Actress gets bilingual breakthrough in Spanglish

Brownsville native Shelbie Bruce cast as Cristina in film

By Stephanie Holmes

The Monitor

January 16, 2005 Shelbie Bruces career was toddling along until she received a whopping break. She was cast with Adam Sandler, Tea Leoni and Paz Vega in director James Brooks latest drama Spanglish.

I went to the audition and I got a call back. I was doing well. I felt so much like Cristinas character, said Shelbie, a native of Brownsville. I would have been happy with a small part, but this is just amazing.

Like her character, Cristina, Shelbie, 12, is a bilingual girl who spends a lot of time translating conversations between family members.

I have the best of both worlds. I understand and speak Spanish, and I speak English, Shelbie said.

My family is a lot like (Cristina) and her mom. Hispanic values are very strong. If we see something wrong, well change it.

Growing up in a close-knit family setting in Texas, Shelbie found it difficult to yell at an adult in a scene toward the end of the film.

Ive never done that before. My parents have taught me not to do that. My mom would seriously ground me for life. Mr. Brooks helped me, and he was awesome during the shoot, Shelbie said.

Shelbie lived in San Antonio for eight years and trained as a child model in Texas. Her family relocated to Los Angeles four years ago, but they often return home for family events and holidays

Its awesome. We have a lot of fun in Texas. We eat tacos and we go to Matamoros. It was such an amazing Christmas this year because we got snow in Brownsville, Shelbie said. Everybody in the family asked God for snow. We played out there for three hours.

Spanglish has drawn much attention to Shelbie.

Twelve-year-old Shelbie, who was born in Brownsville, has appeared in TV and print advertisements for J.C. Penney, Sears and McDonalds. She was also cast in 13 episodes of Mary Lou Rettons Flip Flop Shop and starred as an extra in an episode of the NBC drama ER.

Ive received a few offers, but we are worrying about Spanglish for now. Im going to a premiere in Mexico City in two weeks. This will be the eighth time I have seen the film, she said, a bit tight-lipped about forthcoming projects. God is the one who gave all of this to me. It was a lot of work to do this movie but a lot of fun too.

Shelbie manages to stay a kid by sharing her infectious giggle and by putting on her jeans to play in the backyard with neighborhood kids. She also likes to sing, play tennis and spend time with her younger brother, Bobby, also a child actor who appeared as an extra in Spanglish.

Im home schooled. It was too hard to deal with going to school and being at work, said Shelbie, who worked on the set of Spanglish for six months.

If stardom is in the cards for Shelbie, she said, her ideal career path would be to keep on doing movies and maybe star in a TV show. Whatever God gives me I really do not care. I do want to keep going to school. School is my first priority.