Oleynik Has Some Magic Of Her Own

Tommy Lynch wanted to produce a show about a young teenager “who wasn’t the best kid, the best athlete, the smartest in school, the best-looking, but also wasn’t the weirdest. Just an average kid.”

“I wanted to explore that territory if they were suddenly empowered with superpowers,” he continued.

Nickelodeon loved Lynch’s script but thought he should consider one small revision to the lead character: “Can you change it to a girl?”

“I literally was stunned,” he said. “I told them I had to think about it overnight.

“It was the best idea we got on the show.”

And the change created an opening for appealing 13-year-old actress Larisa Oleynik.

Welcome to “The Secret World of Alex Mack,” which runs on Nickelodeon Saturday nights (repeating Sundays).

Larisa Oleynik has stepped in as Nickelodeon’s Saturday-night female role model. A self-conscious tomboy who glows neon green - what more can you ask for?

Well, she does have those superpowers, courtesy of a spill from an overturned chemical truck. She has the ability to transform herself into a liquid and travel unnoticed. She can use telekinesis to control the movement of people and objects.

“I liked her from the beginning, when I read about her being embarrassed by her Barbie lunchbox,” Oleynik said of her character. “I think she’s a lot like me in some ways - the way that we think and stuff.”

Of course, Oleynik doesn’t have superpowers - unless you count her budding stage presence.

But if she did, Oleynik said she would use her abilities much the same way Alex does.

“I wouldn’t use them to save the world or anything. I would probably just use them for my own (enjoyment).”