Schaumburg teen starring in first film

Countless young people dream of Hollywood stardom and a singing career.

Few, however, actually leave home and high school at 16 to move to Los Angeles in pursuit of such dreams.

Schaumburg native 19-year-old Dani Miura took such a leap, and three years after leaving Hoffman Estates High School for the limelight of California, her acting and singing careers continue to evolve.

Her first feature film, a horror flick called "The 7," recently premiered at the Los Angeles Latino Industry Film Festival.

While producers seek a distributor for the film, Miura is onto her next project: Her already decade-old singing career is taking her on tour for the next year with a teen-oriented motivational show called "Stained Glass World." The show features young people of many ethnic backgrounds.

"It shows that there's no reason for suicide, drinking and drugs, and that we can all work together," she said.

Though she's on the verge of leaving her teen years behind -- she turns 20 in January and is engaged to her high school sweetheart -- her youthful features and 4-foot-10-inch frame are keeping her acting roles confined mainly to 14- to 16-year-olds for the time being.

She has even managed, with some effort, to take on 12-year-old characters: One recent break was playing a decoy for pedophiles on the "To Catch a Predator" sex sting investigations on Dateline NBC.

During the three days she worked on the project, 40 suspects were arrested.

"I didn't feel scared," she said. "I never felt I was in danger. My mom and dad both work for 911. I thought this is my way to do my part."

Miura's mother, Trish, is a dispatcher with the Northwest Suburban Emergency Communications Center in Des Plaines. Her dad, Gary, is a sergeant for Elk Grove Village police.

The acting bug bites

Miura recalls visiting Woodfield Shopping Center when she was 7 to get her photos taken for the pageant circuit she was starting.

She was told she could get a real modeling career going by visiting the Barbizon agency.

There, she was advised that, with her outgoing personality, she should consider acting, as well.

She explored those routes and got modest work such as textbook modeling and earning a one-word role -- "Hi" -- in Mel Gibson's "Payback."

At age 9, she became a professional singer, appearing at weddings, festivals and shows.

Her singing role models have never been teen queens like Britney Spears and Hilary Duff but more accomplished adults like Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion and Amy Grant.

Miura feels her singing and acting careers are evolving largely independently of each other.

Her first big acting break was a guest-starring role on the series "Early Edition." She was still living in Schaumburg when she was cast but already had an agent.

Until then, she'd loved performing in school musicals to practice her craft. But after getting a professional gig, she said school officials barred her from participating in school productions.

When she moved to California -- with her grandfather serving as her guardian and her mother visiting regularly -- going to auditions changed dramatically.

"It's totally different," she said. "There's so much competition."

'The 7' and beyond

Finding herself up against young actresses she recognized from TV was intimidating. But Miura eventually won the role of Janice in "The 7," even though she said she'd seen one other contender in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

A year after wrapping the film, director Adam Schlachter remains pleased with his casting choice.

"Dani is interesting," he said. "She just felt right. She looked the part, dressed the part, brought the right props. We needed her or otherwise it would look like '90210' -- high school students who look like they're 30."

Miura's character is supposed to be younger than the other characters, a brainy girl who's probably skipped a grade or two to be among a class of high school seniors.

Janice was a bit of a geeky departure for Miura, who's typically found herself playing cheerleaders and popular girls.

Although the tabloids are always filled with sordid stories and photos of young starlets not much older than herself, Miura, who earned a diploma after moving to Los Angeles, doesn't see their problem-plagued lifestyles as the inevitable price of either acting or fame.

"The way I look at it, the people who do that have no one else to turn to," she said. "I keep in touch with my friends from Illinois."

Miura's mother said her decision to support her daughter's dreams required a certain blend of optimism and skepticism.

"There are a few things I didn't support," she said. "Some things are just money-making schemes."

Of all the steps, letting her daughter move to California while halfway through high school was the biggest. But she became convinced her daughter's passion wasn't just a passing whim.

"My biggest worry was that she was going to miss everything too much," Trish Miura said. "But I think she's doing great."

A mother's perspective

As a parent of a budding actress and singer, Trish Miura of Schaumburg has faced some tough decisions as a parent -- like letting daughter Dani move to Los Angeles at 16 and appearing as a decoy in the sex-offender sting segment "To Catch a Predator." Here are some of her thoughts.

On letting her daughter appearing on Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" as a young girl who lures real, would-be molesters: "That was scary for me," Miura said, adding she and Dani's father only agreed to allow her to appear on the show after they knew "all the fine details," such as the fact there were dozens of security officials and police on site.

Dani was not credited by name on the show, but Trish was prepared for that to come out on the Internet, which it did. "It's part of their acting resume," she said. "It ends up getting out there whether you want it to or not."

On Dani, who has also sung under the name "Jayden," appearing in somewhat provocative poses and clothing -- though largely tame by today's standards -- on her MySpace page: Trish said her daughter has adopted an edgier look for that site and for her Christian singing career, but that she's been brought up to maintain her standards.

"One time a music manager wanted her to do a spread in Maxim magazine, and she refused," Trish said. "It would have been a lot of exposure. He waited until she's turned 18. She turned around and said, 'I don't want to do that sort of thing. That's not what I'm about.' For me, it shows her values are in the right place."

On second-guessing herself: "There's always a point in your mind when you say, 'Wow, maybe we should have been more conventional,' " Trish said. "I'm a firm believer that every child is different, every child has to map his own way. Dani has gone a whole different way. … If this is what she wants, I'm all for it. There are always going to be times when I wish she was back home (where) I can take care of things. But she's learned how to take care of things."