From 1993 until 1999, Fran Drescher delighted viewers on “The Nanny” with her character’s impeccable wardrobe, her snarky remarks, and her endearing relationship she with the preppy Sheffield children. Now, three decades after the pilot episode, the cast of “The Nanny” is unrecognizable, especially the show’s child stars, who have grown up and embarked on their own careers outside of the sitcom.
Among them is Madeline Zima, the girl who played Max’s youngest and cleverest child Grace. She practically grew up in front of the camera, and now, she’s absolutely killing it on screen. Although some cast members from “The Nanny” dropped out of show business, Zima’s career skyrocketed after playing Grace Sheffield. She’s gone on to star in several films, shows, and at one point even ventured into writing and directing her own project. From her first ever role in 1992 up until now, the actor has had an incredible transformation and is barely recognizable today in her 30s. However, there’s so much more to Zima than many realize, including her true feelings about her time on “The Nanny,” her charitable efforts, and her next big Hollywood role.
She comes from a family of actors
The acting bug didn’t just bite Madeline Zima; it bit her two younger sisters, too. Vanessa and Yvonne Zima have been acting since around the time that their elder sister broke into the industry, and they’ve even worked together a handful of times. Vanessa’s first role was on “The Nanny,” playing Grace Sheffield’s friend, and in 2011, she co-starred in “The Absent” with Yvonne. The two younger sisters also worked together on the 2016 TV movie, “Killing Mommy,” although it seems that Madeline is less inclined to collaborate with her sisters on projects.
Zima was asked where the family’s knack for acting came from while in an interview with Switchbox TV, to which she jokingly replied, “I think that we just don’t have any other skill sets.” Zima went on to describe Yvonne as an “avid, voracious reader,” saying that storytelling comes naturally to her youngest sister and that Vanessa has always been a very creative person. Zima explained, “It probably comes from our mom, I mean my mom was a dance instructor and she was in plays and she wrote a book on how to run a dance studio. She was just very much like a renaissance woman.”
Madeline Zima felt like a prop on The Nanny
Rewatching some of our favorite shows years later means we’re likely to pick up on things that we didn’t beforehand. There are plenty of things only adults would notice on “The Nanny,” but few probably picked up on the fact that Madeline Zima wasn’t actually enjoying her time on the show. Her character Grace had unresolved issues, leading her to attend therapy and speak to imaginary friends, but the actor’s unhappiness revolved around how she was treated by others while working on the sitcom.
In 2013, Zima spoke with TV Page about how she felt back then, claiming that she’d had positive experiences on the sets of other projects like “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” but things were different on “The Nanny.” She remarked, “There was just a kindness and a sensitivity that didn’t exist on the set of ‘The Nanny.’ They treated me more like a prop than like a human being. At a certain point, I can’t pretend like it was some great experience anymore.” Zima had spent many years speaking positively about the show due to its massive fanbase, but eventually she grew tired of pretending, saying, “I would rather be honest.”
She still valued her time on the show
Although Madeline Zima admitted that her time on “The Nanny” was less than ideal, it turns out that her discussion about it with TV Page was actually meant to be off the record. In a 2019 interview with KTLA 5, Zima explained that while she stands by her statement, it doesn’t mean that she lost sight of how valuable the work was for her as an actor. “I am grateful for ‘The Nanny’ and the experience … It changed me as a person, but for the best,” she remarked.
In 2020, Zima further discussed what it was like to work on the sitcom as a child actor and practically grow up in front of the camera in an interview for “The Morning Show.” She said that she acted on “The Nanny” between the ages of 6 and 13, adding that “those are pretty intense years to be involved in something like this!” However, in this time, Zima got to learn the ins and outs of the industry up close at an impressionable age. “I got a firsthand masterclass in sitcom comedy and professionalism,” she explained. And to top it all off, Zima viewed Fran Drescher as a remarkable role model because she had been the brains behind “The Nanny” to begin with.
Working with Glenne Headly was a turning point for Madeline Zima
The way child stars are treated early in their career can forever form how they grow up and whether they decide to pursue acting in their adult life. By the time “The Nanny” wrapped, Madeline Zima had been in quite a few films and television shows, but it wasn’t until she was barely a teen that she made the decision to continue acting long term.
Zima had been cast in the 2000 TV movie “The Sandy Bottom Orchestra,” and this changed everything for her. As she told Cryptic Rock in a 2019 interview, “At the time, I was really interested in Greek mythology. … That film, and the way Glenne Headly and Tom Irwin treated me, changed me as a person and artist. I look at that as a turning point that I decided I wanted to pursue this. I felt that storytelling had a lineage all the way back to ancient Greece that can be a profound way for people to heal and understand their lives.”
From that point, Zima’s career flourished as she went on to book parts on shows like “King of the Hill” and “Gilmore Girls,” as well as movies like “A Cinderella Story” and “Looking for Sunday.” Where she may not have had the most positive experience working in the industry as a kid, Zima now knew what it felt like to be respected and uplifted while working with other actors.
