Even though Paris Hepburn wants to be known for her own style of acting and merits, she cannot deny her famous lineage. As the great great granddaughter of the iconic actress Audrey Hepburn, Paris is making her own mark in film history.

How are you related to the Golden Age of Hollywood icon, Audrey Hepburn?

I was born Paris Paytes and changed to Hepburn. My mother’s side of the family are Hepburns. So I wanted to commemorate my grandfather, who passed away several years ago, with his name.  

And, yes, I am related to Audrey Hepburn—a distant relative on her father’s side of the family. Her grandmother was a Hepburn just like my grandfather was a Hepburn.

When were you bitten by the acting bug?

Getting involved in films was inevitable for me. From two years old, I loved being on stage entertaining. Walking off the stage during my first dance recital, I yelled out so the whole audience could hear me, “That was so much fun!”  Everyone in the audience started laughing. That was my first experience being in front of an audience. They loved the vivacious two-year-old that was so full of fun, energy and fearlessness. There were ten other two-year-olds on stage that were really scared to be up there and stood frozen to the floor. I was in heaven. 

You’ve been home-schooled most of your life. How has that impacted you? 

 I absolutely love home school. I attended private school from kindergarten to third grade. Then, when I really got involved in acting, I attended DFW Performing Arts Conservatory for a couple of years. When I got so busy with acting that it was difficult to keep up attending school, my grandmother decided that I needed to have a more flexible school schedule. That’s when I went to home school. I immediately skipped two grades ahead and am now attending college classes.  

What do you do in your spare time?  

Since I have such little free time,  I am very wise with what I do. Mostly I draw. I love drawing which is like acting because I use my imagination to create different characters in my drawings. Drawing helps me wind down and relax. 

What would you say to someone who has a talent or desire to act? 

 Make sure that you are ready to do hard work. You have to be able to have tough skin and not fall apart when things don’t go your way. Also, you have to be able to move forward, not worry about what happened but think about what is in the future. And I think you have to have an absolutely positive attitude. That will get you through those tough times.

Which do you prefer, TV or film?

I have only acted in films, so far. I really like film because I can create characters that are roaming around in my head that are being played out. They emerge and come alive instead of me just daydreaming about them. So, I find film matches my creative side.  

What films are you working on now? 

With COVID-19, it has been difficult to get any work done. So last year, I did a lot of practicing on my skills, photo shoots, schooling and developing my career. I certainly didn’t let the pandemic stand in my way of moving forward. My career just moved in a different way. 

So far, I will be in two films this year. Both are very exciting for me because they are projects that I really love playing in. In “Tree Secrets” I play Alexa.  It is a fantasy movie with a great cast and crew, and just perfect for me. The other one is “Bold and Brutal” where I play an interesting character that sort of ties in with my martial arts training.

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Cover photo courtesy Paris Hepburn

Bob Valleau is a freelance writer living in McKinney, Texas.