Meet some of our Alumni

Amirah Johnson’s breakout role came in season 9 of Showtime’s hit series Shameless, where she played the dynamic Xan opposite of Golden Globe winner Jeremy Allen White.  Amirah J has also worked on national commercials, several short films and TV guest spots.  Amirah’s most current project is a leading role in ABC’s newest series, High Potential as Ava.  The new drama series will follow a mom, Kaitlin Olsen, as she partners up with a detective to solve crimes.

Nathan Janak is known for his series regular role on the reboot Nickelodeon’s All That in 2019.  Nathan also starred in Nikelodeon’s Drama Club in the role of Oliver. He also joined the cast of the feature film The Prank which premiered at the SXSW film festival in 2021. In addition to these roles, Nathan has also guest starred on several TV series such as Alex, Inc., Henry Danger, Raven’s Home, Schooled and Coop and Cami Ask the World. 

Sincere Wilbert was discovered by Nikki Pederson Talent at our annual open call. In August 2019, he booked a national Samsung commercial and also a music video with Coldplay.   In 2021, he booked a principal role in a Hulu pilot called Career Opportunities in Murder and Mayhem.  In spring of 2022 the Hulu tv show Career Opportunities in Murder and Mayhem had gotten a green light for season 1 with 10 episodes. Sincere was able to secure his principle role as “That Derek”. He will appear in 7 of the 10 episodes of the season.

Michael Patrick Lane most recently starred in the Emmy nominated film, Rekindling Christmas as Jesse Winchester along side our NPT alumni Raini Rodriguez.  Lane is also known for his memorable role as good guy gone bad Ted Dinard in CW/Netflix’s Dynasty. He was also cast as the supporting lead role of Earl Hutchins in Sun Records, directed by Oscar nominated Roland Joffe and Emmy winning producer Lelsy Greif.  Michael just wrapped a leading role opposite Gary Dourdan and Robert Knepper in The Moderator, filmed in Morocco.  Currently Michael has several films in post production as an actor and is gearing up to sell his first TV show as a writer.

Tiffany made her television acting debut in the pilot episode of the Fox sitcom, Quintuplets where she then went on to appear in television shows such as, 8 Simple Rules, American Dreams, The O.C., Desperate Housewives, That's so Raven, Jericho, Wizards of Waverly Place and Disney Channel hit show Hannah Montana. In 2009, Thornton co-starred as Tawni Hart on the Disney Channel Original Series: Sunny With a Chance. Thornton then went on to reprise her role as Tawni in the Disney Channel Original Movie: Hatching Pete. As of 2017.

Oscar Reyez  landed his first role in 2014 as Hector Diaz in a recurring role on the TV series How to Get Away with Murder.  He then went on to play the lead in the film Salams Big Wish and also starring in a supporting role in Comedy Central’s Cursed Friends Forever.  In 2020 he landed a role as Joaquin in the TV series Gentefied.  Oscar has had great success as a voiceover actor in Netflix’s Karma’s World & Ridley Jones as well as a recurring role in Disney Jr’s Spidey and  His Amazing Friends in 2022/2023.  Reyez also has had a recurring role as as series regular/lead as Watts in Netflix’s Action Pack.

Bella Podaras got her breakout role as Brooke Bishop in the Netflix’s hit series The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia.  Bella has also starred in Netflix’s sitcom Family Reunion as Kelly-Anne. She also starred in the TV series Gwen’s World of Weird and Barry, as Barry’s daughter.  Bella grew up in Houston, Tx and now lives full time in LA pursuing her dreams.  The future is bright for Bella Podaras.  She will continue to do great things.

Emma Kennedy has been pursuing her dreams as an actress since 2017 when she went through the Nikki Pederson Talent program.  In 2019 she played Emily in ABC’s Grown-ish a spinoff of Black-ish.  She played Shannon in the movie The League of Legend Keepers: Shadows starring Melissa McCarthy.  Emma landed a role on the hit TV series Dirty John as Kate.  She also  appeared in season 18 of the hit TV series Grey’s Anatomy in the role of Lily.  In 2022 she played Denise in 2 episodes on the popular series Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story as well as playing Sophia Eastman in an episode on the hit TV series Chicago Med in the same year.