Sophie Rudin says she's a little like Tootie, the character she plays in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Meet Me in St. Louis.

"She has a great relationship with her family," said Sophie, nine, of West Orange. "She loves dolls, and so do I — I have like a million. She's not a girly-girl, and I'm not a girly-girl. And she has an older sister who she loves, and I also love my older sister."

That's Sophie as the curtain rises, tossing a rock in a game of hopscotch in the stage version of the famed 1944 MGM musical, best known for Judy Garland's performance of the title song and "The Trolley Song." Margaret O'Brien played Tootie in the film.

Sophie, a fourth-grade student at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in West Orange, has a growing list of professional credits. They include roles in The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center Theater, A Wonderful Life at the Paper Mill, and PBS and History Channel promos. Currently, she's up for a role in a major motion picture.

"I love meeting and working with great actors and directors," said Sophie, sitting on the sofa in her home, her toes nowhere near the carpeted floor. "I learn a lot from them, and it's fun — the whole experience. I love meeting everyone backstage, getting to sing and dance with great actors."

She is poised in the company of adults, and quick to strike a pose when a camera makes its appearance.

Occasionally she misses school, but she doesn't worry too much.

"My teachers are really great. They understand it's a really good experience. They sometimes meet me at lunch and help me catch up on what I missed," she said.

While in The Coast of Utopia, however, she missed enough school to warrant a private tutor.

Rudin started acting at age five, when she landed a role at the Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center in West Orange, in an Under the Stars series production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

"I thought it would be a lot of fun for her to be involved in," said her mother, Joyce. (Sophie's father, Moshe, is religious leader of Temple Hatikvah in Flanders and principal of Schechter's lower school in Cranford. Sophie has two half-siblings from her father's previous marriage.)

"And I liked it, so I did more," said Sophie.

Since then, she's performed in a variety of shows at OSPAC as well as in productions of JCC MetroWest's theater companies. Two year ago, her mother engaged an agent (Don Buchwald & Associates) and manager (RKS Management) for her.

"People said to me, ‘Get her to New York,'" said Joyce. "They thought she was a child who would do well in theater based on what she had been doing."

She goes into auditions expecting little — "I get about one role for every 20 auditions," she said. And her parents are protective of her. Until this article, they haven't allowed any reporters to interview Sophie, and they screen every role the manager recommends.

"If there's ever an issue of material or content we think is not appropriate for Sophie, then she doesn't go" to the audition, said Joyce. No-go's include horror films and anything graphic or violent. "I think it's very important that she have roles that are good roles that are fun and wholesome and that show her as a child," said Joyce.

For now, Sophie seems to be enjoying the theater, particularly when her friends come to see her. As for her future, well, she said, "I want to act until I'm 40. Then I want to be a psychologist. I think it would be fun to help people."

Meet Me in St. Louis at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn opened Nov. 7 and runs through Dec. 16. For information or tickets, contact the box office or call 973-376-4343.