Elaine Hendrix, who played the scheming publicist Meredith Blake in Disney's 1998 film The Parent Trap, is heading back to East Tennessee this Sunday for a meet-and-greet and screening at the Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville. Doors open at 1 p.m. on August 16 at the historic venue on South Gay Street, with the film starting at 2 p.m.
The event, first reported by the Knoxville News Sentinel, will include a Parent Trap costume contest judged by Hendrix ahead of the screening, giving fans a chance to dress up as their favorite characters from the film before settling in for the movie, according to the Tennessee Theatre. The screening is part of the venue's Summer Movie Magic series, which wraps its 2026 season with a double feature of The Parent Trap and Legally Blonde.
An East Tennessee Homecoming
Hendrix was born in Oak Ridge and spent her early childhood in Knoxville and Morristown before her family moved to Atlanta when she was 15, according to WBIR. That upbringing gives Sunday's appearance the feel of a homecoming for the actress, who launched her career as a model and dancer before an injury shifted her focus toward acting, the station reported.
Her profile got a fresh boost last November, when Hendrix competed on Season 34 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, partnering with professional dancer Alan Bersten and advancing all the way to the season finale, per WBIR's reporting.
Meredith Blake's Second Act Online
Nearly three decades after the film's release, Hendrix's character has found new life on social media. Younger audiences on platforms like TikTok have reevaluated Meredith Blake not as a villain but as an aspirational style icon, according to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, with fans frequently citing the character's fashion and ambition as inspiration.
Hendrix has leaned into that renewed interest. In August 2025, she signed on as a producer for Ginger Twinsies, an Off-Broadway parody stage play that satirizes The Parent Trap's plot and characters, as reported by Page Six. Two months earlier, she had reunited with original co-stars Lindsay Lohan and Lisa Ann Walter on the red carpet at the world premiere of Disney's Freakier Friday, an appearance that drew media coverage highlighting the cast's decades-long friendship.
A Newly Expanded Historic Venue
Fans attending Sunday's event will also get to experience the Tennessee Theatre's newest addition. The venue completed a $24.6 million, 20,000-square-foot expansion into the adjacent 612 South Gay Street building in May, connecting the historic 1928 theater to a former bank building and adding new patron facilities, including the Everly Lounge and Osborne Lounge. Hoodline first reported on funding plans for that project back in 2024.
Built in October 1928 inside the Burwell Building as a Spanish-Moorish movie palace, the Tennessee Theatre is designated the Official State Theatre of Tennessee and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The venue previously underwent a $25.5 million restoration completed in 2005.
The screening weekend also overlaps with the 2026 East Tennessee History Fair, a regional heritage event presented by the East Tennessee Historical Society that includes open house access to the theatre's new extension, according to the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. The fair's historic exhibits, films, and family activities are expected to bring additional foot traffic to downtown Knoxville that same weekend.
