Meet 11-Year-Old Firecracker Tori Murray, the 'Scary' Star of Off-Broadway's Ruthless! The Musical

Age: 11

Hometown: Long Valley, NJ ("But we’re in the process of moving to Westfield this summer.”)

Current Role: Tina Denmark, a talented third grader who will do absolutely anything to become a star (including bumping off her classmates) in the off-Broadway revival of Ruthless! The Musical.

Stage & Screen Cred: The young actress got her big break in an unlikely place—she was approached by a talent agent who heard her sing at her grandmother's funeral. Murray made her professional debut in Ruthless! at the Triad Theatre and is reprising the role of Tina in the new mounting at St. Luke’s Theatre.

“No one I know has ever had anything to do with showbiz. I'm the first in my family, so I didn’t know what to expect. At the audition, I had no idea that I was supposed to look all happy and stuff, so I just stood there with, apparently, a cringing expression on my face. I thought, ‘Wow, I bombed it.’ I guess I didn’t!”

“When I started coming to New York City every day, at first I thought it would be amazing to live here. So much is going on, it’s so crowded, I love it! But once I started coming here every day, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I cannot imagine living here. It’s so crowded!’”

“I’m obsessed with reading. But not nonfiction. I just can’t do nonfiction. I love fantasy, stuff about fairies and magic. Out of My Mind is one of my favorite books, and I love Harry Potter and The Hunger Games."

“A lot of my friends’ parents came by themselves to see Ruthless! first [to see if the show was appropriate], and now they’re bringing my friends to see it. My friends don’t get all the jokes or understand everything, but most of them say, ‘Wow, you can be scary!’”

“I really look up to my cast. They help me so much and I want to be like them. The number-one thing I’ve learned from them is that when you’re not saying a line, you have to still act. You still have to be doing stuff with your face. [Laughs.]”

“My favorite thing about starring in an off-Broadway show is I’m in line with the adults now. I feel like a real actress center stage instead of just a kid in the background. In five years I want to be on Broadway, and in 10 years, I want to be on TV and in movies.”