Horror fans, your childhood is on the phone! It wants to know if you remember R.L. Stine’s The Haunted Mask? Come to think of it… What ever happened to that little girl who played Carly Beth Caldwell?
Kathryn Long was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during July of 1982. She was a talented actress and dancer, and this thirst for the performing arts lead her around the western hemisphere and onto networks being broadcast worldwide.
Her first on screen credit came in the form of a cameo appearance in the horror-thriller When the Dark Man Calls (1995). It wasn’t long before she was cast in another project, this time in a recurring role on the Emmy Award winning series “Avonlea” in 1996. In the following years Kathryn landed guest spots on “Forever Knight” in 1996 and “PSI: Chronicles of the Paranormal” in 1997 as well as a supporting role in the 1998 musical Degas and the Dancer.
Horror fans will perhaps recognize Ms. Long as Carly Beth Caldwell in R.L. Stine’s The Haunted Mask and its sequel The Haunted Mask II. In these television movies, broken up into two parts each, Carly is a pre-teen who buys a mask from a Halloween shop. She is battling with her own personal demons including the desire to fit in and doubts about her own self worth, but a sinister real life demon lurks inside her mask. After donning the green, lumpy, toothy mask, Carly finds that it has fused to her skin and she is unable to take it off. Shortly after that, she begins acting strangely and comes to the conclusion that the mask is taking over control of her body.
When her involvement with R.L. Stine was complete, Kathryn returned to the Nickelodeon channel briefly with a guest spot on “Are You Afraid of the Dark” in 1999. She continued this small television streak by returning to her recurring role in the family-drama “Wind at My Back,” a role she appeared in from 1996-1990.
So, where is Kathryn Long now?
Kathryn finished up her stint on “Wind at My Back” in 2000 and found herself next in the Aaron Ashmore movie Le porte-boheur (2001) in which she had a supporting role. Her last acting gig would be a cameo in the 2002 dramatic comedy Crossing the Line.
Ms. Long retired from acting in 2002. Instead of giving up on performing all together, she decided to return to her original background and began touring as a dancer. Eventually, she founded the Vancouver Junior Professional Division, a ballet academy specializing in the training of boys and girls ages 6-13.
