Ariana Greenblatt will play one of the human leads in the live-action/CG hybrid.


Ariana Greenblatt, who appears on Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle, has joined the cast of The One and Only Ivan, Disney's adaptation of the Newbery Medal-winning book written by Katherine Applegate.


Angelina Jolie is producing the live-action/CG hybrid as well as voicing one of the lead characters. Allison Shearmur and Brigham Taylor are also producing.


Published by HarperCollins in 2011, the book centers on a silverback gorilla named Ivan who lives in a cage in a shopping mall along with an elephant named Stella (Jolie) and a stray dog called Bob. Ivan does not remember life before the mall, but when a baby elephant named Ruby enters and Ivan finds himself taking care of her, he begins to rediscover his previous life and concocts a plan to take the baby elephant away from their abusive owner.


Greenblatt will play one of the human leads who make up the live-action portion of the project.


Brooklynn Prince, the breakout lead of acclaimed indie drama The Florida Project, is already cast as the voice of Ruby.


Thea Sharrock, director of the tearjerker Me Before You, is helming Ivan, which has a script by Mike White.


Greenblatt has been appearing on Middle since the series began in 2016. The show is now in its third season. The youngster made her feature debut in last year’s STX comedy, A Bad Moms Christmas.


She is repped by Paradigm, Untitled Entertainment and Schreck Rose.