You may have seen her on Disney’s “Bunk’d” or “Adventures in Babysitting,” but I was fortunate enough to see her at Ampersand, a lovely café conveniently located on the Texas Christian University campus.
TCU student and actrice extraordinaire, Mallory James Mahoney is a budding artist making waves in the film and sports broadcasting worlds.
Mahoney got her start in acting at age four.
“I went to a play with my parents, and something in my brain just clicked, and it was like, this is what I want to do,” Mahoney said.
After a year of convincing her parents that her natural shyness wouldn’t hinder her on-stage ability, Mahoney landed a solo in a Casa Mañana performance during her first week at the company.
“Being on camera and being in front of people on stage, it was where I was meant to be, and I just wasn’t as shy when I was doing that,” Mahoney said.
Despite starting her acting career on stage, Mahoney says that being in front of a camera is now where she feels the most at-home. So it’s no surprise that Mahoney scored a role in Disney’s hit show “Bunk’d” when she was only 10 years old.
She acted on Bunk’d throughout her high school career but did not let filming get in the way of her academic growth.
“I’ve always been someone who loved learning. I was the kid in kindergarten who asked my teacher for extra credit work. A lot of people will choose online schools that are known for being easier to just get through the requirements from the government, and then you’re done with school. But for me, I wanted to learn and challenge myself to find what I was interested in outside of acting,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney graduated in the top 6% of her class at the Colleyville School District’s online school and is now studying sports broadcasting at Texas Christian University.
“Acting is a fickle business, and you can’t always guarantee that you’ll be working all the time, so sports broadcasting is definitely something I’d kind of love to fall back on or do between projects. It’s another career to pursue as well, but acting always has my heart,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney says that her experience acting on film has contributed to her strength in sports broadcasting, both due to her experience memorizing lines and cues, and due to her pre-existing comfort with being on-camera.
Mahoney grew up in the Dallas-Fort-Worth metroplex but spent the majority of her high school career filming in Los Angeles, so she knew that she wanted to return to DFW for college. She then toured TCU and immediately felt like she belonged.
“Texas has always been my home. I love it here,” Mahoney said.
Despite her current focus on sports broadcasting (specifically with Frogs Today, a TCU sports news community), Mahoney is still currently auditioning for acting projects and hoping to pursue acting as her professional career.
However, Mahoney’s experience lies not only in front of the camera, but also behind it. At only 18 years old she directed the “License to Cattle Drive” episode of “Bunk’d.” She expressed her interest in directing when renegotiating her contract at age 16 but didn’t think it would be taken into consideration. Then, once her directing date had been scheduled, the writers strike hit, which shut Hollywood down for nearly six months.
Still, Mahoney was able to direct her episode just before her 19th birthday, which makes her one of the youngest members of the DGA (Directors Guild of America).
“It was a really, really fun experience. I learned a lot,” Mahoney said.
But what exactly does directing entail?
“Directing” means something different for every production, whether it be a movie, sitcom, single cam, or something else of the sort. But for Mahoney, directing an episode meant setting blocking for actors and cameras, as well as planning all of the camera shots, organizing set design, and giving actors notes.
Mahoney’s time filming has not only brought her acting experience, but also new friends and a new perspective towards the world around her. She has gotten to travel throughout the continent for filming, including to Los Angeles for “Bunk’d” and Vancouver, Canada for “Adventures in Babysitting.”
“I loved filming that movie. We were all kids, and we just became like the closest-knit family during those four months we spent in another country together, and we just had a blast. We would stay up till 5 am in our hotel rooms, singing music, playing games together. It was really fun,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney says that her time acting has given her skills that she can apply in her day-to-day life, such as her ability to “flip a switch” in her brain when she doesn’t feel like doing something.
“It’s like a little adrenaline button. My friends always laugh at me. They’re like, ‘you can change your mood so quickly,’” Mahoney said.
Overall, the biggest lesson that Mahoney has taken away from acting is not to take herself too seriously and to be prepared to hear the word “no” but still have confidence in herself.
“I’m just really having fun right now. I’m very happy at school, and I’m really just trying to soak up the moments that I have right now. I joined a sorority, and I love my sisters. It’s really fun,” Mahoney said.
You can find Mahoney on her Instagram @malloryjamesmahoney or Tiktok @malloryjamesmahoney, and you can watch her sports broadcasting on the Frogs Today website.
