Kaitlyn Dever

Kaitlyn Dever
Dever in 2020
Born	(1996-12-21) December 21, 1996 (age 27) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2009–present
Signature

Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever (/ˈdiːvər/;^[1] born December 21, 1996) is an American actress. She became known for her roles in series such as Justified (2011–2015), Last Man Standing (2011–2021), Unbelievable (2019), and Dopesick (2021). She earned Golden Globe Award nominations for Unbelievable and Dopesick, in addition to a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Dopesick.

Dever has had supporting roles in the films Short Term 12 (2013), Detroit (2017), Beautiful Boy (2018), Dear Evan Hansen (2021), and Ticket to Paradise (2022). Her leading film roles were in Booksmart (2019), Rosaline (2022), and No One Will Save You (2023).

Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 21, 1996, the daughter of ice skating coaches Kathy (1971–2024) and Tim Dever, the latter of whom briefly voiced the title character of the PBS children's show Barney & Friends.^[2][3] She has two younger sisters named Mady and Jane.^[2][4] At the age of five, her parents put her in an acting school after she developed an interest in the performing arts. She also participated in ballet, gymnastics, and ice skating, but decided to focus on acting after seeing Toni Collette's performance in The Sixth Sense (1999).^[1] Her family moved to Dallas, where she filmed a number of commercials, then settled in Los Angeles.^[2]

Dever's first notable acting role was as Gwen Thompson in the 2009 film An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong. In 2011, she garnered an early breakout role^[5] as Loretta McCready in the FX series Justified. In the same year, she was cast as a series regular in the ABC (and later Fox) sitcom Last Man Standing, starring with Tim Allen as her father.^[6] Starting with the seventh season of the series, Dever transitioned to a recurring role, allowing her to focus on other film and television projects.^[7]

Dever's other television credits include Make It or Break It, Modern Family, Private Practice, Party Down, The Mentalist, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Her 2011 film credits include Cinema Verite, Bad Teacher, and the Clint Eastwood–directed film J. Edgar. In 2012, Dever was nominated three times at the 33rd Young Artist Awards: for her supporting roles in Bad Teacher and Last Man Standing, and for her recurring role in Justified.^[8]

In 2013, Dever appeared in supporting roles in the films The Spectacular Now and Short Term 12. Dever appeared in the 2014 dark comedy film Laggies, directed by Lynn Shelton, alongside Chloë Grace Moretz and Keira Knightley.^[9] In the same year, she co-starred in the film Men, Women & Children, directed by Jason Reitman.^[10] In 2017, she reunited with Shelton for her drama film Outside In, as a supporting cast member. That same year, she had supporting roles in the films We Don't Belong Here, All Summers End and Detroit.

In 2018, she performed in minor roles for the political drama The Front Runner and the biographical drama Beautiful Boy, the latter alongside Timothée Chalamet.^[11]

In early 2019, Dever appeared in the drama-thriller film Them That Follow directed by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage.^[12] The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019, and was released on August 2, 2019, by 1091 Media.^[13][14] In mid 2019, Dever starred in the critically acclaimed teen comedy Booksmart directed by Olivia Wilde, opposite Beanie Feldstein.^[15] The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 11, 2019, and was released on May 24, 2019, by Annapurna Pictures.^[16][17] She also starred in Unbelievable, a Netflix miniseries which premiered in September 2019.^[18] Dever's performance was praised by critics, receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film.^[19] She also received nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries,^[20] the BAFTA Rising Star Award,^[21] and the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama.^[22]

In 2020, Dever appeared in the Quibi comedy series Home Movie: The Princess Bride, directed by Jason Reitman, to raise money for World Central Kitchen.^[23] Later that year, she co-starred in the Audible audio drama When You Finish Saving the World, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. The story is told from the perspective of three family members at different stages of their lives. Dever voices Rachel, an 18-year-old woman recording tapes for her boyfriend stationed in Afghanistan.^[24]

In 2020, she starred in the television special Coastal Elites, directed by Jay Roach for HBO.^[25] On August 17, 2020, she was cast as Zoe Murphy in Stephen Chbosky's 2021 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen.^[26][27]

Dever appeared in an episode of the anthology series Monsterland for Hulu.^[28] In 2021, she starred as Abbi Miller in episode 3 of B.J. Novak's FX anthology series The Premise.^[29] Dever also starred in the title role of the film Rosaline.^[30] She played Betsy Mallum in the 2021 Hulu miniseries Dopesick, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

In 2023, Dever starred in the sci-fi thriller film No One Will Save You, which premiered on Hulu. She was particularly praised for her ability to tell the story almost entirely through facial expressions, as there is virtually no dialogue in the entire film.

In January 2024, it was announced that Dever would join the cast of the second season of The Last of Us as Abby.^[31]

From an early age, Dever's parents inspired her musically. Her mother played the Alanis Morissette album Jagged Little Pill on car trips in Dallas, and her father taught all of his children to harmonize. Dever and her sister Mady learned piano in their early childhood, but Dever switched to guitar after getting one as a Christmas gift at the age of eight. Dever cites artists such as ABBA and The Cure as inspirations.^[3]

Dever and Mady performed in elementary school talent shows together under the name Hot Pink, performing covers from artists such as Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson. They later changed their name to Anime Pearl, performing various gigs in small clubs across Los Angeles. Jason Reitman, who started sending songs back and forth with Dever during the making of Men, Women & Children, attended one of these gigs.^[3]

At one point, Reitman sent Dever the Nancy Sinatra song "You Only Live Twice" and suggested that she and Mady perform it together. The two sisters changed their group name to Beulahbelle in 2016 after an ancestor of theirs who had died as an infant. In 2018, they released music for the first time under this name, contributing two cover versions of "You Only Live Twice" and an original track titled "Let You Go" to Reitman's 2018 film Tully at his request.^[3][32]

Beulahbelle released their official debut single "Raleigh" on February 15, 2020, with both members directing, producing, and starring in the official music video.^[3][33] They released their second official single, "Being You" on September 10, 2020, amidst plans to release an EP produced by Tony Berg.^[34][3] However, "Being You" became the final single release of Beulahbelle, with their overall final release being a feature on a Neil Young and Crazy Horse cover, "Round & Round (It Won't Be Long)", by Berg's daughter Z Berg (simply titled "It Won't Be Long") in 2021.^{[citation needed]}

Also in 2021, as the character Zoe Murphy, Dever contributed vocals to four songs for the soundtrack of the Dear Evan Hansen film adaptation.^{[citation needed]}

In August of 2024, the duo announced that they would change their name from Beulahbelle to Devers and the debut single under the new name, titled "Poison", would be released on September 4th.^[35][36][37]

• Official website
• Kaitlyn Dever at IMDb 
• Kaitlyn Dever at AllMovie
• Kaitlyn Dever on Twitter
• Kaitlyn Dever at Rotten Tomatoes