By Lon Tegels
College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of Arkansas at Monticello
Arkansas Forest Resources Center
U of A System Division of Agriculture

MONTICELLO, Ark. — The trophies and first-place belt buckles mark Morgan Harrington as a fierce competitor, but one win she didn’t see coming was beating out 22,000 other hopefuls for a role in “Heart of a Champion,” a movie about barrel racing released last month.

Harrington is a fifth-year college rodeo competitor and biochemistry grad student at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. While she’s known to be nice in real life, the 23-year-old Harrington plays the 14-year-old “mean girl” character of Madison Farnsworth.

Morgan Harrington, a fifth-year rodeo athlete at UA-Monticello, landed a new gig as an actress in a movie centered on barrel racing. (Image courtesy UAM)

"Heart of a Champion" is a heartwarming family film that tells the story of 14-year-old Charlie, who is going through a difficult time in her life. Charlie is coping with her parents' divorce, starting at a new school, and experiencing typical teenage growing pains. However, her life changes when she finds a lost horse that she decides to care for and train to run in a state barrel-racing competition. At the state competition, Harrington’s character rides against Charlie.

"It was so fun to play the mean girl," Harrington said.

Reluctant star

A friend of Harrington’s saw a casting call for the part and sent the information to Harrington’s mother.

"It really just fell into my lap,” Harrington said, adding that her mother encouraged her to audition. Harrington thought, “'I'm not going to get that. They only want girls from Texas. I'm not going to get it.

“I auditioned on the very last day,” she said. Her initial audition was sent in on a self-made video from her phone. “A couple of days later, I did my callback. They called me after that, and they were like, 'Hey, we picked you. By the way, we picked you out of 22,000 girls.”

Lifelong love of horses

Harrington's love for horses started at a young age. She grew up on a 400-acre farm in Perry County, Arkansas, near Casa, population 109. Her mother, also a rodeo competitor, brought her to the barn at two days old. One night, when one of the horses was struggling with giving birth, the family spent the night giving the horse a helping hand. From that moment on, Harrington has been around farm animals.

Harrington's love for horses and rodeos continued into her high school and collegiate years. She is wrapping up a successful rodeo career at UAM. Harrington’s specialties are barrel racing, break-away roping and team roping, experiences that helped with her role.

Filming took place in March and April 2022, just as she was getting ready for spring collegiate rodeo competitions.

Harrington has more big achievements ahead. She has been accepted to medical school at the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine at Fort Smith. She starts classes in July.

However, “I am really pursuing the acting. I got professional headshots; they gave me a demo reel; I recently accepted the lead role in another movie where I play an undercover cop,” Harrington said.

You can see Harrington compete in Monticello at the Weevil Stampede Rodeo, April 6,7, and 8.

You can see her acting now; “Heart of a Champion” in select theaters and can also be seen on Amazon Prime, YouTube movies, or Apple TV.