Imagine not only booking your first-ever acting gig, but also having nearly 130 million people watch it.
That’s the case for 10-year-old Elle Piña, who was featured in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show on Feb. 8 in the second most-watched game of all time, according to the National Football League, and the fourth most-watched halftime show, according to ESPN.
Piña, who is a fourth grader at Skyblue Mesa Elementary School, can be seen in a recorded segment in the “casita,” where Bad Bunny falls through the roof of the house during the live performance and finds himself in the house Piña’s character shares with her immediate family.
Piña’s appearance in the halftime show can be seen at the 3:27 mark of the show.
“I’ve listened to Bad Bunny’s songs in the past, but I just started listening to him even more. My favorite song is ‘DtMF.’ There were four other girls. And my producer picked me. There was a resumé, and I had to fill out everything. I put a picture of me, my age, my height, all my weight and stuff,” Piña said.
Piña is following the footsteps of her father, Taylor, who is a stuntman and had heard about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I’m a stuntman myself, and so is my girlfriend, and she heard through one of her other coworkers that they were looking for a girl that was between the ages of 8 and 10 that’s athletic and could be doing the stunts for this. So we submitted her, they loved her look and they chose her right away. She just kind of went through the motions,” Taylor said.
According to Taylor, Piña had a fitting the day before, so she was able to tour the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Downtown Los Angeles.
Piña did not tell any of her friends that she was going to be in the segment, yet all of her friends recognized her.
“My friends came up to me and said, ‘OMG, you were in the Super Bowl.’ I thought they may recognize me a bit,” Piña said. “We had to do our precautions. When we got down there, we took like five or six takes of us sitting down and reacting when [Bad Bunny] is falling through the roof. Then we did five or six more takes of us standing up, and my fake dad hugging me and we’re all scared and excited.”
With filming taking place a little over a week before the Super Bowl, Piña even had the chance to meet Bad Bunny himself.
“For our part, he was there for an hour and a half, then he was gone. He had to go film something else for the Super Bowl. Then that weekend that we filmed was actually the weekend of the Grammys, so he had to prepare for that, too. He was very busy,” Taylor said.
Taylor is proud of his daughter’s accomplishment and is even planning the next steps for Piña’s acting career.
“I was so proud. She did such a good job on the day, and she was very professional. She even put the clothes back on the hanger and handed it to the wardrobe ladies. They adored her, and they just thought she was so sweet and professional,” Taylor said. “That’s a dream first job. Now she’s going to be in the union for Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and we’re going to try and get her an agent.”
Piña looks forward to taking on future roles, but nothing will compare to her first paid gig.
“I felt cooler,” Piña said.