An Actress From Duluth Is Making Quite A Name For Herself In Hollywood

Bailey Stender is making quite a name for herself out in Hollywood and the former  Duluth resident was picked to be a star even when she was just a young girl doing her very first play for the Duluth Playhouse. Stender admits when she was very young she was super shy and it was her grandma that encouraged her to start acting, the rest is history.

Kate Horvath had directed Stender in many productions for the Duluth Playhouse and had to convince her that she is naturally funny and really talented. Later when Stender was at Duluth East High School doing plays she said she has some of her best memories there, especially playing "Wednesday" in The Addams Family which to this day is one of her favorite roles.

Initially, Stender thought her path would be broadway theater she told the Duluth News Tribune (Paywall) “I went to school for musical theater for one year in Nashville, Tennessee, at Belmont University School of Music.” While she liked the program in Nashville her intuition was telling her to move West to Los Angeles.

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Fortunately, she knew someone also from Duluth that she had gone to High School with and stayed with her for about a month looking for work. Her first gig was as an extra in a concert crowd scene for an Ariana Grande video, it was not much but it was a start. Admittedly it was a struggle at first but once she got signed with an agent the auditions started rolling in.

According to IMDB She is best known for the following T.V. Roles from 2021 'iCarly', 'Bunk'd', The movie 'Crushed' from 2022, and in 2023 she is in the  T.V. series 'WolfPack' She also had a small role in the movie 'Merry Kisscam" which we all know was filmed right here in Duluth.

Stender said she expects to come back to Duluth for some summer fun and was pleased with the response to Merry Kisscam. " A lot of people were saying it represented Duluth well, which is awesome. I was just excited to make a little cameo." She went on to say as her career is really starting to take off she has been trying to stay grounded and focus on joy.