Savannah Lee May

**Savannah Lee May** (born August 12, 2000) is an American actress. She portrays Carrie Wilson in the Netflix series *Julie and the Phantoms*.

## Biography

Savannah Lee May was born on August 12, 2000 in Huston, Texas. Savannah Lee May is originally from Houston, Texas before she moved to Burbank, California in 2016, where some extended family lived. May has a younger brother.

May was involved in dance since the age of 3 and a half, excelling in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop and lyrical dance. When she was 11, May enrolled at the Humphrey School of Musical Theatre with TUTS (Theatre Under the Stars). For the next five years, her mother drove her to lessons in Houston, which included dance classes, acting and voice training. May was cast in 20 TUTS productions including *Annie*, *Hairspray*, *Elf, the Musical*, *Rent* and many more.

### Early Career

In 2017, May had the opportunity to perform on a Broadway stage with the cast of 'Chicago' for composer John Kander's 90th birthday.

May first began her acting career with the pilot episode of Knight Squad. Her second job was an unnamed role in Nickelodeon's *School of Rock*. She also appeared in Disney’s Bizaardvark (2018).

After several additional rounds of auditions, May landed the role of Buttercup in Nickelodeon's Knight Squad (2018), for two seasons. Buttercup's character is described by May as, "[not] the brightest person in the room but she always had such high energy and she was fun and sweet and bubbly...[though in season 2] she became a little more intuitive." It is during this time that May met and became good friends with Owen Patrick Joyner, who would go on to play Julie and the Phantoms' ghost drummer, Alex.

In 2019, May booked the role of Ava Scott in 'The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders.' It's within the Lifetime series that May also earned herself credit as a choreographer, having choreographed the dance number Ava performs at her cheer audition.

### Julie and the Phantoms

In August 2019, May decided to audition for the role of Carrie Wilson of Julie and the Phantoms, having heard about it from her former *Knight Squad* co-star Owen Patrick Joyner first, before her agent sent her the show's breakdown. The main four were already in the middle of boot camp when May had sent a dance reel as an audition tape and had her first audition. May has stated that her love of musical theater and a desire to work with Kenny Ortega prompted her to try for the role.

May had flown from Texas for her first live audition in Los Angeles, read a few scenes and sang a short cut of a song. Coincidentally, her audition was the same day as her birthday. Her callback, which took place later, was in front of the casting team, our producers, the team from Netflix, and director Kenny Ortega. She first read a few scenes with Madison Reyes, who plays the role of Julie Molina, before going to sing her audition cut. According to May, this went differently than expected:

> “Towards the end of the song, Kenny began clapping a beat and told me to go into a dance break. So, I started dancing. After a few eight counts, Kenny then said while on beat, to sing the chorus of the song again. Once I sang a verse of the song, he ended it by saying, ‘Now strike a pose, take in the applause and give Julie a look.’”
>
>

May did that and for added flair, strutted toward the camera as an added exit. Time had passed when May found out the news that she booked the role while doing press for 'The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders' from her manager. Joyner had called to personally congratulate her on the news, moments before Kenny Ortega called to officially congratulate her on behalf of the show.

May has stated that she took inspiration from classic mean girls such as Sharpay Evans and Regina George in portraying her role as Carrie Wilson, whose character trope was one May never explored before.

## Trivia

* She auditioned for Carrie Wilson on her 19th Birthday.
* She previously worked with Owen Patrick Joyner in *Knight Squad* (2018).
* Her favorite color is Pink.

## External Links

Savannah May on Instagram

Savannah May on Twitter

Savannah May on IMDB

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.the360mag.com/savannah-lee-may/
2. ↑ https://www.katymagazineonline.com/post/katy-actress-savannah-may-takes-a-dramatic-turn-in-new-movie-role
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 https://meaww.com/julie-and-the-phantoms-savannah-lee-may-interview-owen-joyner-knight-squad-netflix
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://regardmag.com/10-things-savannah-lee-may/
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://teenplicity.com/all-eyes-on-savannah-lee-may/
6. ↑ [1]