For Chloe Guy, the age of 15 has been nothing if not memorable.
So far in 2021, the young actress has overcome an on-set injury, been announced as the youth winner of the Carmen Duncan Scholarship, and begun shooting a film in Mexico.
The international production is her focus for the moment, with the teenager honing her craft alongside Jamie Foxx, January Jones, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Nick Cassavetes’ upcoming crime thriller God is a Bullet.
Guy plays the kidnapped daughter of vice detective Bob Hightower (Coster-Waldau), who ends up quitting the police force and confronting the satanic cult responsible for taking his child and murdering his ex-wife.
Cassavetes adapted the script from Boston Teran’s novel of the same name.
With this being her largest role to date, Guy described her experience on set as being part of “one massive family”.
“All the cast and crew take very good care of me,” she said.
“They’ve taught me all about the industry and acting in general, but also the importance of staying true to myself and staying grounded, which are both really important values to me.
“It’s been really amazing learning from them all.”
Born in California, Guy moved to Australia as a two-year-old with her family, living at various locations along the east coast before settling in Brisbane.
She began acting in 2015 as a way to build her confidence after being “incredibly shy” when she was younger.
“I liked getting to step into other people’s shoes and play characters which were not myself,” Guy said.
“That’s how I got started.”
She was eventually signed by an agent who had come across a clip of her acting on YouTube and would go on to secure roles in 2017 television show Chuckles and feature 7 Guardians of the Tomb, as well as a series of short films.
Her development was taken forward in 2019 when she entered the American Arts Film and Television Academy (AAFTA) Carmen Duncan Scholarship, an initiative designed to offer a path to the US market for acting talent.
Named after the trailblazing Australian actress who portrayed Iris Carrington Wheeler on the daytime soap opera Another World, the scholarship provides training across various aspects of the industry, while also assisting with visas and immigration needs.
Guy was announced as the 2020 youth winner earlier this year, giving the actress a welcome boost following an on-set incident during which she dislocated and fractured her arm.
She credited the program with teaching her that being herself was “more than enough”, while also paying tribute to AAFTA director Jessica Orcsik and manager Robbie Ryde.
“The whole experience has been really amazing and led to so many great opportunities,” she said.
“I am very glad to be able to call Jess and Robbie my friends.
“I have been bullied in the past and have not always been in the greatest of places.
“They helped me regain my confidence and taught me it’s okay to be myself.”
Guy will finish up shooting God is a Bullet in the next couple of weeks, at which point she expects to be “kind of homeless” due to Australia’s international border crackdown.
There is, however, optimism about the path ahead, which includes her 16th birthday and building a career through a “whole variety” of projects.
“I don’t want to get stuck in one direction because there is so much to do and so much to explore,” she said.
“I would love to more feature films but also TV and play all sorts of characters in different genres.
“I’m so lucky that I have the opportunities in my life to do so.”