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Girlstart caught up with Alexa Vega, who you recognize as Carmen Cortez in SPY KIDS! Alexa has been in Texas, California, and even Costa Rica making SPY KIDS 2. We asked her questions about her career and her life!

Girlstart: When did you start acting?
Alexa: I started acting when I was 4 years old. When I moved to California, my mom was working for an agent. It was an agency for adults and it just happened to be God's blessing - she told me, "Why don't you try to audition?" I had never really tried acting before then, and when I did it I got the first audition I ever tried for.

GS: Do you remember the audition?
A: Yeah! I remember everything about it, the whole experience. It was "Evening Shade" and I ended up working on it for two seasons.

GS: Does your family travel with you when you're making a movie?
A: My family usually travels with me everywhere I go. I love it when my family comes because when I'm all alone I don't have my sisters to fight with! No, we really do get along!

GS: How do you balance your schoolwork with acting?
A: Well a lot of people think you don't get a good education because you're on set, but actually most of the time you get a better education because you have a one on one learning experience. You have a teacher there on set. You have to do at least three hours a day of schoolwork on set, and if you can do more. I get a whole lot more than I would at school. It's harder at school because there are so many kids there. But the great thing about going back to the set is that you get the experience of being around kids and then being around adults.

GS: What's your favorite subject?
A: My favorite subject has got to be math! I love math because it's just like a puzzle - it's solving something. You don't ever get tired of it, it's always fun and there's always more to learn. There's more to it than just reading about it. I love reading, but it's a different kind of experience! I'm in algebra now, it's so much fun I love it!

GS: Have you started to think about college yet?
A: Yeah, I have! I wasn't quite sure what I want to study, but I want to go to film school. I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up - there are so many different things. I'm working with the director of Spy Kids, Robert Rodriguez, and he's really incredible because he wears so many hats. He's the director, writer, editor, he shoots the whole thing, he's the production designer… He does everything, he's so great! After that, he's also a dad to three boys, so I'd like to be something kinda like him but be an actor as well. He's everything and he's just incredible.

GS: What advice would you give a girl that wanted to get started in acting?
A: I'd say the number one key to acting is to do it to have fun and not any other reason. That's why I do it, it's just like playing basketball or volleyball - it's a hobby to me. Stay humble, grounded, and don't ever give up! I'll audition every now and then, and sometimes I get it and sometimes I won't. But if you don't get something that doesn't mean you're not good, it just means you're not right for that part. So just keep trying.

GS: What were some of the funny things that happened on the SPY KIDS 2 set?
A: Whenever it was someone's birthday and we had a party on the set, we always had either a silly string fight or a cake fight!

GS: What do you do in your free time when you're not acting?
A: I love reading because I get to use my imagination! Some of my favorite writers are Ronald Dahl, Maya Angelou, and Shakespeare. He's so cool! And of course I read all the Harry Potter books, and the movie was good too! I like that movie.

Be sure to catch Alexa in SPY KIDS 2!