Demi Lovato surprises patients at Los Angeles children's hospital

Demi Lovato surprised patients at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles with a visit and an advance screening of movie Smurfs: The Lost Village on Thursday (30Mar17).

The patients gathered in a room to watch the animated family movie when Smurfette, the lead female Smurf character, walked in followed by the Confident singer, who voices her in the movie.

The 24-year-old handed out movie merchandise and posed for selfies with the kids and their family members, who got to see the film almost a week before its cinema release on 7 April (17).

Demi's visit also helped to support the facility's Make March Matter campaign, which has also been promoted by Kim Kardashian and Jack Black. During March (17), more than 100 local businesses and corporate partners have committed to help the hospital exceed its $1 million fundraising goal.

Representatives for the hospital shared images of Demi and Smurfette meeting patients on Facebook and wrote in the caption, "Smurfette ventured out of The Smurfs village to find out she wasn't alone - She found the kids at CHLA! She also brought along the #SmurfsMovie and the voice of her character, Demi Lovato. Thanks for helping us #MakeMarchMatter!"

Demi started off as an actress but has since focused more on singing, and admitted in a recent interview that voicing Smurfette has inspired her to do more acting again.

"It was cool to be able to be in a booth recording, because that's something I'm very familiar with (as a singer)," she said, according to the Press Association. "It definitely made me want to do more acting, because I haven't done it in so long.

"What was specifically cool about voice-over work is that you can show up in your sweatpants and you don't have to go through hours in hair and make-up - so I don't know if I miss that part of acting."

Demi already has another voice acting job lined up - she's playing Lenore in musical comedy animation Charming, about three princesses who end up engaged to the same Prince Charming.