Mara's chuffed with Thomas role

Off-screen she's endured as much drama as any child should have to, yet 12-year-old Mara Wilson's acting career continues to blossom. A veteran of hit family films Mrs Doubtfire, Miracle On 34th Street and Matilda, it was during the making of this last film that her mother passed away. Supported by her close family - she has three brothers and a younger sister - the pain of this loss is something she has had to come to terms with, and may have played a part in her accepting her leading role in Thomas And The Magic Railroad.

In this big-screen adventure combining live action and model animation, Wilson plays Lily, a lonely little girl who embarks on a magical adventure that brings her closer to her recently-widowed Grandpa (Peter Fonda). Shot on the Isle Of Man last summer, the film took the bemused but remarkably self-assured young actress to Europe for the first time on a job.

'I'd never heard of the Isle Of Man,' she explains. 'And when I told my boy-crazy friends they laughed and asked if they could come here too. Part of the fun of making films is going to different places and meeting different people, and just exploring. But it's not too different working here than it is back home, except we had scones and cream, and chips every day with lunch. And tea breaks. I especially enjoyed them.'

Wilson was already familiar with the Thomas The Tank Engine stories - the American version is called Shining Time Station - so the notion of a film version was not completely new to her (although she still had to vet the script before taking up the job). 'I don't judge scripts by any one special thing,' she explains, 'there are a lot of factors involved. And you want to make sure it's a good script; if it's not that wouldn't be too promising. You want to make sure you have a good part, too.'

Wilson attends a normal school near her LA home between jobs, and the truly impressive thing about her is not what she has achieved in her brief career but how unaffected she seems by it all. She carries with her nice memories of those she has worked with - 'Richard Attenborough and Danny DeVito are the nicest people. Danny plays a lot of nasty characters in films, but he's really not like that at all' - and bears all the hallmarks of a secure and loving upbringing, for which much credit should go to her father and her late mother.

As to the future, what can it hold for someone who has already stolen scenes from a 'dragged up' Robin Williams, and headlined successful comedies of her own? 'I may continue acting,' she adds, thoughtfully, 'but when I'm grown up I think I'd rather be an author.'

Thomas And The Magic Railroad opens Fri 14 Jul.