- April 24, 2024
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Palm Coast's own Ansleigh Clark makes her debut on national television March 12 with an appearance on "Little Big Shots."
The popular NBC show, executive produced by Ellen DeGeneres and hosted by Steve Harvey, features everyday children with special talents or those who have been in the public eye.
It's not the first time Ansleigh has captivated audiences before. The 4-year-old became an overnight sensation after a video her dad took of her tearfully explaining why she gave herself a really bad haircut a year earlier went viral on YouTube (watch the clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thd71AIaslE).
In a recent interview at her home, Ansleigh explained how the incident happened.
"I snuck out of my room," said Ansleigh with a bashful, slightly mischievous grin. "I ... got the scissors. ... And then Daddy came in."
"I was like kind of like, what?" recalled Chad Clark, Ansleigh's father.
"And I had only been gone one hour. Just one hour," said Jennifer Clark, Ansleigh's mom, adding that she had just left town for a trip.
Chad Clark decided to record his daughter's response on his phone. In the video, Ansleigh tries to explain why she chopped her bangs and the sides of her blonde hair off -- in her dad's words -- into a "mullet," saying she was practicing her skills to be like her favorite hairstylist. When Dad says that's not the way to do it, Ansleigh insists she'll "get new hair."
"I didn't know it would be such a big deal," Ansleigh still recently insisted, making the rest of her family laugh.
After Chad Clark shared the video on social media, it exploded, garnering 10,000 viewers in just an hour, and hundreds of thousands more days later.
Ansleigh is one of five children in the Clark household and easily the most spunky and outgoing, according to her sister McKenzie, 17.
"She's just her own person, I don't know where she picks it up," said McKenzie, who attends Flagler Palm Coast High School.
Ansleigh's other siblings include sister Savannah, 16, also a student at FPCHS; and brother Hayden, 3. Ansleigh attends Christ the King School's pre-K program and will turn 5 in May. She enjoys singing, playing with her brother, and riding in her pink-and-purple electric car.
Jennifer Clark is a middle school math teacher at the Imagine School, while her husband is a pastor at Parkview Baptist Church. The family moved to Palm Coast from St. Augustine last year.
The Clarks received a call last July from the producers of "Little Big Shots" inviting Ansleigh to appear on the television series. They agreed and were flown out to Los Angeles for the filming.
"When I went on to the show, I got a little nervous," said Ansleigh, adding, "And they did my hair."
Ansleigh also had the chance to try out her own hairdressing skills, with Harvey donning a big Afro-style wig and asking Ansleigh to cut his hair on stage.
"I didn't do such a good job," said Ansleigh, shaking her head. "I just cut some of the curls off."
Since her original bad haircut video, Ansleigh has gone on to further YouTube fame, with other out takes revealing why she wants so desperately to be a mermaid, and her pondering the meaning of Christmas.
Does she still want to be a hairdresser when she grows up?
Maybe, Ansleigh thinks, or something in showbiz instead.
You could say she's not off to a bad start.
