Kylie Jefferson as Neveah Stroyer in Tiny Pretty Things‘ first episode. Source: Sophie Giraud / Courtesy of Netflix
Have you tuned into Tiny Pretty Things on Netflix?
Starring Kylie Jefferson as Neveah Stroyer — a young Black girl who joins an elite ballet company following the mysterious death of dancer Cassie Shore — Tiny Pretty Things is the latest series to go viral on the streaming service. If you aren’t familiar with Jefferson, you should know that at 6 years old she became the youngest dancer to join the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. She was also featured in Netflix’s Debbie Allen documentary, Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker.
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Jefferson told PEOPLE in an interview that dropped this week:
“I’ve always been dancing. My mom tells this story that she used to clean up on Sundays at home and would play music videos on MTV and BET. And I would be there, like 3 years old, ever since I could walk really, with my hands on my knees trying to do whatever the girls in the music videos were doing. And she used to tell me, ‘Kylie, I couldn’t stop you because you weren’t in trouble. You weren’t doing anything wrong.’ And she was like, ‘You just wouldn’t stop, and I figured I had to put her in dance if she wouldn’t stop doing it.’ So, I started taking ballet classes at 4, and then I auditioned for the Debbie Allen Dance Academy at 6.”
She also dished on snagging her Tiny Pretty Things role:
I wasn’t even dancing at the time, and Tiny Pretty Things came up first in an email from a casting website. I was like, ‘Okay, that sounds cute,’ and I just kept going about my little life. I think I just was nervous because I didn’t really see myself as an actress. But it just kept coming up, friends would send it to me, and I think my agent had sent it to me as well. I looked at myself in the mirror one day, and I said, ‘You know what girl, you might as well go audition.’ All the studios in L.A. were booked because everybody was auditioning for it. But I was able to get a studio I think the night before the deadline. I filmed it, went home, rushed to edit it, and got it in. And then callbacks started happening, and things just kind of moved forward from there.
Below are the official synopsis for the new series, plus the trailer. Check ’em out and keep scrolling for more flawless photos of Jefferson.
“Based on the book by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, Tiny Pretty Things is set in the world of an elite ballet academy and charts the rise and fall of young adults who live far from their homes, each standing on the verge of greatness or ruin. As Chicago’s only elite dance school, the Archer School of Ballet serves as the company school for the city’s renowned professional company: City Works Ballet. The Archer School is an oasis for an array of dancers: rich and poor, from north and south, and a range of backgrounds. Yet they all share a rare talent and passion for dance, a loyal sense of community… and when it comes to their dreams, no Plan B.”
