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:

Kaci Walfall

Kaci has been acting since she was a little girl, and since she is only 17 years old, that is saying something. She has appeared on stage in the off-Broadway production of The Hundred Dresses and in the touring group of Matilda as well as on Broadway as Young Nala in The Lion King.

She made her TV debut in 2013 in the long-running drama series Army Wives, playing Nyah, the 8-year-old daugther of singer-songwriter Ashanti, who joined the cast of the 7th and final season. She has since then guest starred in episodes of Person of Interest, Power, The Equalizer and the Amazon series Modern Love.

But it will be Kaci’s lead role of Naomi McDuffie in the upcoming DC-based series Naomi – which will include Ava DuVernay as one of its writers and executive producers – that will put her on the map. Naomi will debut on The CW on January 11 at 9 PM.

She loves to sing and dance in addition to acting and she is an avid reader. She is very in tune with issues impacting human rights and she has used her platform to show her support for the fights to end racism and police brutality.

Kaci can be followed on Instagram and Twitter @kaciwalfall.

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Isabel May

Isabel is a twentysomething native of Santa Monica, California, who spent three years auditioning for roles without any success. With permission from her parents, she began taking school online in tenth grade in order to focus on her acting. A short time later, with limited training and no acting experience, she landed the role of Katie Cooper in the two-seasons-long Netflix sitcom Alexa & Katie. Soon after, she appeared in a number of episodes of the CBS comedy Young Sheldon, playing the love interest of Sheldon’s brother Georgie.

She had a small role in the 2018 film Age of Summer and then appeared in the independent film Let’s Scare Julie to Death. Her big film break came as Zoe Hull in the 2020 film Run Hide Fight – which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. She starred alongside Radha Mitchell and Thomas Jane (who played her parents), Eli Brown (from the Gossip Girl reboot) and veteran actor Treat Williams.

Isabel then auditioned for a role in Taylor Sheridan’s Mayor of Kingstown; and while she didn’t land a role in that new drama, Sheridan was impressed enough with her that he selected her for the role of Elsa Dutton in the Yellowstone prequel series 1883, which debuted on the Paramount Network on December 19.  1883 can now be seen on Paramount+. Ironically, Isabel was initially unaware that her on-screen parents Tim McGraw and real-life wife Faith Hill, were country music superstars.

Her next projects are the upcoming Amazon movie I Want You Back, which also stars Jenny Slate, Charlie Day, Scott Eastwood and Gina Rodriguez. That movie will debut on February 11; and the upcoming film The Moon & Back, starring Missi Pyle, Nat Faxon and P.J. Bryne, which doesn’t have a release date yet.

Isabel can be followed on Instagram @isabelmay.