Audrey Cleo Yap Director Kenny Ortega knew he had found the lead for Netflix’s “Julie and the Phantoms” when he saw Madison Reyes’ audition tape after casting directors had put out requests to performing arts schools across North America.
Reyes, now 16 but aged 14 at the time of her audition, blew away Ortega with her rendition of a song from the musical “Waitress.”“I was looking for ‘Julie from the block.’ I wanted something a little more raw, and more authentic and relatable,” Ortega tells Variety. “[I] turned on her video, and I was bedazzled.
I had goosebumps all over my body. I had tears streaming down my cheeks. Her audition was as unique and special as I have ever seen.” Reyes stars as the titular high school student who forms a.