Vale Cooper on the set of the Lifetime biopic "I Was Honey Boo Boo".

Image Credit: Jennifer Cooper

Some kids take karate lessons after school, play hockey on the weekends or take music lessons, but 8-year-old Vale Cooper from Kelowna finds herself in Hallmark movies or in her latest role as reality TV icon Honey Boo Boo.

I Was Honey Boo Boo is a Lifetime biopic about Alana Thompson, known to millions as loud wild child Honey Boo Boo. The movie follows her rise to celebrity, starting at just six years old, and how the fame and fortune at such a young age created problems in her life. Particularly between Thompson and her mom, June ‘Mama June’ Thompson.

Alana Thompson and her family starred in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo on TLC after she became famous on the network’s reality show about little girls in beauty pageants called Toddlers and Tiaras.

Vale’s mom Jennifer Cooper said it wasn't lost on her that they have a parallel dynamic as a mother and daughter in show business. She wants to make acting a positive hobby for her daughter.

“I totally made those connections. It's actually kind of funny, like, oh my gosh, I'm in this exact same situation,” Jennifer said. “In 11 years, I really hope this isn't Vale and I. I hope Vale and I are really close.”

Vale had a blast on the set near London in England. She’s the lead in the movie as young Honey Boo Boo, and for her it was all excitement to play a big role. The spotlight didn’t scare her.

“It was really fun,” she said. “I felt like the queen bee a lot of the time because everyone was so nice and I made a lot of friends there and it felt like family.”

Vale got to play around on the set and made everyone bracelets or painted rocks as farewell gifts when shooting wrapped.

Jennifer said it’s like any other extracurricular that Vale does like soccer or singing, but it teaches her different lessons.

“What we've noticed with Vale, is how positive it is for her confidence and talking to adults and just kind of learning to deal with failure and just moving on," she said. "We've kind of seen all the positives that we really didn't probably intend with when we went in.”

Jennifer said the director Katie Boland was a child star as well so she took extra care to make the set feel safe and Vale’s experience a positive one.

“Her first words were, ‘Vale, I just want to say how you're so great. But my main job is to make sure you feel safe.’ And that was really threaded throughout this whole experience,” Jennifer said.

Vale empathized with what Thompson went through as Honey Boo Boo and felt sad for her.

She said the hardest part for her as an actor was getting her hair curled since she already has a lively personality that mirrors Thompson’s.

“My agent thought I would be perfect for this role because I'm really sassy and energetic like Alana and I can do accents really well,” she said. “It felt like I was getting a facelift every single day from those curlers. Except for one day I didn't get to wear the curlers. I had braids.”

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Vale started acting when she was four. Her first few roles were in Hallmark movies that shot around the Okanagan including A Christmas Together With You near Silver Star Mountain in the Vernon area and We Need A Little Christmas in Kelowna proper. She even remembers her first line as Elf Child 1.

“Do you want to buy a wish from Santa? It's only a dollar,” Vale said.

Jennifer said studios like Hallmark and Lifetime film in the Okanagan for the same reasons people like to live there.

“We have lakes, we have beaches, we have snow, we have mountains, we have it all. Every season that you want to shoot a Hallmark, you can here. As opposed to bigger places it's easier to get around. I think people are really friendly, kind of all of that. It's an ideal location,” she said.

Vale said she has fun doing Hallmark and Lifetime movies but she wants to do musicals one day. Vale has a slightly different taste in movies and musicals than the average 8-year-old, she said her favourite is The Phantom of the Opera.

“That is my favourite musical. It's really good. I just love it so much,” she said. “Me and mom have probably watched it like a thousand times or more.”

After the pandemic, auditioning for parts became mostly virtual. Jennifer said it's one aspect of life that's gotten easier after 2020 since Vale doesn’t even need to leave her home to put herself out there, she just makes a tape with her mom.

“Everything is really self-tapes now,” Jennifer said. “Vale auditioned for this role, which was a Canada-wide search. And it was all done via Zoom. We haven't had to do any callbacks in person. So that's been really positive.”

The biopic I Was Honey Boo Boo premieres May 17 on Lifetime Canada.

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