Mykal-Michelle Harris Reveals How She’s Just Like ‘Mixed-ish’s Santamonica: We’re ‘Very Confident’

Michael Buckner for HollywoodLife

Mykal-Michelle Harris is a total scene-stealer on ‘mixed-ish.’ HL spoke EXCLUSIVELY with the talented rising star all about that Santamonica sass and her special bond with ‘granddad’ and co-star Gary Cole.

Mykal-Michelle Harris has burst onto the Hollywood scene playing the adorable and hilarious Santamonica on ABC’s new series mixed-ish. That Santamonica sass is truly amazing to watch. Mykal-Michelle embraces the character fully and is giving one of the best performances by a child actor on television right now. For the 7-year-old, she finds that she’s a lot like her character, even though they’re growing up in different decades. “I think I’m like her because we both have loving families,” Mykal-Michelle told HollywoodLife. “We both have the best mom and dad. We both have brothers and sisters, although I have more than her. We both really, really love our family. We both have that fashion. We’re both very confident in ourselves. We love to help people.”

Fans instantly fell in love with the pint-sized sass master from the moment mixed-ish premiered. “I think they love her because she’s really a scene-stealer and she loves to play with her brother and sister and listen to them getting in trouble,” Mykal-Michelle continued. “Today, I was doing the scene where we were sitting next to the door and we were like, ‘I want to hear Rainbow get in trouble for yelling at grown folks.’ So it’s really cool. I love her sass. I think they love her sass and how she’s always sassy towards her brother and sister.”

Mykal-Michelle teased that Santamonica is going to get a “new friend” that she’s “super-duper excited” about. However, this friendship doesn’t turn out quite like Santamonica hoped. “Then she meets her and she ain’t too Santamonica-ish,” Mykal-Michelle said.

Over the course of the first season, it’s become clear that Santamonica and her grandfather, Harrison, have a special bond. Mykal-Michelle loves working with Gary Cole — and even calls him granddad! “He is super amazing. He’s super funny, too,” the actress continued. “Harrison is always doing special things for the kids, taking them out sometimes, and all that stuff. I love my grandfather [on mixed-ish] because I never met my grandfather. I even call him [Gary Cole] granddad because I run around calling them mom, dad, sister, brother, granddad because it feels like another family to me. At the beginning, he had to get used to it because he doesn’t have grandkids.”

Mykal-Michelle hasn’t met Rashida Jones, the older version of Santamonica, yet but she really wants to. “I really, really want to meet her because Johan has met his match. Miss Tracee [Ellis Ross] always comes on the set, so we’ve all met her,” Mykal-Michelle said.

She may be just 7 years old but Mykal-Michelle has big dreams. “I want to direct, create, executive produce, write. I want to do everything,” she told HollywoodLife. She also has a message for fans of mixed-ish. “I want to say that whoever you are, whether you’re different than other people, whether you’re a different skin tone or have different hair, it really doesn’t matter, that is your superpower,” she said. “Be confident and be strong so that, if you’re a child, when you grow up you can be an amazing, wonderful woman or man. I love you. I love you super-duper much.” Mixed-ish airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.