A Salute to Rising Stars

It’s that time again to salute those actresses who are on the move, actresses who deserve a little extra attention for their latest work, those actresses who are rising stars. Landing that crucial role in a TV movie or guest appearance in a successful show or film makes all the difference for aspiring actors.

Let’s take a look at the next group of actresses who viewers should keep their eyes on:

Kiara Barnes

Kiara is a twentysomething actress-singer who was born and grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is a newcomer to the acting world, appearing in commercial work before landing her first gig in several episodes of the series Stuck with You, which aired on the streaming service Allblk.tv.

She then appeared in the Lifetime movie The Wrong Wedding Planner, which included among its cast Vivica A. Fox, Crystal Lowe, Kristin Booth and Jackee Harry, before she got her big break in the daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful where she appeared as model Zoe Buckingham in over 260 episodes. She appeared in that long-running soap from 2018 through 2021.

She left her soap opera role for primetime television, landing a role in the FOX reboot of the 1970’s-1980’s series Fantasy Island. She plays the role of Ruby Akuda, the younger version of the 70+ year old woman with cancer who visited the island in the pilot episode, who was given the second chance to remain on the island and be the “right hand” to Elena Rourke (series lead Roselyn Sanchez), the descendant of Mr. Rourke (legendary actor Ricardo Montablan).

Kiara has also released an EP entitled, “Sirens to the Moon,” which is available on iTunes and Spotify.

Kiara can be followed on Twitter @KiaraBarnes_; on Instagram @kiarabarnesofficial and on Facebook here.

The next new episode of Fantasy Island will air tonight, August 24, on FOX at 9 PM.

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Savannah Welch

Savannah is a multi-hyphenate: being an actress, singer-songwriter-musician, podcast host and even a birth doula. She grew up in Nashville and was submerged in the country music industry by her family, mainly her dad Kevin Welch, who has charted five singles on Billboard and released eight studio albums and her talented older brother Dustin.

Savannah attended the University of Texas at Austin, but dropped out to pursue a career in film production and acting, landing her first role in the 2005 independent film Jumping Off Bridges. She spent the next few years working on other independent projects before landing a role in the 2011 film The Tree of Life.

And, despite singing since she was a child, she finally began considering music as a vocation when she became one of the founding members of the alt-country band The Trishas with Liz Foster, Kelley Mickwee and Jamie Wilson in 2009.

She continued to consistently work in acting over the years before landing a role in the 2014 film Boyhood, and her acting work progressed after that until a fateful day in 2016 while at a Farmer’s Market in Texas where she was seriously injured in “an accident of human error” that found her then 4-year-old son Charlie and her dad Kevin unscathed, but Savannah losing her right leg above the knee.

She returned to acting, appearing in a recurring role in the second season (in 2018) of the History Channel’s military drama SIX; and now she is starring in season 3 of Titans on HBO Max, appearing as the one and only Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl), the daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon, who has taken over the role of Gotham Police Department Commissioner.

Savannah’s podcast is called Enough About Music. It is a collection of conversations with musicians talking about anything and everything except for music, which is available on all the usual platforms.

Savannah can be followed on Twitter @vanrosewelch and on Instagram @savannahwelch. Her official website can be found here.

The next new episode of Titans (Season 3) will air on HBO Max this Thursday, August 26.