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:

Kylie Cantrall

At the tender age of 19, Los Angeles native Kylie Cantrall is making waves as an actress, singer, songwriter and social media personality.

She started to learn how to dance at the age of two – thanks in great part to her mother being a dancer and choreographer. Her father is a music producer, and with his help she started a YouTube series called “Hello Kylie” where she reviewed Disney Channel shows. She also sang and performed on YouTube and TikTok.

In 2016, at the age of 11, she signed with a talent management agency and released her first single. It was also at this time that she made guest appearances on the Disney Channel shows Bizaardvark and Raven’s Home.

Two years later, she was cast in the Disney Channel series Gabby Duran & the Unsittables. That series debuted on the cabler in 2019 and ran for two seasons, and she also provided her voice to the 2021 animated film Ron’s Gone Wrong and appeared in an episode of the Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.

Showing her prowess as a songwriter, she started a TikTok series in 2022 called “10 Minute Songs.” Fans would send her three words and in 10 minutes, Kylie would create a song using those three words. That was a big year for Kylie as she was not only cast in the fourth season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (yes, that is really the show’s title for those of you over the age of 30 who don’t have kids) but also cast in the lead role of the Disney movie Descendants: The Rise of Red, where she played the lead role.

Descendants: The Rise of Red will make its network TV debut on Disney this Friday, August 9. The movie already made its streaming debut on Disney+ back on July 12.

Kylie can be followed on Instagram here.

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Siena Kelly

Siena Kelly is a twenty-something actress, born in the North London Borough of Camden, who trained as a dancer from a young age. In fact, she dreamed of being a dancer on Broadway when she was younger. She graduated from the independent performing arts school known as ArtsEd (Arts Educational Schools) located in West London.

In 2017, she made her professional stage debut at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in the play On the Town for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical at The Stage Debut Awards. That same year she appeared alongside Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill and House of the Dragon) in A Christmas Carol.

The following year she made her TV debut in the mini-series adaptation of Vanity Fair on ITV, the British public broadcast TV network. She also appeared in the Sky One, the British cable channel, medical crime drama Temple and appeared in the play Teenage Dick at Donmar Warehouse, a not-for-profit theatre in London.

Four years ago, she starred in the drama mini-series Adult Material, which garnered her not only accolades but also a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 2021 British Academy Television Awards.

She followed that up with a role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as well as roles in the plays Force Majeure and That Is Not Who I Am before landing the title role in the fantasy series Domino Day, known as Domino Day: Lone Witch here in the States.

Domino Day: Lone Witch debuted exclusively on Sundance Now and AMC+ here in the States back on June 27.

Unlike most people of her generation, Siena does not have a known online presence on social media.