Kivlan has taken film acting classes under the direction of Jill Wadsworth at Donna Belajac Casting Agency (Pittsburgh) for eight years. In May 2019, a local casting agent took notice of Kivlan’s performance in a Studio Showcase and asked her to read for a part in the Netflix series.
The audition process was “intense,” says Kivlan, noting that she never thought she would be selected from out of the more than 5,000 girls who read for parts in the series. “I thought that I would just go for the experience, (but) I was in the right place at the right time.”
The only Pittsburgh native selected for a role in the series, Kivlan can be seen approximately 16 minutes into Episode 6 of “I Am Not Okay with This.” Her character, credited as “Girl #2,” can be seen leaning against a tree and having a conversation with another girl.
Kivlan has previously appeared in a few short films as well as in a campaign for Child Hunger Awareness. She has also held roles in Mars Area High School’s musical productions — Mamma Mia!, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka — and its stage plays — The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and Twelve Angry Jurors.
“(Acting) is something that I would love to do all of the time. It’s a good experience… working with a script, playing and developing different characters,” says Kivlan, who plans to pursue a degree in the performing arts with a possible double major of education and film.
“I Am Not Okay with This,” based on the graphic novel of the same name by Charles Forsman, follows a 15-year-old girl named Syd, who is struggling with teenaged angst, while coming to grips with the mysterious death of her father and her newfound telekinetic powers. The series was filmed in June 2019 in Brownsville, Pa.
For more information, call (724) 625-1581.