A cafe worker from Sussex has revealed she starred in perennial Christmas classic film The Holiday. In her job, Emma Pritchard - who has lived in East Preston her whole life - serves customers with a smile. But little do many of her customers know, that as a child she rubbed shoulders with A-listers Jude Law and Cameron Diaz on the set of the 2006 romantic comedy.
Emma, now 25, was cast to play Jude's character's adorable youngest daughter Olivia at age 6. Emma’s mum, Sacha, had an agent from working as an extra “back in the day”. As a result, both Emma and her older sister, Tayla, were also on the agent’s books.
Although Emma says it’s “all a bit foggy now”, she was invited to London to audition. Nancy Meyers, the film’s director, liked what she saw. Sacha said: “She was very outgoing and just herself.
” Emma, now 25, works at a café in East Worthing (Image: Supplied) Emma added that the “kicker” was that her sister also auditioned, hoping to be picked as older sister Sophie, but sadly wasn’t cast. The role instead went to Miffy Engleman, who - in a strange twist of fate - lives just a stone's throw from Emma in Littlehampton with her partner and child. The film stars Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as Iris and Amanda, two lovelorn women from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, who arrange a home exchange to escape heartbreak during Christmas.
Emma and her mum spent a whole week in Los Angeles just in wardrobe, “trying on huge amounts of clothes�.