Written by Ross Tuchman
Native New Yorker Kila Ever resides in Manhattan’s Lower East Side with her parents, older brother, and two cats, Lilo and Mookie. Kila’s parents support Kila and her budding career unconditionally. Her mom, Kathi, acts as her personal secretary and scheduler. A rising 8th grader at The Dalton School, Kila plans to spend the next five years at Dalton, graduating in the class of ’29.
Kila Ever began to model at a very young age, quickly becoming one of the faces of Gap and Zara. Her campaigns were everywhere. After getting comfortable in front of the camera, she turned that love into a passion for acting.
Kila’s talent is spread between television, theatre, and tennis. This rising star is best known for her role as Annie in Blue Bloods season 13. In a less professional environment, Kila is a star in the theatre department at Dalton. Notable roles include Ursula in The Little Mermaid JR. and Davey in Newsies.
When asked how she manages all of these activities, Kila’s responded, “You need to be good at time management. To do that, I have my mom work out the calendar.” Kila allots designated time for each of her passions and, during that time, all she does is work on growing her talent. At her school, there is a 45-minute period for homework. In Kila’s case, she uses that time to hone her hobbies and passions, like practicing guitar in the Dalton Music Room.
Discovering The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute
Kila had previously trained in Method Acting with coaches, but never in a formal setting. That’s when her mother discovered the Young Actors Scholarships available at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Kila applied to the Kevin Corrigan Scholarship, which is awarded to just one student per year. In order to receive the scholarship, Kila had to go through three stages.
The first step was writing an essay based on prior experiences and motivations that drive her. Kila had such a standout essay that she moved onto the second round – zoom interviews. During this interview, Kila was tasked with performing a monologue. She then received feedback from The Institute’s admissions panel and did the piece again. After her performance, an interview was conducted to learn more about Kila, both as a person and as an actor, to see if she would be a good fit for a spot at LSTFI. After the interview ended, Kila got the news that she would be the 2023-2024 recipient of the Kevin Corrigan Scholarship. This granted her a full ride to take a year (three semesters) of classes in the Young Actors at Strasberg program.
During the academic year, Kila strengthened her skills as an artist by taking classes in Musical Theatre, Stage Combat, Acting on Camera, and Method Acting. She wants to shout out Nicole Ly, her Method Acting teacher, for pushing her to truly learn what it means to be a Method Actor. The best piece of advice she received from Nicole is “to look straight forward and build my person or object before a scene.”
Looking Ahead
The future looks promising for this young talent. Her favorite film is the Amazon Prime original movie, Totally Killer. Kiles hopes to be the next “Final Girl,” just like her favorite actress Kiernan Shipka.
Recently, Kila has accepted a theatrical representation contract with the prestigious LA agent, Aqua Talent. She has also accepted a Take 3 Talent representation offer for commercials and voice-over acting.
Kila considers the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute her home and plans to continue her studies in the upcoming school year.