An astronaut. A doctor. An athlete. A pop star. Childhood dreams are boundless. But for one Cookeville native, those dreams are actually becoming a reality. At just 10 years old, Elle Lisic is no longer dreaming of becoming an actor, she is living as one. 

The daughter of Alex and Elizabeth Lisic, Elle dipped her toes into acting as part of the Upper Cumberland theater scene at a very young age. 

“I did my first theater show when I was six and loved it,” said Elle. Since that time, she has played many roles in highly popular productions at Cumberland County Playhouse, among which she mentions Peter Pan as her top pick. “Definitely playing Tinkerbell has been my favorite role at Cumberland County,” recalls Elle. “It was so much fun to be this character everyone knows and loves.” 

When schools shut down in 2020, Elle did not stop pursuing her passion. “I took acting classes during the pandemic and kept getting more interested,” she said. After watching her big brother who is also an aspiring actor be part of a short film last fall, Elle decided she wanted to try on-camera acting. 

But, how does one go about entering such a competitive, creative world? In Elle’s case, two supportive parents. Alex, who is a Campus Pastor at Life Church, and Elizabeth, who works with an educational non-profit, Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity, began looking to secure an agent for their talented daughter. The couple submitted headshots, resumes, and video demos to several southeast agents and interest sparked; Elle landed an agent and the auditions began.

In the spring of 2022 at only eight years old, Elle secured her first major acting role. Alongside accomplished veterans like Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, and Colin Hanks, Elle portrayed Susan Broberg in the limited Peacock series, A Friend of the Family. The show premiered in the fall of 2022 and was based on the true events of Jan Broberg who was kidnapped by a close family friend several times over multiple years.

This was certainly a change of pace for the Lisics as they juggled work, their son Evan’s own blossoming acting career, and Elle’s call times in Atlanta, GA. However, it proved to be just the beginning of the journey for the busy family.

Following A Friend of the Family, Elle was featured in an episode of Gotham Knights on the CW where she played a flashback version of the character Young Duela. Elle also recently wrapped production on a short film in Nashville and is currently shooting an additional feature film with Amazon Studios entitled Holland, Michigan.

We began this feature by mentioning dreams, and how they sometimes become reality; such is the case for Elle. In a remarkably quick ascension of the acting ladder, Elle will appear in her first movie entitled Pain Hustlers starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans premiering on Netflix on October 27th, 2023.

Traveling back and forth to Atlanta, Savannah, and Nashville for filming isn’t wearing on the driven star. In fact, Elle remarkably managed to appear in two shows at the Cumberland County Playhouse, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Frozen Jr., further paying homage to her roots and proving she’s built for the grind of an acting life.

Dreams are becoming reality and the future is limitless for Cookeville’s budding Hollywood star Elle Lisic.

– by Chelsea Dartez, photo by Cris Stroud, styled by Seth Overton