Prime Video’s Paper Girls follows four 1980s newspaper-delivering tweens who get caught up in a war between time travelers. Here, meet the series’s teenage leads on their routes to stardom.
Camryn Jones
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Growing up in Texas, Jones signed with an agent at age 6, appearing in commercials before making her film debut in the drama Created Equal. Roles in Epix’s Perpetual Grace, Ava DuVernay’s Cherish the Day, and Netflix’s Pacific Rim: The Black followed in quick succession. She says that nothing has compared to making Paper Girls, though, as looking back on the filming experience “feels like a movie, or like a clip of my life that I press play on.” The 15-year-old plays Tiffany Quilkin, the ambitious only child of success-oriented, mixed-race parents. Jones, who is also a dancer and a member of her high school’s drill team, can relate to her character’s determination, but her next life goal is a bit more grounded: learning to drive. “I’m getting my learner’s permit,” she says with a grin, “and I’m really excited for it.”
Sofia Rosinsky
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In 2017, when Rosinsky was just 11, she and her sister Alexis cofounded the independent film company StellaLuna Films; the two have been garnering recognition for their short films ever since. Rosinsky recently starred as Zora in the Disney series Fast Layne, but she’s trading that show’s talking car for a bicycle in Paper Girls. The 16-year-old plays Mac Coyle, the first female “paper boy” in the fictional town of Stony Stream and the unlikely leader of the crew of girls. “Mentally, I live in a lot of different time periods,” she says, “so to actually be thrown into the ’80s was a really fascinating experience.” She’s also about to begin shooting her first feature film with StellaLuna, Nightley Isle, about a young man who takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on an island. “It’s definitely a dark comedy,” she says.
Fina Strazza
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When she was 8, in 2015, Strazza became the youngest actor to perform the title role in Broadway’s Matilda the Musical, and Mariah Carey later handpicked the young New Yorker to star in A Christmas Melody—but Strazza won’t be belting out any musical numbers in Paper Girls. Her character, KJ Brandman, comes from a wealthy family, and her paper route offers her something more precious than a paycheck: freedom. For the young actress, the big takeaway from Paper Girls was the friendships she formed. “We were actually asked not to communicate with each other before arriving on set,” she says. “As our bonds grew on-screen, off-screen we were also getting to know each other.” The 16-year-old recognizes her life will change in the wake of this show, so before returning to theater, she says, laughing, that she’ll be “taking a nap.”
Riley Lai Nelet
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Lai Nelet started modeling as a child, appearing in ads for brands such as Tommy Hilfiger. The California native soon turned to acting, landing roles in Netflix’s Altered Carbon and HBO Max’s Genera+ion. In Paper Girls, she portrays Erin Tieng, a dutiful daughter and newly minted newspaper employee caught between two worlds. On the one hand, she’s a Chinese immigrant; on the other, she’s a typical All-American kid. “I feel like we grew up a lot during filming,” the 14-year-old says of her castmates. Her character grows up quite a bit too: The show features several poignant scenes between young Erin and her adult self, played by Ali Wong. When she’s not filming, Lai Nelet is “vigorously training” to master Shaolin Kung Fu. “I’m planning on testing for my black belt by the end of this year,” she says.
