After being introduced to classic films by her father and finding a home in various fandoms, Baker began to dream of her name in the lights. Her parents kept her grounded, though, establishing a balance between career and education early in her youth. “I was fortunate enough to have a space where that was nourished, protected and valued. My dad really valued education and made sure that I was staying on top of my schoolwork. I think it was just a really good, firm foundation where I was able to kind of fall in love with the things that were interesting to me at the moment.“ When Baker was 10, her mother gave her an ultimatum during their long commute to auditions – book something or move on. A year to the day, Malia booked a role on Netflix’s The Babysitters’ Club, and a few years later, snagged another starring role on Disney’s Descendants. 

Stepping into these two very important franchises was a daunting challenge, but one Baker was prepared for. “I was a part of the audience that was, like, “They better do this right. They better like, have a really, really good reboot.” And I think that that was a blessing in disguise, of being able to feel so good and so secure in what we were doing as a team and as a creative force, to then feel like we were giving an accurate representation and an accurate ode, if that makes sense.” Baker also celebrates what makes her different in an America-centric industry. “I’m very fortunate for a Canadian upbringing. I really couldn’t imagine being introduced to ‘Tim Beebs’ any other way!” 

Baker’s journey to Descendants wasn’t seamless. She passed on the audition for Cinderella’s daughter, Chloe Charming, in Disney’s Descendants, not once but twice. “I got the audition, and I was like, I literally cannot do this, because I think I’m not good enough to get this, and I want it to be done perfectly.” Several audition rounds later, she got the role and credits it for changing her life. “I think there’s those key, pivotal moments in your lifespan that kind of change the course of what was supposed to happen.” Even with a musical theatre and acting background, so much was new about the Disney moviemaking experience, especially the performance aspect, but Baker worked at it and quickly became a fan favourite in the Descendants franchise. Her training on set prepared her for a joint Descendants x Zombies tour last summer, which Baker referred to as akin to a high school/college experience. “I think it was a really amazing opportunity to stretch and grow, not only as a creative but as an individual and as a young girl.” 

As for the Chloe Charming doll, Baker is still adjusting. “The first time that I saw somebody holding it was at D23 a couple of years ago now, and I cried. The easy answer is that I cried my little eyes out. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever. I don’t think that’ll ever fully hit me. It still, honestly, hasn’t. I have kids that I used to babysit who send me photos with their dolls.” To immerse herself in the mindset of each persona, she makes a playlist. “Music was a really big way of kind of locking into that gear.” Baker surprisingly listens to a lot of punk rock to get into the mind of Chloe Charming. “It’s not at all what you think of when you see her and get to listen to her. And I think it comes out later in this next movie in particular.”

If Disney’s Descendants was Baker’s high school/college, then Hair of the Bear was the graduate program. The survivalist thriller follows Tori, a young girl with debilitating anxiety, who finds herself in a deadly game of cat and mouse in a remote frozen wilderness. When she was approached by writer-directors James McClellan and Alexandre Trudeau at just 13 years old for the starring role, she came armed with notes of her own after reading the script. “I was like, ‘Love you guys! Love what you’re writing! Feeling like you don’t fully know what it’s like as a young mixed girl in this generation with anxiety, and you don’t have anyone on your team that would know that either.’” 

During the next four years of pre-production, the duo shaped the script with the help of Baker, who pulled from her own mental health experiences. “I think anxiety was the biggest role in how I was able to shape Tori and make that a bigger conversation.” Over time, her support with the script also blossomed into a natural curiosity about the production process, and her input earned her an executive producer credit. Baker thoroughly enjoyed learning more about filmmaking and describes this time as being a “kid in a candy shop.” Hair of the Bear challenged her as a creative professional and as a person. “I feel very fortunate in being able to stretch and bend my wings in those ways because it’s hard to find those opportunities where you feel like you can fully do that. There’s also this weird stereotype of, like ‘Disney actors and Disney kids.’ I think there is always a fear of being labelled as something that you don’t necessarily want to develop and stay put and stay stagnant in.”

When Baker was younger, she was asked how it felt to be the voice of a generation. As an activist currently serving as a champion for “Girl Up” and the first-ever Youth Global Ambassador for “She’s the First,” she’s done her best to live by her values, but that question still rings in her mind. Talking to her younger self, she says, “You’re not the voice of your generation. Love you loads! You can be the voice of the people that you get to speak to and to the people that maybe don’t have a voice, that are able to watch you and like what you do.” 

As concerned as she is with the state of the world, she has learned it’s not only up to her to change the world. “I can always hope that I can change one person’s mind, or, like, get somebody interested, but I also have learned to stop putting that pressure on myself.” She also sees her roles as an extension of her values. “That’s why I think I pride myself on, like being a part of The Babysitters Club or Descendants or even Hair of the Bear. They’re all strong female leads, and they’re all women of colour, and they’re all creative people that I’m proud to be a part of. I feel like that’s my way of contributing to what the world, unfortunately, can look like in really, really hard times.”

As Baker approaches her 20s, she’s often reflecting on her past ages, both in real life and through film. “I was always playing older, or just, my age growing up. It was something that was always far away and sort of not even reachable, of that self-awareness, of how you can be at that age. You can always try to get there, but it was never quite close. Now, I know exactly what 16 felt like. I know exactly where I was in life at that stage, and I’m able to kind of put myself back there, but it is a strange thing. It’s something that I’m very grateful to be able to do.” She’s able to look back on each stage with the grace and forgiveness she couldn’t give herself in the moment. 

Baker is also excited about the chance to share this new side of herself through Hair of the Bear. “Watching that human story of meeting all the odds and getting to that place, even if that place isn’t necessarily something that you ever thought you would be or where you’d be in the world, I think, is really inspiring. I hope people get inspired by that and feel like they’re being seen and understood in a way. That’s what art allows us to do, to feel loved.”