The Gorgeous Evolution Of Kaitlyn Dever

Kaitlyn Dever has carved out an incredible career. As a successful actor, she's appeared in the likes of "Last Man Standing," "Justified," and "The Last Of Us." But she's also found time to pursue her musical passion alongside her sister Mady Dever as one half of The Devers. The star hasn't been afraid to take on tougher roles other actors may shy away from, including playing fraudster Belle Gibson in "Apple Cider Vinegar" and rape victim Marie Adler in "Unbelievable." "The harder the job is, I think, the more therapeutic it is at the end of the day," she told GQ U.K.

The star has remained down to earth while working with some of the biggest actors in the world. She's always been more focused on taking on the right role rather than being the main star of every project she's in. "I've always taken any job that I've done really, really seriously. When I did acting classes when I was 10, starting out in Texas ... someone said, 'It doesn't even matter how big your part is,'" Kaitlyn, who's had a stunning hair transformation, told Scott Menzel in a YouTube interview. Her super likable personality and dedication to hard work has made her one of the biggest stars to watch for years. But her journey began back in the mid-1990s, when she was born and quickly discovered a love for acting.

Kaitlyn Dever was born in 1996 and was well-traveled before she even hit double digits. The future star was born in Arizona, but lived in Texas until she was 9, when she moved to Los Angeles. Kaitlyn loved performing long before arriving in Tinsel Town though. "I was always performing at home. I was constantly trying to make my family laugh. I was putting on plays with my little sister," she said on the podcast "HFPA in Conversation."

Young Kaitlyn realized she wanted to act after seeing "The Sixth Sense," the first grown-up movie she was allowed to watch. "Toni Colette's role in that movie was pretty much the reason why I wanted to be an actor. This was a real, honest role that I had never seen before,'" Kaitlyn told IMDb. She also harbored a desire to appear on the Disney Channel (like Brenda Song, who's also had a stunning transformation).

Dever was so convinced acting was her path she quit ballet class. "I didn't want to do any of that. I loved making people laugh and impersonating people, and my parents were like 'Okay, we'll put you in acting classes,'" she told Coveteur. And her career took shape from there. "I remember my first acting class being the most fun I had ever had in my life and I remember coming home that day being [like], 'Oh my god, I figured out what I want to do for the rest of my life,'" she recalled in her podcast interview.

Young Kaitlyn Dever's passion didn't only lay in acting, though. She also fell in love with music as a child. "From an early age I was really comfortable with singing," she told The Hollywood Reporter. That developed into the little girl creating an early band with her younger sister, Mady Dever. "I think it was when our parents got us both musical instruments that we decided even just to start playing music on our own. Then we started to sing together a few years following that," Kaitlyn told Far Out.

Kaitlyn started playing guitar in the second grade (after getting a butterfly-shaped guitar for Christmas at age 8), and she and Mady started playing local gigs together. "When we'd play talent shows, we'd call ourselves Hot Pink," she told The Hollywood Reporter. The young Dever sisters would later change their duo name to Anime Pearl, but it was far from the last iteration of their band. Music would become a big part of their lives again decades later, but Kaitlyn had a lot of acting to take on before that.

It didn't take long for Kaityln Dever to start acting professionally. She was cast in several projects in 2009, including landing her first-ever acting credit for "An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong." The star had the full support of her family, including her sisters, who couldn't have been more excited to see her on-screen. 

"She's like the ship master, and me and Jane, we follow. It's that sort of dynamic," Mady Dever told Bustle. And Kaitlyn had her siblings firmly by her side as she entered the industry. "It was a little daunting at first when I was like 10 years old and going out on auditions, and it was kind of hard to make friends at first. I had my sisters out here with me when I first started auditioning," Kaitlyn told the Pepperdine University Graphic.

2009 also brought a slew of other work to Kaitlyn's door, as the youngster also made a guest appearance in an episode of "Modern Family." The roles continued to roll in after that. The following year, she popped up in "Private Practice." Then in 2011, she appeared in the Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake movie "Bad Teacher."

Kaitlyn Dever appeared in two of her most notable roles in 2011. She was first cast in FX's "Justified," and told Vanity Fair she initially thought she was just a temporary guest star. In fact, she appeared on the show for four years. "It just felt different because it was the first time I got to do more character work. And I loved getting dirty. I just really liked the experience. Still to this day, when people ask me what my favorite job was, it is 'Justified,'" she said in 2025.

The rising star also landed another role that would become one of her most famous when she began playing Eve Baxter (the daughter of Tim Allen's Mike Baxter) on "Last Man Standing." The star would go on to appear in more than 140 episodes of the sitcom over a decade. But her newfound success meant she couldn't continue with traditional schooling every day, so she had her own teacher on set.

The teen dealt with heartbreak off-screen as her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Kaitlyn opened up to Content Mode about her mom's powerful cancer journey, which had a profound impact on her. "Dealing with that at such a young age, you gain so much perspective on what really matters in life," she said. "When I do scenes, especially silent scenes ... I've always just been able to live in the moment and not overthink it, and trust I know the character that I'm playing, I don't hesitate, I go for it," she said.

By 2012, teenage Kaitlyn Dever was getting recognition for her acting roles. She landed three nominations at the Young Artist Awards, including nods for "Bad Teacher," "Last Man Standing," and "Justified." And despite being educated on set to accommodate her acting career, she wasn't totally out of the high school loop. "I had all the rites of passage. Still did the whole winter formal, prom, beach, the graduation, that whole thing," she told The New York Times.

She continued to find regular work in the mid- to late-2010s, including acting alongside some huge stars. The rising star worked with Keira Knightly in "Laggies," Anthony Mackie in "Detroit," and Hugh Jackman in "The Front Runner." But she didn't let the dizzying heights of Hollywood and her newfound success go to her head. "I feel lucky in so many ways, but I don't like to think of myself as a breakout star. I'm just doing what I love, you know? And I just I feel I so blessed," she told Pepperdine University Graphic in 2014.

While acting was her clear focus, she hadn't turned her back on her other love; music. The Arizona native told Covetuer in 2017 she and Mady Dever had been written a lot of music together and teased big things on the horizon. "We just performed on MTV live for the very first time. I was a little nervous, but it was actually so much fun. My sister is about to go to college and I'm still working, but this year we definitely want to find time for [music]," she said.

Kaitlyn Dever expanded her acting repertoire when she took on two gritty roles in 2019: "Booksmart" and "Unbelievable." In Olivia Wilde's "Booksmart," she played an outspoken teen who breaks the rules. She spoke to Content Mode about how it felt to portray a character so different to her, sharing, "It is difficult, but I've always loved when it completely takes me out of my comfort zone ... sometimes I'll get into a scene and be like, 'Oh God, really?' But I know when I'm holding back, I'm very aware of it."

For "Unbelievable," she got to work with Toni Collette while playing real-life rape victim Marie Adler. Kaitlyn was hand-picked for the important role by the casting team and received high praise for her portrayal. "I had a lot of people reaching out to me, coming up to me in person, telling me about their stories. What more could I ask for as an actor than to be able to do that?" she said. 

Kaitlyn's work also gained praise from Adler herself. "She said she found a lot of closure from the show and that she really loved it ... It brought me to tears. It was just really incredible to hear from her after all of that, because I don't really need anything else, you know?" Kaitlyn told Variety.

Inspired by her role in "Unbelievable," Kaitlyn Dever became an advocate for rape survivors and was very active in making sure other people's voices were heard. Kaitlyn visited Washington D.C. in 2019 to speak to congress about the Debbie Smith Act, which encouraged faster analysis of rape kits amid a huge backlog. "It was extremely moving to be able to do that," she told Content Mode. "We were talking to members of Congress all day, and then in the evening we had a screening [of 'Unbelievable'] and a discussion afterwards."

The actor also shared photos from inside and outside the Capitol Building on Instagram alongside a poignant caption. "Such a privilege to get to spread awareness about sexual assault survivors, speak with members of Congress, and help pass #TheDebbieSmithAct at The Capitol," she wrote. The Debbie Smith Act bill became law in 2024.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Kaitlyn Dever made her public foray into music in 2020 when she and Mady Dever released their first single "Raleigh" and jointly directed, produced, and appeared in its music video. Only, they weren't known as Hot Pink or Anime Pearl anymore. Instead, the two rebranded to become Beulahbelle. "Music has been a huge part of our lives. We're just now showing it to the world in a bigger way," Kaitlyn told Bustle.

"It feels like a side hobby of ours. And we do it because we love singing together and we're sisters and we're each other's best friends," Kaitlyn told The Playlist. "So it's just a very nice, comforting experience for both of us," she added. But after four years known as Beulahbelle, the sisters announced yet another name change. The two became The Devers in 2024 and released the track "Poison."

After taking on more dramatic roles and dipping her toe into the music world, Kaitlyn Dever turned her attention to new challenges. She appeared in the movie adaptation of the musical "Dear Evan Hansen," which saw her combine her love of acting and music. She told The Hollywood Reporter she'd wanted to sing on screen for years. "Acting and singing at once, in the same project, was something that always interested me and became a really big dream of mine," she said. 

She took her career in another new direction when she starred as the daughter of Julia Roberts and George Clooney's characters in "Ticket To Paradise," her first rom-com. The role reunited her with her "Booksmart" co-star Billie Lourd, whose transformation is just as gorgeous. "To be part of a rom-com was something I hadn't done before and I'm always looking to do something different," Kaitlyn told The Film Pie. 

And rubbing shoulders with such huge A-Listers was a pinch-me moment for the now fully fledged star. "[Clooney] had the whole cast come one day ... we were on this beautiful boat and he fed us all this amazing food, then took us back to his house and cooked us all pizza," Kaitlyn revealed on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." "I was literally like, 'What am I doing? What is my life? This is crazy!" That same year, Dever also appeared in "Dopesick," which landed her a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination.

In 2024, Kaitlyn Dever experienced some of the highest highs and lowest lows in her career and private life. She landed one of her biggest roles yet when she joined the cast of "The Last of Us" for Season 2, but tragically lost her mom Kathy Dever to breast cancer just weeks before filming. The star shared a heartbreaking message on Instagram, writing in part, "I miss your smile, your sense of humor, your hugs, your kisses, getting to hold your hand, more than anything in the world ... I love you forever and ever, Mom." She also spoke to GQ U.K. about difficult her mom's illness was and how she prepared for the impending loss of her loved one, sharing, "I don't even know how to describe it, because it was the worst time in my life."

Kaitlyn opened up Entertainment Weekly about her mom's passing coinciding with her filming "The Last of Us," sharing, "My mom's funeral was three days before I did my first day. So I was sort of in a fog. I was in a daze." Though a lot of actors may have stepped away from their commitments to grieve, Kaitlyn kept going in her mom's honor. "I realized there's no part of me that couldn't not do this. I had to do it for her," she told The Los Angeles Times. Following her mom's passing, Kaitlyn publicly advocated for breast cancer screenings on social media in a since-deleted post. Experts have suggested those with a family history of breast cancer should consider genetic testing.

The Devers released their debut EP, "I Think We're Lost," in 2025, and Kaitlyn Dever spoke openly about how music became a welcome escape from acting. "I think [it's] also helpful for my acting job to be able to take a break from it in a healthy way — take a break from whatever character I'm playing and tap into some of my own personal emotions as Kaitlyn," she told Far Out. 

But putting more focus on music didn't mean her interest in acting had waned. The big roles still came thick and fast for the talented star, and she appeared in the Netflix series "Apple Cider Vinegar," which told the real-life story of influencer Belle Gibson, who faked having cancer. Kaitlyn told Glamour U.K. she felt a duty to tell the story following her mom's cancer diagnosis. "I think [my mom] was really proud of me and what an exciting opportunity to be able to take on such a difficult role. So I was doing her proud," she said.

Kaitlyn also announced another big role on the horizon that will likely bolster her A-List status even more, as she was cast in the 2027 blockbuster "Godzilla x Kong: Supernova." "As much as I love the challenge of doing serious stuff and find playing those types of characters therapeutic, there's a place for a Godzilla movie, you know?" she told The Los Angeles Times. Her appearance in the massive monster movie will no doubt bring this star further legions of fans as she branches out and reaches new audiences.