Michaelah Noelle Nunes'  schedule keeps her on her toes. A point and ballet dancer, a pageant competitor, an actress, and last but not least, a high school student, Nunes said she kept out of the spotlight as a young child.

“I’d always been kind of shy, a tomboy, nothing you would associate with pageants” said Nunes, a junior at Old Rochester Regional High School.

When Nunes was a kid, she had a speech impediment that made it frustratingly difficult for people to understand her. But, at age 8, her mother got a brochure in the mail about a beauty pageant and asked her daughter if she was interested. Nunes said she would give it a try.

“That really helped me come out of my shell and be more outgoing,” she said. “With pageants, I was able to vocalize much better.”

Now 16, the Freetown resident has continued to participate in pageants with support from her mother and stepfather, Wendy and Scott Graça.

Nunes recently placed fourth runner up in the Miss New Bedford’s Outstanding Teen pageant.

She’s also expanded her interests to include acting, and is probably the only student at ORR with a listing on the International Movie Database.

Nunes has appeared as an extra in around 15 movies, including the Adam Sandler movie “That’s My Boy” and the award-winning independent film “Fairhaven.”

The budding actress has also had speaking parts in a handful of independent films, including two horror films, “Provoked” and the upcoming “Dead Bounty.”

“I got haunted by a ghost in ‘Provoked’ and in ‘Dead Bounty’ I get turned into a zombie, which was a lot of fun,” said Nunes.

“Provoked” premiered in 2013 and “Dead Bounty” is waiting for the snow to thaw to finish filming.

Of acting in movies she said, “It’s long days, but it’s really fun. You get to see how it’s really done.”

Nunes doesn’t have any other movies coming up at the moment, but her extracurricular commitments keep her plenty busy.

She is a working behind the scenes on ORR’s upcoming production of “Sweeney Todd” and is a member of Student Council, the Mock Trial Team and the Community Service Learning Club. Nunes also studies dance at Dance Xtreme in New Bedford.

“I’m a really busy person,” Nunes said. “I do independent films when I can.”

Even with all her stage and screen work, Nunes says she is keeping her options open for the future. She is considering a career in speech pathology.

“Going to speech therapy really changed my life,” she said. “I want to keep acting as a side thing. Hopefully that will also progress.”

Get your autographs now, people.