Where Is Shawna Waldron Now? The Icebox Who Became a Filmmaker

By CelebPaid Editorial Team · 8 min read

Thematic illustration: film production equipment, evoking Waldron's filmmaking career. This is a generic image, not a photo of the subject.Image via Wikimedia Commons

She was the toughest kid on the field — the only girl on the pee-wee team, the one who hit so hard they called her “Icebox.” Shawna Waldron played Becky O'Shea in Little Giants (1994), the tomboy who dropped the pom-poms and became the heart of the underdog team. Then she grew up, changed positions, and moved behind the camera. This is the verified story of where Shawna Waldron is now.

The Peak: Icebox and the Little Giants Moment (1994-2000)

Waldron was eleven when Little Giants was released by Warner Bros. on October 14, 1994. Casting director Janet Hirshenson said she was perfect for Becky “Icebox” O'Shea — the girl cut from her uncle's team for being a girl, who convinces her father to start a rival squad of misfits. It was her feature film debut (the earlier The New Kid was never released).

The film, starring Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill as rival brothers coaching opposing pee-wee teams, became a family classic. Waldron's Icebox — tough, loyal, and unwilling to accept “no” — was the emotional center. She'd done commercial work before, but this was the role that defined her.

She followed it immediately with The American President (1995) as Lucy Shepherd, the First Daughter opposite Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. Then television: Family Rules (1999), Ladies Man (2000). She was building a solid career — not a superstar, but a working actress.

The Little Giants Ensemble: A Team On and Off Screen

Little Giants was an ensemble by design — the misfits vs. the elite, a roster of kid characters each with a quirk. Waldron's Becky was the anchor, but the team included Junior Floyd (Devon Sawa, who'd go on to Final Destination and Idle Hands), Rashid “Hot Hands” Hanon (Troy Simmons), Rudy Zolteck, Tad Simpson, Johnny Vennaro (Jon Paul Steuer), Jake Berman (Todd Bosley, later of Scrubs), and the brains behind the “Annexation of Puerto Rico” play, Nubie (Mathew McCurley).

The villain was Spike Hammersmith (Sam Horrigan), the star of the Urbania Cowboys — the elite team coached by Kevin O'Shea (Ed O'Neill), who'd cut Becky for being a girl. Her father Danny (Rick Moranis), Kevin's less-decorated brother, starts the rival Little Giants. It's the classic underdog formula, and it worked because the kids sold it.

Waldron, at eleven, held her own against Moranis and O'Neill — two established comedy stars. Her Becky wasn't cute or precocious; she was tough. When she drops the pom-poms (she'd been a cheerleader) to play football, it's not a gimmick — it's a declaration. Hirshenson, the casting director, said Waldron was immediately her favorite for the role. “I think immediately she was my favorite,” Hirshenson said. “She just — I thought was perfect.”

The American President: From Pee-Wee to the White House

The year after Little Giants, Waldron played Lucy Shepherd in Rob Reiner's The American President (1995) — the First Daughter, opposite Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd and Annette Bening as his love interest. It was a prestige project, a romantic dramedy from the director of When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.

As Lucy, Waldron played the president's teenage daughter — navigating adolescence in the White House, dealing with her father's dating life. It was a different kind of role from Icebox: less physical, more emotional, a kid growing up in an impossible situation. She was twelve, acting opposite one of the biggest movie stars in the world.

The film was a critical and commercial success, and Waldron's performance was solid. It should have been a launching pad. Instead, it was the peak of her mainstream career — the television work that followed (Family Rules, Ladies Man) was steady but smaller, and the indie films of the 2000s and 2010s were a different world entirely.

The Indie Years: Poison Ivy to Teacher (2008-2019)

Waldron's adult acting career was in independent film — smaller budgets, darker material, fewer eyeballs. Poison Ivy: The Secret Society (2008) cast her as a seductive college student, a deliberate break from the tomboy image. NightLights (2014) and Stitch (2014) were indie dramas. Dead Man Rising (2016) was a genre piece.

Her last credit, Teacher (2019), starred David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight, Ant-Man), Kevin Pollak, and Curtis Edward Jackson. Waldron had a supporting role in the drama about a high school teacher. It was a respectable indie — the kind of film that plays festivals, not multiplexes.

Twenty-two credits, from 1994 to 2019. Not a superstar's filmography, but a working actor's — and then a filmmaker's. The transition behind the camera wasn't a retreat; it was a promotion.

The Shift: Indie Films and Behind the Camera (2008-2019)

Waldron's later acting work moved to independent film: Poison Ivy: The Secret Society (2008), NightLights (2014), Dead Man Rising (2016), and Teacher (2019) with David Dastmalchian — her most recent on-screen appearance. Twenty-two acting credits total, spanning 1994 to 2019.

But the real shift was behind the camera. According to her Facebook profile, Waldron now works as a freelance filmmaker in Los Angeles. She's traded the pee-wee field for the production office — directing, producing, and shaping stories instead of performing them.

The Person: Married in Los Angeles

Waldron is married to Adam Dick, a screenwriter known for NightLights (2014) and Teacher (2019) — they reportedly met on the set of Nightlights and married on September 8, 2019. They live in Los Angeles. She keeps a low profile on social media, with Instagram and Twitter accounts she rarely uses.

She's spoken about Icebox with pride — glad to have inspired young women who saw themselves in the toughest kid on the team. The role that made her famous at eleven still resonates at forty-three. In interviews, she's said she was glad to play a character who showed girls they could be tough, athletic, and unapologetic.

Waldron was born in Glendale, California, and raised in the Los Angeles area — a local kid who became a local filmmaker. The throughline from Icebox to director is clearer than it looks: both are about calling plays, leading a team, and refusing to be sidelined.

Where Is Shawna Waldron Now?

As of 2026, Shawna Waldron works as a freelance filmmaker in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, screenwriter Adam Dick. Her last acting credit was Teacher (2019). She is 43.

Icebox hit hard. Shawna Waldron hits different now — behind the camera, calling the shots.

The Legacy: Little Giants (1994)

Little Giants was the quintessential '90s underdog sports movie: the misfits vs. the elite, the Annexation of Puerto Rico play, the bus full of NFL stars (John Madden, Emmitt Smith, Bruce Smith, Tim Brown, Steve Emtman) arriving to inspire the kids. It was formula, and it was perfect.

Waldron's Becky was the film's secret weapon — not just “the girl,” but the best player, the one whose exclusion drives the plot. In 1994, a tough-talking girl football star was quietly radical. Waldron played her without softening the edges, and a generation of girls remembered.

The film's 20th anniversary in 2014 sparked retrospectives, and Waldron's Icebox was consistently cited as the standout. She wasn't the biggest star — Devon Sawa went on to Final Destination and Idle Hands — but she was the heart.

Then vs Now: Two Chapters

Shawna Waldron played the girl who wouldn't take no for an answer and became the woman who doesn't have to — a filmmaker in Los Angeles, married, working, and proud of the Icebox. The pom-poms stayed on the sidelines. The camera moved behind them.

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