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Alexa PenaVega's Children "Don't Like" Spy Kids—and Wish She Was In Another Movie

Alexa PenaVega talked to E! News about her and Carlos PenaVega's children feel about Spy Kids, the hit franchise in which she played Carmen Cortez.

By Corinne Heller, Alex Ross Oct 21, 2022 7:49 PMTags
Watch: Carlos and Alexa PenaVega Reveal New Year's Resolutions

Oh, burn.

While Spy Kids remains a beloved part of many people's childhoods, the movie has not found fans in star Alexa PenaVega's children. In fact, they wish the actress, who played Carmen Cortez in the film series, had starred in a different kids' action movie—The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

"Everybody thinks I was Lavagirl. I was not Lavagirl, but my kids only watch Sharkboy and Lavagirl," the actress told E! News at the Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas Celebration at Radio City Music Hall in New York City Oct. 20. "They don't like Spy Kids."

Her husband, Carlos PenaVega—with whom she shares sons Ocean, 5, and Kingston, 3, and daughter Rio, 17 months—added, "And we're like, 'But that's not Mommy."

Alexa said, "Kingston keeps telling me that I should have been Lavagirl," adding, "I love Taylor, so I literally text her that all the time."

(Taylor Dooley plays the female lead in the 2005 film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, directed by Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez.)

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See the Cast of Spy Kids, Then & Now

But that doesn't stop her children from expressing their casting opinions. "Kingston keeps telling me that I should have been Lavagirl," Alexa shared. "I love Taylor, so I literally text her that all the time. I'm like, 'Girl, my kids like you better than they like me, and I don't know what to do about it!'"

Alexa starred alongside Daryl Sabara—who played her character's younger brother, Juni—in all four Spy Kids movies, between 2001 and 2011.

And since leaving their spy days behind them, Alexa and Daryl, who is married to singer Meghan Trainor and shares a son with her, have remained close. In fact, the actress shared it hadn't been long since the movie siblings last reunited at all.

Ricco Torres/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock

"We saw my brother today, Daryl," Alexa told E! News. "We were with him, and now he has a baby. So maybe his baby will like Spy Kids."

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