Magda Foy

Magda Foy was born Magdelena Patricia Foy on July 13, 1905, in Manhattan, New York, to Mary and Patrick Foy. She died on February 2, 2000, in Port Jefferson, New York. A performer active in both stage and screen during the early twentieth century, Foy built her career across Broadway and the silent film industry.

Foy is perhaps best remembered for her work as a child actor at Solax Studio, the largest pre-Hollywood film studio in the United States, where she was active from 1910 to 1913. She was frequently billed as "The Solax Kid" and appeared in 23 of the studio's productions alongside her parents, who were also members of the Solax stock company. Her screen debut came in A Child's Sacrifice (1910), the first film Solax ever produced, in which she played the lead role. Throughout her time at the studio, Foy took on both leading and supporting parts and portrayed characters of different genders. Much of her work at Solax was directed by Alice Guy-Blaché, the studio's founder and artistic director.

Among her most notable film roles was Little Trixie Thompson in Falling Leaves, in which Foy played a young girl who, after overhearing a doctor warn that her elder sister will die of tuberculosis before the last leaf falls, attempts to save her by tying leaves to the trees outside their home. Her final screen appearance came in Man's Woman (1917), a production made independently of Solax and directed by Travers Vale.

Concurrent with her film career, Foy appeared on Broadway between 1910 and 1914. Her stage credits include The Heart of a Thief and the musical Ragged Robin.