Alicia Witt Is No Longer ‘Embarrassed’ by ‘Child Prodigy Label’ After Filming David Lynch’s Dune Aged 7 (Exclusive)

Alicia Witt, who made her feature film debut in 1984’s Dune, is the first to acknowledge that she had a “very unusual childhood.”

In fact, as the Longlegs star tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, what she’s “so grateful for, especially as years have gone on, is the unusualness of my childhood and the fact that I ended up part of David Lynch's Dune at the age of seven.”

Now 48, Witt debuted as the psychically powered Alia Atreides, the younger sister of (played by Kyle MacLachlan), messiah of the desert planet Arrakis. Like Denis Villeneuve’s recent Timothée Chalamet-starring movies, the 1984 Dune was adapted from Frank Herbert’s hit sci-fi novel of 1965. 

“Being on that set of Dune was all about the community that I found and getting to channel the character, feeling her come into me and come out through my mouth and my voice and my body,” she recalls. “That was my first experience in the magic of playing characters. And I knew from the moment I set foot on the set that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life — God willing.”

Around the same time as her Hollywood breakout, the Massachusetts native also found a “way of connecting and expressing, which I was craving”: taking piano lessons with accomplished pianists. “Piano was so much of a lifeline for me to connect to other people,” she recalls. 

Witt began playing the instrument in competitions and received her high-school equivalency credential at age 14, earning her the title of a child prodigy — including in a 1995 feature with PEOPLE around the time she starred as Cybill Shepherd's daughter on the sitcom Cybill. 

“I was a little embarrassed by the child prodigy label,” she admits. “I hated that term.” 

But now, especially as a working actress and musician, “I recognize that [acting and playing the piano] led me to my destiny and I don't know what my life would be without all of that. So I'm so grateful that every single thing happened the way it has.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Plus, Dune wasn’t just a childhood lightbulb moment of what Witt wanted to pursue for the rest of her life. As she says with a smile, “it all goes back to David Lynch.”

The visionary director went on to cast Witt in his iconic 1990 series Twin Peaks and again in 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return. Her decades-spanning performance as Gersten Hayward, says the actress, is what “sealed the deal” for Longlegs writer-director Osgood Perkins.  

“It's so magical how these things work out,” says Witt. “I just knew I had to open up and trust David and let the spirit of the moment take over. And channeling Ruth for Longlegs was very much all about that.”

Longlegs, costarring Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood and more, is in theaters now.