Kiwi actress Stefania LaVie Owen has landed her first major Hollywood role - at the age of 17.
Owen, from Wellington, will feature alongside Katie Holmes in the movie All We Had, which will also be Holmes' directorial debut.
Holmes, the former wife of actor Tom Cruise, will play a single mother with Owen her daughter and their struggles during the worldwide financial crisis of 2008. The pair move to the small town of Grand River, Ohio to start a new life.
Owen's parents, Margarita and Mark, are with their daughter in New York for filming and said they were excited by her new opportunity.
Working with Hollywood actors is nothing new for Owen, though. She's best known for her role as Dorrit Bradshaw in The Carrie Diaries and she also starred in the Peter Jackson-directed The Lovely Bones. In 2006, she also played a small role in the Sony/Miramax production The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.
Owen's New Zealand agent, Imogen Johnson, said Owen had taken on a series of roles since the The Lovely Bones but it was her part in The Carrie Diaries that seemed to boost her career.
Owen will soon be seen alongside Adam Scott (Step Brothers, Friends With Kids) and Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine, Muriel's Wedding) in the NZ-filmed comedy sci-fi horror Krampus.