Amanda Clayton has worked with children on various occasions in her acting career. Most veteran actors tend to become very protective of the youngsters, both in the way their characters interact and when the cameras aren’t rolling.

There was some of that kind of connection between Clayton and the young actor Morgan Neundorf while filming the Lifetime movie “Mommy’s Little Angel,” but only to a point.

“This was a little different,” Clayton says with a laugh.

While the pair connected off camera, they had to keep a little bit of a distance onscreen. That’s because Neundorf plays Katie, a youngster who will do anything from manipulate to physically assault people to find someone to love her. The character takes the idea of being a bad seed and injects it with a massive amount of evil steroids.

Clayton’s character, Nikki Bilson, a woman dealing with issues of motherhood, takes the youngster in but soon begins to regret her decision. While they end up in a dramatic battle, the process of making the movie was a very positive experience for Clayton.

“Morgan was wonderful on set and that created a really fun environment,” Clayton says. “In the film, she and I start out having a great relationship, which ends up being a catalyst for all the bad that happens. So Morgan and I bonded as much as we could and created a relationship that made sense.

“It was important to me that Nikki not be oblivious to everything that was going on but to make her really connected to this little girl who feels like she has nobody. That way Nikki would be forgiving of the little things that pop up until it all really hits the fan.”

Clayton had a strong understanding of this because her mother worked as a schoolteacher all her life, and she would hear stories of what would happen to some of the children in the foster program. One of the themes of “Mommy’s Little Angel” is the way Katie turns out could happen to anyone who doesn’t have a strong support system in their lives. Clayton says she always was headed in the right direction because she grew up with very strong backing from her family and because of her love of performing.

“There was something in me when I was in elementary school where I knew I wanted to be an actor and get in front of people,” Clayton says. “I had very supportive parents. I played sports my entire life so I always had an outlet. I always had a goal in mind of what I wanted to do and had people in my life who helped me make that flourish.

“That’s what helped me keep my life in line.”

The moment she thought her decision to be an actor was going to happen came when she audition for the summer program at the New York School for Film and Television. Her mother wanted her to get a college degree before starting to act, but Clayton knew she wanted to do more than the summer program. She ended up listening to her mother and going to college to study acting, and after seeing Clayton onstage, her parents realized acting was the right career for her. She left college and went to the School for Film and Television.

Since then, Clayton’s been working steadily and is best known for her series regular role on Tyler Perry’s “If Loving You is Wrong” as Alex Montgomery. She moved to Los Angeles after studying in NYC and immediately booked the supporting role of Sarah Carter in the Disney feature “John Carter.”

Clayton laughs and says those two jobs are at the opposite end of the work schedule. For “John Carter” she spent an entire day in period wardrobe to film a scene that lasted only a few moments. The Perry series works so quickly that two episodes can be shot in a week.

She recently finished shooting the pilot episode of the potential Showtime series “City on a Hill,” produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Other work on her resume includes “Bleed for This” playing blue collar Doreen Pazienza, Vinny Pazienza’s (Miles Teller) sister and Louise Pazienza’s (Katey Sagal) daughter, as well Gina Pierce in “Bad Frank” on iTunes. She’s guest starred on “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “NCIS: New Orleans” and “Major Crimes.” She has two additional projects releasing this upcoming year including “Dirty Dead Con Men.”

"Mommy's Little Angel" airs at 8 p.m. Saturday on Lifetime.