Shayla Beesley is an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

best known for her role in the horror film ''

Reaper A reaper is a farm implement or person that reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass. The first documented reaping machines were Gallic reapers that were used in Rom ...

''.

Biography

Beesley was born the oldest of four children to mother Tegan Ollie, a

belly dance Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...

r who died in 2012, and father Graham Beesley.Oak Harbor actress makes scary movie - ''Whidbey News-Times''
/ref> She lives in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a metonymy, shorthand reference for the Cinema of the United States, U.S. film industry and the people associated with i ...

. At age 7, she won a Young Authors Award and at 12 received 2nd place in a Veterans of Foreign Wars essay competition. She grew up in Oak Harbor, Washington, and attended Oak Harbor High School where she took drama classes. She became emancipated at age 16 and moved to Los Angeles, where she trained at the

Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, ...

and Playhouse West.

Career

Film

In 2006, she played the lead female role in '' Perkins' 14'', a horror film revolving around a group of brainwashed, bloodthirsty teenagers. The film was picked up by the

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. L ...

. “Two of the actors cast through the online competition also hold their own and turn in very good work, particularly Shayla Beesley as Daisy Hopper,” ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'' magazine reported. “The best part is that she elevates the role as written, which, if played by someone less talented, would’ve been a typical rebellious ‘Goth girl.’” At 19, she starred as Audrey Shaw in her first feature film, ''Sex and the USA'', previously titled ''Promises'', which premiered at the

Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Ch ...

in France on September 12, 2008. In 2014, Beesley appeared in a lead role in ''

'' with

Danny Trejo Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...

and

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Ch ...

. In March 2014, filming finished in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

for '' Death in the Desert'', in which Beesley stars with

Michael Madsen Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. He has starred in many films and television series, frequently collaborating with director Quentin Tarantino, most famously in the latter's debut film ''Reservoir Dogs'' (19 ...

. The film is directed and produced by Josh Evans. She plays casino mogul Ted Binion's live-in girlfriend (named Kim in the film), alongside co-star Madsen, who plays Binion (renamed Ray for the film), with actress

Paz de la Huerta María de la Paz Elizabeth Sofía Adriana de la Huerta y Bruce (; born September 3, 1984), known professionally as Paz de la Huerta, is an American actress and model. She had roles in the films '' The Cider House Rules'' (1999) and '' A Walk to ...

as Kim's friend Margo. The film is inspired by the book '' Death in the Desert'' by author

Cathy Scott Cathleen "Cathy" Scott (born c. 1950) is a ''Los Angeles Times'' bestselling American true crime writer and investigative journalist who penned the biographies and true crime books '' The Killing of Tupac Shakur'' and '' The Murder of Biggie Sma ...

with the screenplay by John Steppling.

TV

In 2008, she starred as Hayden Sayer in HBO's short film ''Trophy''. She appeared in the television series '' CSI: NY'' in a 2013 episode. She has appeared in several other TV series episodes, including ''Written by a Kid'' in 2012.

Video

She played a leading role in director Mike Diva's "Kill the Noise (Part 1)," which won

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

'' Clublands Video of the Year award for 2012.Kill The Noise Is MTV Clubland's Pick Of The Year... Again , ''MTV News''
/ref>

References

External lists

*
Fears Magazine's ''Perkins' 14'' review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beesley, Shayla Living people 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Hollywood, Los Angeles Actresses from Washington (state) American film actresses American television actresses People from Oak Harbor, Washington Year of birth missing (living people)