By SEAN DALY Special to the Daily Press
Looks like Britney Spears has some new competition — from Spy Kid Alexa Vega.
The actress, 13, is in full pop star mode, singing and dancing in a new music video during the closing credits of "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams."
“I thought it was so cute. She’s a very talented performer,” says Britney’s mom, Lynne Spears, who attended the July 28 Hollywood premiere with her younger daughter, Jamie Lynn, 11. (Britney’s sis — who called the performance “very funny” — recently joined the cast of Nickelodeon's sketch comedy series, “All That.”) “I’ve been singing ever since I was little,” says Alexa, who reprises her role as junior OSS agent Carmen Cortez. “I have also been taking hip hop (lessons) for about four years off and on. So we just kind of free-styled.”
But there was one small problem when it came time to film the sequence: “I was really sick and throwing up that day and had a really sore voice,” she remembers. “Fortunately, we still managed to get it done.”
“Spy Kids 2” — opening Aug. 7 — re-teams Alexa with her big screen baby brother Daryl Sabara (agent Juni Cortez).
Born in Miami and briefly raised on a farm near Orlando with 138 horses, Alexa first traveled to Hollywood as an infant to audition for the role of Michelle Tanner on the sitcom “Full House,” but arrived too late. “I would have been the Olsen twins,” she laughs.
Daryl, 10, was discovered as an infant by a casting director for the TV sitcom “Murphy Brown.” “This woman stopped my mom on the street and said, ‘He should be in acting,’ the red-haired fifth grader remembers. A few weeks later, Daryl and his fraternal twin brother Evan began sharing the role of Candice Bergen's newborn son, Avery.
Daryl guest-starred on “Will and Grace” and “Roswell” before eventually becoming a “Spy Kid” — a role he insists hasn’t changed him. On the set, Daryl had "the exact same size trailer as everyone else," he reports. (Although his was filled with remote control cars and Nintendo games). His mom, Sandy Kebs, a former social worker, controls the young star’s finances, but offers an allowance of $15 a week if all the chores get done: “I have to make my bed, do homework, walk the dog, and clean his poop,” he moans.
Daryl studied ballet to prepare for some of the stunt work in “Spy Kids 2,” which he boasts “is better than the first.” His reason? “It’s funnier, there’s more action, and this time our rivals are kids,” he says.
For their newest mission, the Cortez kids travel to a mysterious tropical island where they encounter a wildly inventive genetic scientist (Steve Buscemi) and his imaginative creatures, while combating the evil forces of Gary and Gerti Giggles (Matt O’Leary and Emily Osment).
Both stars head to Austin in October to begin work on “Spy Kids 3,” but Daryl says, “I’m really hoping to do other kinds of roles as well.”
Need to know more about Daryl and Alexa? Check out our exclusive interview, conducted last weekend in Los Angeles: Q: Did you always like to sing?
Alexa: When I was younger I lived on a farm and I was singing all the time. Then when I moved to California, I just kind of fell into acting. The first audition I went on, I ended up getting. It was “Evening Shade” with Burt Reynolds. I was on for two seasons and it just picked up from there. But I would love to be a singer and, ask my mom, I’m constantly singing at home.
Q: What kind of music do you like to listen to?
Alexa: I like all kinds of music. I’ll listen to Beethoven... but then I love listening to Lincoln Park and Britney Spears. I’m very diverse with all that stuff.
Daryl: My favorite thing is The Beatles and The Eagles and Sheryl Crow.
Q: Why is Spy Kids 2 more fun and more exciting than the original Spy Kids?
Alexa: Spy Kids 2 is a whole new adventure. It is already established that we are Spy Kids, so we can get right into the adventure and have more gadgets. And there are great new members of the cast.
Q: Why do you think it’s important to have movies with kids as the heroes?
Daryl: Kids can watch things. Actually, it’s kind of amusing to see kids save the world instead of like all these grown-ups that know everything.
Q: Is Daryl like a little brother to you now?
Alexa: He really is. He’s like the little brother that I might never have. But our relationship is kind of like the one I have with my sisters, because we are really close. My sister Krizia just turned 12. She’s my best friend. I can talk to her about anything. We'll still like bicker and everything but we don’t fight.
Q: How are you alike and different from the character that you play?
Alexa: I am like Carmen because I am a little spunky. I like to go with things, have fun. I guess I’m brave. But I’m not like her because she is more girly than I am. You guys see me dressed in this kind of stuff, but that is because we are at a premiere. And I kind of like to dress up sometimes, but all of my friends are mostly guys. I just get along with them easier. I guess I would call myself a tomboy.
Q: Daryl, do you really know ballet?
Daryl: I’ve been taking ballet for seven years. My company is called South Bay Ballet Company.
Q: What role do your parents play in your success?
Alexa: My mom is the one who got me here. Honestly, my whole family sacrificed a lot for me to get here. My sisters have to give up seeing my mom all the time because she is always traveling with me everywhere. So my whole family has to give things up, but we all work together and we achieve something.
Q: How did your life change when Spy Kids came out?
Daryl: Nothing really changed. I still do the same stuff I’ve always been doing. I still do ballet. I still take Tai Kwon Do and I’m going to test for my blue belt in August. I got a new dog (a Jack Russell terrier named Baccus) and I still like to surf and stuff so I get recognized a lot so I just enjoy it. Not too many people look like me.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 3, 2002. Read the original PDF.