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Alicia Witt Is No Longer ‘Embarrassed’ by ‘Child Prodigy Label’ After Filming David Lynch’s Dune Aged 7

'Longlegs' star Alicia Witt tells PEOPLE that playing Alia Atreides in David Lynch's 1984 sci-fi movie ‘Dune’ at only age 7 “led me to my destiny” as an actress and musician.

Now 48, Witt debuted as the psychically powered Alia Atreides, the younger sister of (played by Kyle MacLachlan), messiah of the desert planet Arrakis. Like Denis Villeneuve’s recent Timothée Chalamet-starring movies, the 1984 Dune was adapted from Frank Herbert’s hit sci-fi novel of 1965. Around the same time as her Hollywood breakout, the Massachusetts native also found a “way of connecting and expressing, which I was craving”: taking piano lessons with accomplished pianists.

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