8-year-old McAllen actress stars in 'Prison Break'

Festiva's "Hometown Hollywood" profiles track down the big names that have emerged from the Rio Grande Valley, as well as the rising stars who are bound to make us proud in the future.

The call will usually come around 7 p.m. the night before. Then, it's a mad dash for 8-year-old Regan Licciardello and her mom Bonnie to make it from their home in McAllen to Los Angeles in time for an afternoon audition.

Within a few hours, the pair is loaded into mom's Tahoe en route to Austin, where the cost of flying to L.A. is about $200 per person, almost $700 less than if they were to fly out of McAllen.

 Living in L.A. makes a little more sense to Regan, but mom has her reservations. Dad's job is in the Valley, there is no state income tax in Texas and moving to a new state in a weak economy is a risky move that even a determined mother/daughter pair isn't willing to make.

So until things change, they'll make the late night drives and endure the 3:30 a.m. wakeup calls in hopes of scoring Regan the jobs she wants. And it's worked so far.

Despite her tough audition arrangement, the little girl with big blue eyes has scored a recurring gig on Fox's Prison Break and a spot in a Boniva commercial with Oscar winner Sally Field among other commercial jobs.

On the outside, Regan is an average little girl who loves Miley Cyrus and butterflies. But the second-grader speaks about the business like an adult, aware that her eyes aren't typically found on a girl with brown hair, and  she has a keen understanding of the odds she faces. So far, however, she's managed to prove that odds are only numbers. During her first summer in L.A., she booked two jobs out of her first eight auditions; most child actors are lucky to book one gig out of 100 auditions.

If her streak continues, her career could remain on the fast track to broader success.

Name: Regan Jay Licciardello

Job: Actress

Hometown: McAllen/commutes to Los Angeles

You've seen her: On Friday Night Lights and in commercials for Boniva, Little Tykes and EyeMasters, among others. 

You last saw her: As Gretchen Morgan's daughter Emily on Prison Break

Where you'll see her next: Playing the younger Jillian Murray(Fifty Pills) in American High School.

How she got started: When she was 14 months old, a judge at a pageant, who also owned a modeling agency, submitted Regan's photo with permission to an audition for OshKosh.

Long-term goal: To be in a movie that's shown in a big theater so all her friends can see her in

What she likes about L.A.: "I really actually like all of it. It's fun. I feel different in L.A., like it's a vacation and it's summer," she said.

Who she admires: Miley Cyrus, much to the chagrin of mom, who calls the teen queen "very arrogant." "And it's a shame because she has so much talent, and she's in a place where she could go very far and only she can stop herself."

When she's not acting: Regan loves to dance with the Deborah Case Dance Academy. She particularly loves being part of the Rio Grande Valley Ballet's The Nutcracker.

Where she spends her hard-earned money: the American Girl store, although mom said her money, including the $100,000 she received for the widely shown Boniva commercial, actually remains in a trust. Her parents also pay flight, food and hotel to and from auditions.

While working on Prison Break: She loved lunch time. Aside from the food, which mom Bonnie described as "Luby's but portable," Regan enjoyed speaking with the cast and the crew, especially Heather McComb, who played her character's surrogate mother Rita. She also got a chance to spend time with stars Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. She didn't get a chance to meet Wentworth Miller, whom mom playfully referred to as "Mr. Hottie." But since children Regan's age are only allowed to spend 8 1/2 hours a day on set (which includes three hours for school, one for lunch and 30 minutes of rest), her time on set was precious. "I was so sad when I had to go. They're so lucky," Regan said. But mom said the actor's average 11-hour days were anything but, saying "I bet they think you're lucky." 

Scoop: Regan and mom are hoping that the still unconfirmed Prison Break spinoff, rumored to be titled Cherry Hill, is a go. "They're sending Gretchen to prison. There's a line in the last episode (the series' winter finale), where Lincoln says ‘If you don't talk you'll get to see your daughter again,'" she said. "So we're hoping that happens and we get a chance to be in that."

Behind the scenes: While filming her very first episode, the Prison Break crew was nervous about the guns and violence on the show being exposed to Regan in too harsh of a way; she was usually one of the only children on the cast. "They were very tender with her, telling her not to be afraid of being held hostage," Bonnie said. But the crew quickly learned that they weren't dealing with an L.A.-bred child, but with a tough Texan whose dad is an avid hunter who often keeps a gun by his side. "She said, ‘Are you kidding me? I sleep with guns,'" Bonnie remembered.

Click the links below to read more Hometown Hollywood profiles.

* CARLOS MORENO: San Juan actor had roles in Transformers, ER

* ENRIQUE CASTILLO: A South Texan who wrote music in Will Smith's new film, Seven Pounds

* VERONICA LOREN: A McAllen actress and singer who's sweeping 2008's indie awards

* LIZ RAMOS: A McAllen dancer who taught Brad Pitt to tango

* ERIC HAHN: A clown at the Nolana IHOP who did stuntwork in 'Platoon,' 'Delta Force'

* MANDO ALVARADO: San Juan actor shared scene with strippers, Doogie Hauser

* RICK DEL CASTILLO: A Brownsville rocker who found a knack for screenwriting

* RAUL CASTILLO: A McHi grad who has acted and studied with Philip Seymour Hoffman

* TANYA SARACHO: A Valley playwright who is hot in Chicago

* DAVID BARRERA: A San Juan native who was in an NYPD Blue episode everybody saw

* MICHAEL RAY ESCAMILLA: A writer, actor, director and producer from Pharr

* MARISA QUINTANILLA: A McAllen Memorial grad who was in Road House 2

* FAUSTO CUEVAS: A Brownsville drummer who has toured with Britney Spears and Stevie Wonder

* GABRIEL PENA: An Edinburg North grad who does Matrix-style stuntwork