Sam Pillow

Sam Pillow (born April 8, 2006) is an American actor best known for their role as Young Barry in the Netflix film The Prom (2020), which is based on the Broadway musical of the same name. In this featured role, the actor's film debut, Sam joins James Corden in one of the film's splashiest scenes: When Barry joins his younger self on the dance floor of prom in a spectacular, imaginary flashback featuring original Broadway choreography. Sam was born in New York and is an only child. At age nine, Sam showed exceptional ability in vocals in the all-boys chorus in school, and hence began voice and acting classes at Greenwich Village Music School, Atlantic Acting Company School and others. However, it was Sam's stand-out performance as Lumiere in the sixth grade musical, "Beauty and The Beast Jr." that assured the young actor their instinct for song and stage was both natural and spot-on. Despite the offerings in New York for pursuing stage and screen, in 2018 at the age of 12, Sam's family moved to California. Within months, Sam was cast by Santa Barbara's Out of The Box Theatre Company to perform the role of Christian in Jeanine Tesori's shockingly honest, "Fun Home". The musical played six sold-out shows, and the Santa Barbara Independent's theater critic wrote, "Some of the night's best moments came from Sam Pillow ..." Coinciding with this work, Sam landed in the masterful hands of Broadway and Yale drama veteran Janet Adderley. Adderley is the creative force behind The Adderley Conservatory and she was thrilled to be working with Sam (alumni include Ben Platt, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Kathryn Gallagher, to name a few.) Sam has consistently been cast in conservatory leads including, the Artful Dodger in "Oliver!", The Baker in "Into The Woods", and a charming and flamboyant Charlemagne in "Pippin" (the latter played to sold-out audiences at the storied stage, Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum, in Los Angeles's Topanga Canyon in spring 2022.) In addition, Sam was selected a duet player in American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins' "35th Anniversary of Footloose" benefit concert, and has provided back-up vocals for recordings produced by Alan Parsons. Now age 16, Sam is entering 11th grade at Santa Barbara High School. Sam identifies non-binary/trans-female. They are mature, kind and daring, and there are no limits to where Sam will take a role. While most of Sam's opportunities have been stage, Sam continues to hone their acting-for-camera craft, and will continue to build a reel and audition in film and TV. Another passion of Sam's is fashion. Sam wishes both their fashion and acting pursuits will take them to New York or Los Angeles, or any fashionable, creative and progressive city in the world when they are older.