Leeann Ross

Ross's screen career got underway in earnest around 2020, when she appeared in HBO's Lovecraft Country as Young Dora — a small but specific role in one of that year's most-discussed genre series, a show that blended 1950s racial terror with Lovecraftian horror in ways that demanded every performer, even in limited screen time, carry real presence. She didn't disappear after that. In 2021, she joined the cast of Just Beyond, the Disney+ anthology series developed by Seth Grahame-Smith from R.L. Stine's graphic novels, playing Claire Driscoll (IMDb). It's the kind of project that doesn't always get serious critical attention — it's kids' horror, essentially — but it ran for eight episodes and gave Ross a sustained role rather than a one-off appearance. The 2022 Showtime limited series The First Lady marked a shift in register. Ross was cast as Hadiya Pendleton, the fifteen-year-old honor student shot and killed in Chicago just days after performing at President Obama's second inauguration. Portraying a real person who died young, whose family is still alive — that's a different kind of responsibility than playing a fictional character in a haunted-house story. The series starred Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Gillian Anderson as Michelle Obama, Betty Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt respectively, which means Ross was working in serious company. Then came The Boogeyman in 2023. Directed by Rob Savage and released by 20th Century Studios, the film gave Ross the role of Cassidy — and it's her highest-profile theatrical credit to date (IMDb, Filmaffinity). The film performed well enough at the box office to introduce her to a much wider audience than prestige TV typically reaches. She's young, she's got range, and she's don't-sleep-on-her talent that genre fans are already noticing.