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18 timeoutchicagok ds.com February/March 2012

Who says you have to wait until youre agrown-up to do big things? Meet a dozenChicago-area kids who are making names forthemselves before they even hit high school.Photographs byLisa Predko

1 IDEYAH RICKETTS, 9

AUTHORHyde Park fourth-grader Ideyah Rickettswrote her first book when she was four yearsold. You read that right: Ideyah pennedWhere are the Animals at an age when mostkids are mastering their ABCs. Its a bookabout animals in funny and silly places forchildren, she says. Her father, Michael,self-published the book under the nameClimbing Clouds when she was seven, andsoon the young author was touring areaclassrooms, engaging kids in interactivestorytelling sessions she calls IdeyahsReading Fun Time. I use props, and my dad ismy assistant, she explains.

Ideyah was a voracious reader before

entering pre-kindergarten, according to herdad. By age three she was absorbing anythingshe could get her eyeballs on. The firstchapter books I ever read wereJudy Moodyanda Tinker Bell one, Ideyah says. I wasfive. Writing, naturally, felt like the next step.

Ideyahs second book,Lyla Lyte and theLiberry Fruit, a tale about four friends whofind a magical seed, was released in January.Like her favorite author, Megan McDonald ofJudy Moody fame, Ideyah plans to turn LylaLyte into a series. Besides continuing hercareer as an author, Ideyah says she also plansto be a doctor, a teacher and a chef when shegrows up. At this rate, we totally believe her.Erin Osmon

2 TESS DINERSTEIN, 11ACTORMy mom always reminds us how lucky weare to get paid for our hobbies, says TessDinerstein, 11, who along with her mother andolder siblings Alec and Maya, counts acting asa supernumerary for Lyric Opera among herpastimes. The Evanston native and card-carrying SAG member, who cites her oldersister as her biggest influence, has also landedcommercials and appeared in episodes of the

now-canceled Fox series

The Chicago Codebutopera is still her firstlove. I like the operahouse. I like that I get toperform in front of a lot ofpeople, I like wearing thecostumes, gettingtransformed by hair andmakeup, and I like that Ican be backstage andmeet all these people,Tess says. (The Lyric hasruined my children forcommunity theater, notesmother Angela Allyn.) Asfor her future plans: My

ultimate goal is to becomea movie star. I joke with myfriends that if youre not being nice to me,when Im rich and famous you wont be able tocome to my mansion or my parties, shelaughs. But for now, I just hope I can keepdoing the Lyric. (Tess appears in the LyricsAida through March 25.)Martina Sheehan

3 ETHAN CUTKOSKY, 12ACTOREthan Cutkosky isnt sure if he wants topursue acting when he grows up. Im stilltrying to figure that out, says the St. Charlesnative, who started out as a model for print adswhen he was four.

Thats not what youd expect to hear from akid whos already got an impressive actingrsum: With several commercials andfeature films already under his belt, hescurrently costarring in the Showtime seriesShameless, an unapologetically adultcomedy/drama that just kicked off itssophomore season. Ethan plays Carl, thesecond youngest of six kids of an alcoholicsingle father played by William H. Macy. Mycharacter, hes more a misunderstoodperson, Ethan says. Nobody gets him, so he

turns [his frustration] into anger and uses itto beat up on people.

Although set in Chicago, Shameless shootsonly a handful of scenes here; most of theshow is taped in Los Angeles. The secondseason was shot over the summer and earlyfall, so Ethan didnt miss much school. Healso loves to skateboard and play lacrosse. Iskate on the [studio] lot. I usually get yelled atby security, he says.

Is he permitted to watch his own R-ratedshow? Ive pretty much seen every episode, hetells us. His mom, Yvonne, reports that she andher husband screen the episodes first, fast-

forwarding over certain parts. Some of myfriends will sneak it, Ethan adds, withouttheir parents knowing.Web Behrens

4 JOSHUA MHOON, 8PIANO PLAYERJoshua Mhoons nimble fingers cruise over thepiano keys as if hes been playing his wholelife, but his feet dont even make it to the floor.The eight-year-old Oak Park piano marvel hasmusic in his geneshis father was a drumprodigy, two of his four older sisters are

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