Runaway teen actress slept in Californian park

Scout Taylor-Compton, 16, has been reunited with her family. Picture / Reuters

LOS ANGELES - A teen actress who ran away from home slept in a park until a concerned family took her in -- and was found only after a boy boasted to schoolmates a movie star was living in his house, police said on Friday.

Scout Taylor-Compton, 16-year-old star of the teen comedy "Sleepover," vanished from her home in the Southern California community of Apple Valley on August 12 and was missing for nearly two weeks before school police discovered her on Thursday, living with a local family.

"One of the teachers at Granite Hills High School contacted Officer (Cesar) Molina and told him that a boy was bragging in class that a girl movie star was living in his house," Apple Valley School Police dispatcher Vickie Crawford said.

Crawford said when the boy's mother answered the door at the home, officers saw Taylor-Compton sitting in the living room and recognised the actress, who has appeared on such TV shows as "Charmed" and "Gilmore Girls."

She said the young performer, who had dyed her typically red hair black, tried to hide but co-operated once she realised she had been spotted by the officers. It was not immediately clear how long she stayed with the family.

Taylor-Compton, who had no belongings with her other than a purse, told police she had run away from home because of family problems and had been mostly sleeping on playground equipment in a local park, Crawford said.

The mother of the family took Taylor-Compton in out of concern for her welfare, Crawford said, adding that the actress appeared to be in good health and has since been reunited with her own family.

"She looked a little tired when she got here (to the station) but she was dressed very well," Crawford said of the teen, who recently completed filming a lead role in the independent film "Tomorrow is Today."

The home and park where Taylor-Compton stayed for two weeks were not far from her home in the small town of Apple Valley, about 120 km from Los Angeles, Crawford said.

- REUTERS