Like so many others, Isabella Schaub moved to New York with a dream. With ambitions to act, the recent college grad, a 24-year-old with a pale, heart-shaped face and curly auburn hair, started doing background work on film and TV in between barista shifts and coaching soccer, among other gigs. And in February, she got a massive break, especially for one so young and new to the game: A major Hollywood casting director got in touch.
Linda Lowy, whose keen eye for talent was apparent on Grey’s Anatomy, Friday Night Lights and Scandal, had alighted on Schaub after a review of casting platforms and professional databases. Over email, she first invited Schaub to submit a headshot for an undisclosed HBO Max series and then, after one thing led to another, a monologue.
Schaub taped Robin’s (Maya Hawke’s) coming-out speech in Stranger Things and killed it. Her performance, Lowy wrote to her, was “compelling and assured.” Her line delivery needed a little work, but it wasn’t anything some training couldn’t fix, and a day later, Lowy offered her the opportunity of a lifetime: a role on Hacks. Given the project, Schaub was required to sign an NDA, which was no issue. There was only one hitch: She needed to become a member of the performers union, SAG-AFTRA, to play the role.
