When Tami Stronach was 10, she transfixed young audiences as the Childlike Empress in 1984’s It was her first and last major acting role in a feature film — until now. Exactly 40 years after the cult flick, Stronach returns to the big screen in another fantasy film, . She plays the Witch in a cast including Christopher Lloyd, Sean Astin, Michael Emerson and her husband, Greg Steinbruner, who wrote the screenplay and plays the Goatherd.
“It's completely insane to go back to film in your 50s as a woman,” Stronach told Yahoo Entertainment. “It's like everything in our society is telling you that it’s the wrong move — but that’s the move I’m making,” she laughs. It’s taken four years to make , which is in theaters on July 28 and 30 — as well as a gentle push from her husband.
Stronach left Hollywood right as she broke through. She later became a modern dance performer and choreographer. She started her own dance company in 2000, and co-founded (with Steinbruner) the entertainment studio Paper Canoe Company, which creates family-oriented content for stage and screen, 10 years ago when their daughter, Maya, was born.
(Maya also has a role in .) “I was acting, I just wasn't acting in film,” Stronach explained. “It was really my husband.
He said, ‘Don't you think you should do just one more film from your bucket list?’ I said, ‘Why? We have our life and all our projects.’ He said, ‘Let's just do a 10-minute short.’ I said, ‘OK, that will be.