Anna Chlumsky is best known for her role as Vada Sultenfuss in My Girl. Her portrayal as an inquisitive and sensitive hypochondriac won the hearts of millions of viewers and My Girl is one of my favorite movies of all time.
I remember spouting buckets of tears while I watched Vada see her best friend, Thomas J (played by Macauley Culkin), resting peacefully in his coffin.
I followed Chlumsky’s career until 1995 when she was cast in Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain with Christina Ricci. And then it seemed she disappeared off the face of the Earth. Since then, she has appeared in several TV movies and was a guest on two episodes of “Law & Order.”
At 31, Vada is all grown up and will be starring in a new HBO comedy titled “Veep.” Her fellow cast mates include Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale.
But why has she waited so long to get back into the game?
After graduating from the University of Chicago, the fading star fact-checked for Zagat and edited science fiction and fantasy for HarperCollins but became restless.
She told Slate magazine that she received a sign from a stranger shortly after while in the midst of a lunch break crying spell”
“A psychic was handing out her pamphlets, and she said, ‘Excuse me I have a question.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, get away from me.’ But she followed me and poked me on the shoulder and said, ‘Are you the girl from My Girl?’ At the time, I couldn’t go anywhere without someone recognizing me, and I wasn’t in the mood. But before that, maybe for a few weeks, I had friends who said ‘You need to start acting,’ and I was ignoring it. I said, ‘Yes,’ to the psychic, and she was like, ‘You still want to act,’ and I was like, ‘Oh god!’ And she basically … I fell hook, line and sinker. I paid her like, $40 for 10 minutes of palm reading.”
I believe in fate and I believe in Anna Chlumsky. Hopefully her new role reignites her career.