Isabel May is rewriting the Hollywood rulebook. While most 25-year-old stars are glued to their phones, this breakout actress from '1883' and the highly anticipated 'Scream 7' has built her career by staying offline, listening to heavy metal, and embracing physical challenges that would make most A-listers cringe.
"If everything disappeared tomorrow, I'd be perfectly content with just books and music," May revealed in an exclusive interview from her grandfather's Florida home. Her playlist is anything but typical Hollywood: classical symphonies sit alongside Tool, Nine Inch Nails, and Miles Davis. "It's about finding beauty in chaos," she says of her eclectic tastes.
This artistic rebellion started at age seven as an escape from social pressures she found overwhelming. Today, she maintains that distance intentionally. "I'm allergic to posting online," May admits. "It feels like projecting a false image. If your identity becomes your digital persona, you've lost yourself."
Instead of Instagram followers, May builds her authenticity through extreme physical challenges. "I seek out wild, demanding activities to reconnect with reality," she explains, though she keeps the specifics private. "Hollywood can feel like a bubble. You have to actively pop it."
Isabel May transforms into Tatum Evans, Sidney Prescott's daughter in 'Scream 7'. Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group
This unconventional approach caught the attention of Hollywood's biggest creators. After Taylor Sheridan cast her in '1883' following a 'Mayor of Kingstown' audition, 'Scream' mastermind Kevin Williamson personally approached her to play Neve Campbell's daughter in the franchise's seventh installment.
"I used to avoid horror films because gore genuinely frightens me," May confesses. But 'Scream' was different. After binge-watching the entire franchise post-casting, she found herself drawn to the Hollywood satire of 'Scream 3'. "Its campy approach to critiquing fame is brilliant," she says. "And Parker Posey is unmatched."
In 'Scream 7', May plays Tatum Evans, daughter of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and officer Mark Evans (Joel McHale). The family has settled in Pine Grove, Indiana—a town eerily similar to the original Woodsboro. Now the same age her mother was during the original killings, Tatum becomes the target of a new Ghostface killer.
The character honors Rose McGowan's Tatum Riley from the 1996 original, whom Sidney describes as "the last person I trusted." To prepare, May curated a character playlist featuring Hayley Williams and Mother Mother, and added a Duran Duran poster to her bedroom set. When co-star Sam Rechner (who plays her boyfriend Ben Brown) listened to the playlist, his response was brutally honest: "I hate all these songs." May laughs about the moment, seeing it as proof of their authentic on-screen chemistry.
Isabel May with 'Scream 7' director Kevin Williamson on set. Jessica Miglio
Between literary passions that spark her own writing (she once mimicked J.D. Salinger's style after reading 'The Catcher in the Rye') and a "massive bookshelf" that serves as her creative fuel, May represents a new kind of Hollywood star—one who finds success not through social media algorithms, but through authentic artistic expression and the courage to be different.
