show was created by Mike Flanagan, the talented visionary behind horror works such as Hush and Oculus. In a phone interview with Collider, Grace expressed her excitement to be working with her director. "Mike Flanagan is like the Wes Craven of his generation. He is amazing! Beforehand, I watched his horror films because I love horror movies, and I was like, 'Oh, my god, I get to work with him!'... It was so much fun to get to work with him. He's so nice."

In Netflix's darker rendition of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, aptly titled Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Mad Men's Kiernan Shipka plays a teenage Sabrina Spellman. However, in flashback sequences, that honor is bestowed upon Mckenna Grace, who plays a childhood version of Sabrina. The series was well-received by critics, and was actually nominated for a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite TV Drama.

When speaking with The Wrap, show creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa spoke about the particularly interesting way in which Grace was cast. "When Kiernan heard we were doing Li'l Sabrina, she texted me a picture of her with McKenna and said, 'You have to get Mckenna. She's like me as a little girl and we're dead ringers'... We reached out [to Mckenna] and said, 'Do you want to be Li'l Sabrina for the Christmas special?' And she said yeah. And it was as easy as that! It came from Kiernan, though." That's some serious love from one teenage witch to another.