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by Susan Chapman
In a current National Association of Realtors® commercial, Merit Leighton delivers her line while sitting on a fence. But that is where the similarity between Merit and her on-screen persona ends; the six-year-old actor is not at all on the fence about her direction in life.
“Acting is my dream!” she enthuses. With three national commercials and a short film on her resumé, Merit is making her dream come true.
“It’s all her,” offers Merit’s mother Suzette Troche-Stapp, a beauty photographer and owner of glitterguru.com. “Merit came to me one day and said she wanted to be on the reality game show, Fetch!, and I told her that if she really wanted to be on television, she needed to make it happen.”
Six days after that conversation, a talent manager with The ESI Network called after seeing a photo of Merit that Suzette posted on a casting web site. They had a meeting, and Merit’s career was born.
“She’s on fire,” Suzette adds. “Merit gets called for at least three auditions a week.”
Merit’s home life is understandably hectic. Her father, Henry Stapp, an executive with a technology company, often travels for his work. To accommodate Merit’s schedule, Suzette homeschools her, while also caring for Merit’s four-year-old sister, Marlowe, herself a budding singer and actor. And despite Merit’s rising star, chores are a part of her everyday life.
“I’m the shoe patrol,” Merit says. “I put away everyone’s shoes, and I wash dishes, too.”
Merit’s professional life provides her with a social circle as well, and she counts several child actors among her friends.
“It’s a very supportive network,” says Suzette. “The kids become best friends. They go to one another’s birthday parties, and the moms all cheer when each other’s child gets a part. We really champion one another.”
Merit and more than 150 of her peers were recently honored at the Child Actor Recognition Event (C.A.R.E.) Awards, held at the Globe Theatre inside Universal Studios Hollywood. The annual event celebrates the positive ways young people contribute to the entertainment industry. Of the money she earns, Merit says she is saving it so that she and her family can take a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. But, for now, what she really wants to do is work.
“I love doing this,” Merit gushes, smiling broadly. “I’m always wondering what’s going to happen next.”
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