Alexandrea Owens-Sarno (born November 9, 1988) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as eight-year-old Cora Cartmell, a young steerage passenger in the 1997 film ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

'' who dances with Jack Dawson ( Leonardo DiCaprio) at an Irish party.

Biography

Owens-Sarno was born in 1988 in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California. She made her acting debut as Cora Cartmell in

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

's 1997 epic ''

''. Her mother took both her and her younger sister Rachel, then 3, to audition for roles at the film set in

Rosarito Beach Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US-Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater S ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. Owens-Sarno, then in third grade, lined up with ten other girls, all blondes, said a few lines and danced a few steps with the casting director, and was dismissed. A week later she was offered the role of Cora; her mother and sister were cast as extras. The family spent six months on location during the filming. She became known as "the ''Titanic'' girl" among her schoolmates, and has since been asked many times what it was like to perform opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, then a teenage heartthrob, who played the lead role of Jack Dawson. She recalls that he was very "sweet" to her, getting her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, making faces at her from behind the camera, and chatting with her between takes. He also romped around and played tickling games with her younger sister. Following her appearance in ''Titanic'', Owens-Sarno hired an agent and began auditioning for other film roles. She was constantly recognized on the street and asked for autographs, and finally decided to take a break from acting. However, she has dutifully kept up with fan mail over the years and sends out autographed pictures of herself in her ''Titanic'' role. After college she moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and enrolled in acting classes. She presently works in improv and

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Owens-Sarno, Alexandrea 1988 births Living people American film actresses American child actresses Actresses from San Diego 20th-century American actresses American women comedians 21st-century American actresses