The Mysterious Benedict Society recently finished its Season 1 run on Disney+, leaving fans and critics impressed.
The family-friendly series pulled high rankings on popular critic websites and left fans begging for a series renewal. Starring in this show as the gifted student Constance Contraire is Russian actor Marta Kessler.
Kessler has been acting for years, building herself a hearty reputation in her home country. She appeared as a series regular on the Russian television series Psikhologini, Call DiCaprio!, and The Others — testing the waters in a variety of different genres.
Following these projects (and many others), she joined the Disney+ cast of The Mysterious Benedict Society, acting alongside actors Tony Hale, Kristen Schaal, and Mystic Inscho.
When asked about her future plans, the 12-year-old actor told Monsters & Critics, “I actually don’t know who I’m going to be when I grow up. I think I want to be an actress but I’m not sure, I may change my mind.”
She added, “When I was in Vancouver, we were shooting in a beautiful place, it was called the University of Emily Carr, and I really liked it. It was so beautiful. I think it could be interesting to study there. I could become a designer if I change my mind about acting because I like making some interesting things, some designs of runes and clothes and I love drawing as well.”
The Mysterious Benedict Society tested Kessler’s smarts as it threw her character in a myriad of challenging adventures. In the series, she portrayed Constance, a very stubborn and brilliant young mind. She is often short-tempered and refuses to put up with the mundane. Always dressed in pale pink attire, the character is chosen by the notorious genius, Mr. Benedict, to help save the world.
Monsters & Critics was able to ask Kessler a few questions to get to know her better. Here are five fun facts about the young actor.
Auditioning for The Mysterious Benedict Society
Kessler read The Mysterious Benedict Society book series after auditioning for her role — and she encourages all of her followers to read them too.
Kessler shared, “When I had the first audition I didn’t even know there was a book. After reading the first scene, I thought that I was going to play Kate, but later my mom said that I’m playing Constance. But I was still happy with my role, of course. After that, we bought all three books of The Mysterious Benedict Society and I read them all and I loved them! I told my friends: you know, I read these really good books, I advise you to read them too – and they read them and now they’re watching the Mysterious Benedict Society.”
The last show Kessler enjoyed was called Upright, an Australian television series that follows two misfits who embark on a wild adventure to drive a piano across the country.
When asked about her favorite show, the Constance star expressed, “The last show I liked was called ‘Upright.’ It’s a road-trip movie about a girl who crashes into a car of a man who has a piano in his trailer. Then they have a lot of adventures with the old piano.”
Praising Milly Alcock’s acting in the series, she added, “She played her role so well, sometimes I would forget that I was watching a movie!”
She also enjoys anime. Kessler told Monsters & Critics that she’s a huge fan of animator Hayao Miyazaki.
She said, “I also love all cartoons by Hayao Miyazaki. I think I have watched them all, but my favorite one is Spirited Away. I love the music in it, it’s such a great anime cartoon!”
Getting to know Kesser
Kessler is an animal person. While Kessler’s favorite animal is the elephant, she also loves dolphins and cats.
Sharing a funny story about her cat Mira, she shared, “I have a cat, her name is Mira. I got it a funny way. I was working on a movie about an astronaut and I was playing his daughter. And the man who played the astronaut, Evgeniy Mironov, asked me right on the set, ‘What do you want most in your life?’ And I said that I really want a kitty, an orange kitty.”
Kessler continued, adding, “The next day someone knocked on my door. We saw a woman with a bag and I thought that was just a bag, maybe with something my mom needed, but then I opened it and saw a cat in there. I was so happy! I didn’t believe it was real and that I wasn’t sleeping.”
Her favorite school subject is French. Kessler gushed about how she really enjoys learning French and that it’s a ‘beautiful’ language.
“I think my favorite subject in school is French because I love my French teacher. When I first came to school after 6 months of acting in Canada, I didn’t know any French because the school didn’t send us that language program. So it was a problem. Then I started learning it, just trying to reach the level that everybody in my class had, and it was really fun because sometimes I had special lessons only with my French teacher,” she shared.
The bilingual actor added, “It was really fun, she was telling me some stories in French. I’m happy about my class actually. And there were 2 options: to learn Spanish or French. I like Spanish, but I decided to go with French because I really love how it sounds, how some words are spelled, it’s a very beautiful language and I’m so glad I’m learning it!”
The Mysterious Benedict Society is streaming on Disney+.