Hailey Knudsen - Early Years
Hailey Knudsen was born to Scott and Tracy Knudsen in Texas on July 29, 2004. Her parents immediately bought a ranch to raise Hailey on just as 5 generations of Knudsens before her were raised. She immediately was on horseback thanks to her father Scott when she was brought home from the hospital
The happy family's lives changed forever on July 29, 2005 (Hailey's 1st birthday) when Scott was struck by lightning holding Hailey (he was struck in the head and the bolt wrapped around Hailey exiting his body out of his right arm) Scott then lost all of his memory and had to re-learn how to re-read and write. All the responsibilities of the ranch, raising Hailey, and caring for her husband Scott fell onto Tracy.
Hailey continued to grow up on the ranch in the small rural town. As the only child of Scott and Tracy Knudsen, imagination played an important role in Hailey’s life while growing up on the ranch. “I was an only child, so I had a very active imagination. I would often go to the barn and play games with the animals, or I would drag my guitar into the woods, climb a tree, and play and sing songs."
Hailey's love of performing began when she was just a baby. Her parents used to play George Strait, and Elvis songs around the house and they noticed that even in the youngest years of her life she would bounce her legs perfectly in time with the music, that's when her parents decided that they should enroll her in dance class.
At 2 years old, She started dancing at her hometown dance studio called Ms Rhonda's School of Dance. (Hailey still dances at Rhonda's studio to this day, now a dance instructor)
"While performing at my very first dance recital I could not contain my excitement up on stage! I kept laughing because I was so happy to be performing!! When the song was over my dance teacher had to come carry me off the stage as I just stood there bowing and soaking up the attention of the cheering crowd." That's when She decided that was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
When Hailey was 5 years old she saw a flier to audition for a musical at her small town community theater. She decided to audition, her mom Tracy had to audition to be in the show with her because she was too young to be cast without an adult. When she was cast she caught the “theater bug” and she has been acting ever since!
Hailey's Parents have always been supportive of her career. "They would always drive me to my many dance practices and theater rehearsals all throughout elementary school and middle school before I got my license and They have never missed one of my performances even to this day! They never failed to support and encourage me! I am so extremely grateful for them!"
"I love to make people smile and laugh, so seeing the audience's reaction brings me so much joy and makes me want to keep pursuing acting!"
Hailey continued performing in live theater and took many classes throughout Texas to better her skills and training. She has been cast in over 32 live theatre productions.
Another one of Hailey's passions is singing. She began her training at age 5. Outside of musical theater performances her first live performance was in 2016
She knew she had the skills to pursue acting professionally during her senior year of high school when she started to get cast in film projects without even auditioning. she made as many connections within the film industry as she could. she attended multiple film conventions and found odd jobs on film sets to learn the ins and outs of the industry and network as much as possible... and that’s how her career started to launch professionally!