There's her autograph that she's practiced with her father," said local actress Mary Rogers as she showed off Bailey Hanks' autograph.
Rogers isn't surprised 20-year-old Bailey Hanks won the leading role in the Broadway musical "Legally Blonde". She says she knew she'd be a star ever since she walked onto the stage at the Alverson Center Theatre in Anderson at just 6 years old.
"Just a few years ago I grabbed her in the aisle after one of the shows here and shook her shoulders and said get out of here, go, do, be, go to New York," said Rogers.
Hanks followed her dream and for several weeks competed on the MTV reality show "Legally Blonde the Musical: The search for Elle Woods". On Monday night she was announced as the winner. (To watch her winning moment click here.) On Tuesday morning Hanks spoke with us by phone from New York City.
"It was just breathtaking," said Hanks."I thought I was going to pass out and I was like stay up, stay up, because she might call your name stay alive."
Hanks says beyond the hype of her new starring role she's still a small town girl...thanking her family and friends for support as she kept her win a secret for more than 4 months.
"It's quite surreal," said Hanks. "I'm just taking it day by day and just continuing to stay humble and to be thankful and to remember where I came from because that at the end of the day is the most important thing."
Lessons from her parents that have kept her grounded...especially during the media frenzy.
"As a parent it causes her mother and I to want to cry," said her father Brad Hanks. "It's really amazing to see her poised like she is in these interviews."
Poised and genuine says Mary Rogers who knew all along this small stage would never be big enough for Bailey Hanks.
"When I saw her last week she already had fans coming up to her at the show and in that conversation she turned it to them and their dreams," she said.
Bailey Hanks makes her Broadway debut as "Elle Woods" on Wednesday. For more information about getting tickets to the show click here.
Read Amy Wood's blog with links to Hailey's days as Miss Liberty and post comments
Want to read about Bailey's opening night? Click here".
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