WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE A... (THIRD OF 10 PARTS)

Six-year-old Maddison Aslinger of Cape Girardeau giggles when she explains her reason for wanting to become an actress.

"So I can meet Leonardo DiCaprio," she said. "He's cute."

Aslinger has seen "Titanic" several times and has decided she wants to play the part of Rose, originally played by British actress Kate Winslet.

"I need to grow some hair and teeth though," she said, showing off the gap where her two front teeth used to be.

"And I need to color my hair red and make my hair curly," she said.

Acting is like playing, she said, and it would let her go in front of people and do things. She also likes the idea of dressing up, which makes acting a lot like Halloween.

But even though she thinks being an actress would be fun, she knows it is hard work as well. Perhaps she knows how hard it is because she has already been in a few productions.

She was in a Halloween play and a Christmas play when she was in kindergarten in St. Louis. She was also in a Thanksgiving play at Friends Forever Preschool in Cape Girardeau. She played a pilgrim.

If she can't be an actress, she wants to be a singer. She said she already knows a lot of James Taylor songs and sings along with songs on the radio. But acting, she said, is more fun.

Though she wants to be an actress in the movies, she knows that she needs to stay in school and learn more. Plus, she doesn't think she's old enough to be an actress quite yet.

"You have to be 23," she said.

Why 23?

"Because that's how old Leonardo is," she said.