I think I had a good ear for dialogue from a young age - and I think that was probably because I spent a lot of time eavesdropping on my parents and my three older brothers. On why she caught the eye of directors and casting agents I'm not a millionaire, but it was a cushion. And, on a pragmatic level, it helped me pay for college. I remember I got to have the most amazing birthday party ever courtesy of Danny DeVito and his family. But beforehand it didn't really dawn on me, and maybe it's just because I was too young. At that point I was thrilled because Matilda was a book that I had loved, a character that I had loved. I think it didn't really resonate with me until I got Matilda. On whether she appreciated being a child actor at the time Mara Wilson's writing has appeared in Jezebel, The Toast, McSweeney's and The Daily Beast. She was "a young girl who was intelligent, and thoughtful, and considerate of her friends, and had a strong sense of justice." Wilson says there are a lot of girls - a lot of people - out there like that, and she suspects Matilda feels very real to them as well. She "gained power through knowledge," Wilson says. Wilson says that going back to Dahl's book helped her appreciate what a privilege it had been to take on the role of the brave, bighearted little girl. When she was in college, a teacher suggested that she write a letter to Matilda. Wilson struggled with the feeling that people liked her characters more than they liked her. Doubtfire, or as Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street. Wilson, now 29, was a successful child actress - you may also recognize her from her starring roles as Natalie Hillard in Mrs. "She's kind of like my big sister overshadowing me." That's because you probably know Wilson best as Matilda, from the 1996 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic. Mara Wilson says that the most complicated relationship she has ever had is with a fictional 6-year-old girl. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. With enough practice, Matilda starts to learn to control her telekinetic powers and soon using them on her principal so she can drive her away from the school.Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Where Am I Now? Subtitle True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame Author Mara Wilson While trying to put up with her parents' and principal's cruelty, she starts to unwittingly unleash telekinetic powers, destroying a television and making a newt fly onto the principal. After a while, her parents send her to school with the worst principal in the world, a very sweet teacher, and good friends. Unlike her bratty brother and mean parents, Matilda becomes a very sweet and extremely intelligent 6 year old girl, who is very keen to go to school and read books. However, when Matilda realizes she has the power of telekinesis, she begins to defend her friends from Trunchbull's wrath and fight back against her unkind parents.Ī grouchy couple are parents to a very sweet girl, Matilda. Worse, Agatha Trunchbull (Pam Ferris), the evil principal at Matilda's school, is a terrifyingly strict bully. This film adaptation of a Roald Dahl work tells the story of Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson), a gifted girl forced to put up with a crude, distant father (Danny DeVito) and mother (Rhea Perlman).