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Making her way from the small screen—with roles on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Pushing Daisies—to the big screen in The Greening of Whitey Brown, Sammi Hanratty stars along side one of America’s most beloved models-turned-actresses, Brooke Shields. In the film, Hanratty plays a popular teen who loses her high school crown when her family faces financial hardship, forcing them to leave the city. ELLEgirl caught up with the ascending actress to talk about her love for horses, how she avoids cliques, and why she stands tall against bullying.

ELLE Girl (EG): How does your life mimic your character’s life?

Sammi Hanratty (SH): Well, it’s funny, because right after the movie, I ended up moving away to more of a small town. I had been living in L.A. before. It feels like more of a small town because everybody’s close and there are a lot of farms. I’m close to a lot of nature, like beaches and mountains. It’s very peaceful there.

EG: Bob, your horse, is your main companion in the film. Did you have any experience with horses or riding before filming?

SH: I rode him for two weeks before, just to try to get use to it, because I had never ridden a horse before. And the first day I got there, they had me standing up on a him and riding him backwards, doing these things I had ever thought I would do.

EG: And now you own a horse?

SH: I have a Gypsy Vanner. He looks just like Bob, except he’s a little bit different. His name is Jack.

EG: Do you have any other pets?

SH: I have a Papillion-Yorkie mix—she’s my little baby—and a German Shepard, and I’ve got two cats, plus now I have the horse. And I’m allergic to all of them. But I’ve become pretty much immune to all of them.

EG: Your character goes from being the head of the popular girls to being the outsider in a small town. How do you avoid cliques?

SH: I have a bunch of different groups of friends. They’re all completely opposite. I think you have to have your good group of friends that you can go to and that you can trust and stuff like that, but I don’t like girls that get together and gossip. That’s not what my friends do. We talk about animals. We talk about horses.

EG: Can you tell us about Bully Bust?

SH: Yes, I work with an organization called Bully Bust. It’s against school bullying. I’ve been part of it for four years now. I’ve traveled to many schools and talked about school bullying. There’s so many different ways to be bullied, but cyber bullying is one of the main ways—through twitter, Facebook, and all these websites. It’s one of those things where they would never say these things to your face—I mean, I hope they wouldn’t—it’s so much easier to write it and send it and let the whole world can see what they’re saying.

EG: Do you have a Twitter or Facebook account?

SH: I’ve got Twitter and Facebook, but my mom controls most of that. I’ve got Twitter on my phone and I think it’s fun, because I’m like, “hey, I just ate a cupcake,” and some people actually care. And, you know, I’ve been talking about the movie all day today, because I’m really excited and I want people to see it. I think it’s a good way for me to communicate with my fans.

EG: Would you ever perform on Broadway, like your co-star and mother in the film, Brooke Shields?

SH: I don’t think I could ever be on Broadway or anything like that. It sounds so scary. It sounds like an audition—going in front of a bunch of people— every time you are on stage. I don’t know how Brooke does it.

EG: What’s next after The Greening of Whitney Brown?

SH: I just finished shooting in Lake Arrowhead on a movie called Amazing Love. It’s a Christian film with Sean Satin and Patty Duke—yes, his mom is in it! The Greening of Whitney Brown is in theaters now!