Child star springs into action in ABC’s ‘Prairie’
By Dave Mason
Scripps Howard News Service

From playing Thing One in "The Cat in the Hat" to 
Danielle Ryan Chuchran loved flipping out of boxes 
and climbing the walls as one of the quirky 
characters in “The Cat in the Hat.” After the 2003 
movie, the 11-year-old Pleasant Grove, Utah, actress 
realized she was ready for more action. 

“I would like to try to jump off a building,” she 
said. As she talked on the phone from Utah, she 
looked at her mother, Sharon.

“I gave my mom a scare. She’s looking a bit nervous,” 
Danielle said, chuckling. “Yeah, I’m kind of a 
daredevil.”

For now, she will have to settle for crossing an 
ice-covered Mississippi in a covered wagon – just 
as the ice starts to break. That was one of her 
adventures as she played Mary Ingalls, Laura’s older 
sister, in ABC’s version of “Little House on the 
Prairie.”

It premiered March 26 and is airing for two more 
Saturdays (including today) as part of “The Wonderful 
World of Disney.”

This “Prairie” is an extended pilot. If it does well 
in the ratings, ABC could pick it up as a regular 
series, and Danielle said she would love to be on 
the show for five or more years in a story line that 
eventually leads to Mary’s blindness.

ABC has stressed that this “Little House on Prairie” 
is based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and not 
the 1974-83 series that starred Michael Landon and 
Melissa Gilbert as Charles Ingalls and his young 
daughter.

Along with Danielle, Cameron Bancroft, Erin Cottrell 
and Kyle Chavarria star, respectively, as Charles, 
Caroline, the mother, and Laura.

Danielle is in the role that Melissa Sue Anderson 
played in the original series.

Danielle said she sees strong similarities between 
the two versions. “(Viewers) will learn how a family 
stuck together during a journey.”

The story remains essentially the same: A pioneer 
family leaves Wisconsin and takes a long, dangerous 
journey in a covered wagon to the prairie of Kansas.

The 1970s “Little House” was filmed in Simi Valley, 
just north of Los Angeles. The new version was filmed 
from February to June 2004 in Calgary, Alberta, a 
frequent site for today’s Westerns. Danielle said the 
Canadian location worked well because it snowed during 
filming, exactly what the producers needed for the story 
about a pioneer family leaving Wisconsin in the winter.

“Mary likes to be around Ma, cleaning, sewing, cooking 
dinner,” Danielle said. “Erin played Ma, and off the set, 
I called her ‘Mom’. My mom, Erin and I were in the car 
together, and I said, ‘Mom’. They both turned to me and 
said, ‘Yes, dear.’”

Danielle began to get her appetite for acting when she 
performed hip-hop and jazz steps onstage during dance 
classes. She said she hopes to continue as an actress 
as an adult in programs that families can watch together.

Her credits include playing a rescued girl in another 
pioneer movie, “Handcart” (2002), “Little Secrets” (2001)
and the TV-movie “Shot in the Heart” (2001).