July 29th 2011 Building the Bridge: Sophia Robb’s Rise to Fame
Bringing a number of popular children’s books to life helped teen actress AnnaSophia Robb make a name for herself in Hollywood in a short time.
Robb first drew attention in 2005 with starring roles in “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Both movies were adapted from popular children’s books. In “Because of Winn-Dixie,” Robb played the lead role of Opal, a girl who makes friends with the help of her dog she adopted from the local supermarket. In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” she played competitive gum chewer Violet Beauregarde. The two different roles showed the acting range Robb already possessed at a young age.
Robb cemented her stardom as a child actor when she played Leslie Burke in the moving drama “Bridge to Terabithia.” The movie was based on another popular children’s book and Robb took the role because she loved that particular book. She recorded a song for the movie soundtrack titled “”Keep Your Mind Wide Open,” appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in March.
Robb has garnered recent acclaim for portraying one-armed surfer Bethany Hamilton, who recovers from a shark attack to become a pro surfer, in the movie “Soul Surfer.”