‘1883’ Star Isabel May Was Bored by Other Kids but It Led Her to Acting
1883 was many Yellowstone fans’ introduction to Isabel May. Taylor Sheridan wrote the prequel for her to play Elsa Dutton. Other fans may already remember May from Alexa & Katie or Young Sheldon. Acting was something May wanted to do from a young age, because she did not get along very well with other kids.
May was a guest on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast on April 14. Discussing her background, May revealed her trouble socializing as a kid and how that led her to become an actor.
Long before ‘1883’, Isabel May avoided the school plays
At first, May avoided the school theater because it involved hanging out with the other kids. Fortunately, she found a path to acting. We’ll get to that later, but first May revealed her issues with other kids.
“I was terrified of theater and when I made the attempt to participate in a play, it was disastrous,” May said on Awards Chatter. “And I didn’t get the role I wanted, that whole thing. I didn’t know how to really interact with children my own age, but I just read like crazy. It’s all I really knew to do during school hours because I really found conversations with kids my own age quite boring. I just didn’t care. I couldn’t get myself to care.”
Isabel May understood why other kids didn’t respond to her
Given her apprehension around other kids, May understood if the feeling was mutual. She still takes her work seriously and doesn’t socialize.
“And then I seemed like an A-hole and they all thought I was snobby, I’m assuming,” May said. “I don’t know what they thought but it’s fair, It’s totally warranted. I just had a really difficult time communicating.”
The teacher who changed everything
Fortunately, May had a teacher who saw her potential. Mr. Frank got her involved with acting in a way she could handle, and the rest is history, although more recent history than 1883.
I had a really wonderful English teacher who kind of recognized my love for Greek mythology, ancient mythology. I love stories, just stories and storytelling and I love taking it back to where it all began because it’s one of the oldest practices. Now we make films. That’s just another form of it. He encouraged my parents to get me to socialize a little bit more. 6th grade. That’s when it happened. I don’t know why, what it was about him in particular. He just made me want to do more. Not all teachers can necessarily do that for their students but he did. It just lit a fuse. I don’t know how it happened but I got the manager I have now who I’ve been with for almost 9 years. It’s two of them, both of them are like my family. I cherish them and they just kind of threw me into an auditioning work and went, ‘I hope this works.’
Isabel May, Awards Chatter podcast, 4/14/22
