"Thanks for coming! I'm Abby."
And so begins a roundtable conversation with the Oscar-nominated, occasionally poised, Abigail Breslin.
The 13-year-old actor responds to each reporter's introduction with a "hi," "hello" or "nice to meet you."
She's at the Park Hyatt in Toronto to promote her latest film, My Sister's Keeper. The weeper is directed by Nick Cassavetes.
When she finds out that a representative from Simon and Schuster, publisher of the novel on which the movie is based, is in the room she exclaims, "I love books!"
But really, she's here for the shopping. More on that later.
"When I first read the script, um, you know, I sort of looked at the characters, and, you know, I think that my character is put in a really hard situation from the day that she's born," Breslin explains.
"She's having to help her sister and she's doing it, you know, happily. But now she's put in a situation where she has to choose between her sister and her family. I thought that it was just a really hard situation and I sort of liked that there were no, like, bad guys in the movie. They're all doing what they think is right."
In the film, Breslin plays a child named Anna. Her character's sister, Kate, is dying of leukemia. A kidney donation from Anna would save Kate's life, but Anna is unsure.
"I thought when I read it, that, you know, it was sort of a hard movie to - I knew that it was going to be a hard movie to make and a hard movie to watch.
"But, um, I think it's about a family. And as much as there are hard decisions to make and all the things that they're going through, even though they're disconnected from each other, they still all love each other. I think that's important too."
Breslin bonded with the other actors on set, calling her fellow cast members "great," "really good," and "awesome."
But it's hard to push her for specifics. It could be because of the time constraints (five reporters shared ten minutes with the star) the media coaching (mom, manager and a host of other execs are in the room) or because she's, like, you know, 13.
Does she prefer comedies or drama?
"I think that, you know, comedies are really fun. I like doing those. But also, dramas are, you know, good too. Whenever I'm making a movie it's my favourite at the time, and then, you know, next thing I do, that's my favourite. It depends on what movie on making."
When asked if she plans to transition to adult roles, she responds like the professional she is, not willing to limit her options.
"I try to do movies where I like the character, where the character is someone I would like to know, and just do movies that I like and want to have fun with."
But Breslin perks up when the talk turns to her wardrobe. The young star giggles and blushes under her dyed reddish-brown hair when she's complimented on her personal style.
She has worked with a stylist, such as for the MTV Movie Awards (picture above), and her family is a big influence - in more than one way.
"My mom always helps pick, like, different things and put it all together and it's good, I guess.
"I love clothes but unfortunately my dad has put me on a spending diet until July but it's really close now. It's only like 10 more days. On July 1 I am going to my all of my favourite stores. I love Juicy, I like Free People a lot, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, um, yeah. I like actually a store from Toronto, Over the Rainbow. Love that! Roots, love Roots. I just got a bag there. Because my dad didn't tell me anything about, like, accessories, he only said clothes if you think about it. Accessories are fun. And he didn't say that my grandma couldn't buy me things either. So I'm finding all these loopholes and it's great."
She takes a breath (finally) before revealing what she likes about Toronto.
"Yesterday I got to go to Over the Rainbow and Roots and had dinner at Sotto Sotto and it was so good and today we have like a three-hour block so I'm going to go like shopping.
"I'm not going to get to go to the Eaton Centre though, which I'm really sad about, because I love the Eaton Centre, but you know, what can you do? We don't have time."
And, it appears, neither do we. The interview is over and the young star, who still has a limit on the number of hours she can work in a day, is off.
Lower image credit: Breslin poses in the press room during the 18th Annual MTV Movie Awards held at the Gibson Amphitheatre on May 31, 2009 in Universal City, California. Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images.