Colaborator Success Stories: An Interview with Rebekah Kennedy

Rebekah Kennedy was chosen to star in MyTeeVee's original web series Match after she saw an audition listing on our Actors Forum.

Since beginning her film career only a few years ago, Kennedy has established herself as a working Hollywood actress with a particularly interesting niche. She shared her story with us, and provided some fascinating tidbits about her acting success.

Kennedy grew up in Dallas. She fell in love with theater at age four after seeing her first play, but couldn’t convince her mom to let her try acting until she was twelve. She focused on theater, and continued at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida, where she was a theater major. After college she moved back to Texas where she continued doing theater, and began to pursue film.
 
Her first big role was in a horror flick called House Hunting (2013), where she played a disturbed, mute girl haunted by a mysterious house. After that, she moved to LA, where she quickly found an agent and a manager.
 
“There are still definitely dry spells,” says Kennedy about the jump to LA, “but when I’m not working, I’m doing what I can to promote the projects I’m involved in. And I’ve been blessed to be able to keep working so far.”
 
Kennedy also admits that she has a bit of an edge on the competition – she looks very young.
 
“I don’t mind playing younger characters,” Rebekah says, “I started film acting late, so it means that I kind of get to go back in time.”
 
Since she plays younger roles, but has more life experience than some of her competition, she is often hired to play a very specific kind of character – young girls with old souls.
 
In The Conduit, for example, a 2014 horror film, she plays the young version of a protagonist, who undergoes a dark transformation in her youth. In Crimes of the Mind (2014), a Lifetime Original, she plays a distressed teen member of a manipulative cult. In Match, she plays a schoolgirl who falls in love with a much older man.

Kennedy in an episode of the TNT show Memphis Beat, starring Jason Lee

“It’s hard to find teenage characters with much depth,” Kennedy says, “but those roles always seem to find me.”

Kennedy as a peasant girl in Season of the Witch (2011) with Nicolas Cage

Once, when she arrived to set where she was playing a 16 year old, she found out her co-star was actually only 16 years old.

“I talked to her about boys and other social stuff. Teenagers are at that age where everything is a big tragedy,” Kennedy says,  ”When playing that young it helps to be around other teenagers to get in the right headspace. It’s a challenge, but it’s fun.”

Kennedy as Cammrynn Ford in the religious feature I Am Gabriel (2012)

To be clear, Kennedy doesn’t only play disturbed teenage girls. Her repertoire is much larger. She’s played everything from a Peasant Girl alongside Nicolas Cage in Season of the Witch (2011) to “Slutty Teenager” in The High Schooler’s Guide to College Parties (2013). Still, for the time being, it’s great to have that consistent bread-and-butter role to keep her afloat.

“I’m gonna ride the wave as long as I can,” says Kennedy, about her penchant for younger roles, “and hopefully I’ll be ready to play those older roles when I do finally age.”

So, what’s up next for Kennedy?

“I have a big project I can’t talk about yet, with some really good people involved,” she says, apologizing for not being able to share more. It’s ok Rebekah, we love you anyway.