Kaitlyn Dever

Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever was born on December 21, 1996, in Phoenix, Arizona. She began acting as a child and moved with her family to the Dallas, Texas area to pursue her career. She first gained widespread recognition in the long-running sitcom Last Man Standing (2011-2021), where she played Tim Allen's daughter. Her dramatic abilities became fully apparent with the Netflix limited series Unbelievable (2019), in which she played a teenage rape survivor whose account is initially disbelieved — a performance that earned her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. She appeared in the acclaimed comedy Booksmart (2019) and various film roles before landing one of the most high-profile and controversial casting decisions in recent entertainment: the role of Abby in HBO's The Last of Us Season 2 (2025) — a character who is both beloved and despised by video game fans worldwide.

Kaitlyn Dever has steadily built one of the most impressive resumes among actresses of her generation. Her range — from sitcom to serious drama to video game adaptation — is remarkable. Her casting as Abby in The Last of Us put her at the center of one of entertainment's most passionate and divided fanbases, a pressure she met with a performance that won critical acclaim.