Rylee Cravens
| Rylee Marie Cravens
(American film, television actress, licensing manager | |||
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| Born | February 7, 1998 Belleville, Illinois St. Clair County, Illinois | ||
Rylee Marie Cravens (born February 7, 1998) is an American actress, musician, and licensing manager in the film and television entertainment field in Los Angeles. Cravens is best known for her award winning role for Best Actress playing the popular, blonde, teenage high school student Savannah Swanson on the syndicated Pure Flix and The CW family drama television series Up on High Ground.
Early roles and education
Rylee began acting at age 10 in independent TV and films concurrently while playing select soccer ultimately for a total of 12 years in the Illinois and greater St. Louis Area.
Notably she was cast to play a bit part in the St. Louis independent feature film "Hercules: The Brave and the Bold" in 2012 alongside her two sisters, Molly and Cali. At the time, assistant director Bryan Kreutz who helped cast her, saw something more in her for a lead role he had in mind a year later that was the TV series Up on High Ground after also casting her in a short film "To Inflict". Rylee who is also a musician; playing the Saxophone and Piano, is also a talented singer. Rylee sang the vocals in the opening credits title theme for the TV series she starred in "Up on High Ground". Having graduated from California State University, Northridge in 2019 and after receiving further critical praise, following her success with independent films and television, Rylee has been appearing in big-budget Hollywood films.
Cravens has worked for several years donating her time to the Los Angeles community as a mentor and educator for nonprofit organizations working with School on Wheels and 826LA. Cravens helped students to achieve their educational goals, understand economic empowerment through the education of children and community outreach and also provided students with access to tutoring, private academic advising sessions, and school essentials on her own time as a community leader.
Up on High Ground
Rylee Cravens portrayed the High School Sophomore character Savannah Swanson for the "Up on High Ground" Family drama series run of all 9 episodes from 2014-2015. Rylee won the 2020 Detaron TV roku Best Actress award for her role as Savannah Swanson in "Up on High Ground".
Cravens was the highest billed female character in the cast for the family and faith based TV series Up on High Ground, as the co-star and playing the character Savannah. Up on High Ground marks the third time that Brayden Patterson, Joe McGettigan, Bryan Kreutz and and Erin Morris have worked together alongside sisters Rylee and Molly Cravens. The first was the 2013 Indie Fest USA qualifying short film, To Inflict, and the second was the feature film Hercules: The Brave and the Bold. Cravens appeared in every episode of the series that ran on several The CW TV affiliates in syndication and Pure Flix Entertainment from 2014-2015.
Bryan Kreutz, who worked closely with Cravens in two previous films, stated "I knew she would be the perfect fit to play this lead girl role without an audition", further stating in a featurette for the series “She was your A-typical American popular girl and that's what we cast her for”.
The series opening title sequence theme was written by Matt Griffin and originally expected to be sung by a male voice. Producer Bryan Kreutz specifically wanted a unique female voice so he asked Cravens and she lent her voice with multiple delivery options. Cravens recorded the vocals at a St. Louis county radio station studio in October 2013 during the early production of the series. Coincidentally, the recording studio was located in the same building where Rylee's younger sister Molly was taping a scene for Up on High Ground. The on location scene in a school counselors office, was located two floors up in the building and taped on the same night Rylee recorded the theme.
Cravens offered some of her own personal wardrobe to wear for the costuming as her age and attire was perfect for the role of a high-school er. The first short meeting on set with producer Bryan Kreutz had her wearing her own casual red summer dress for the second of two scenes filming that first day in 2013. This red summer dress was associated with Cravens character Savannah as Kreutz stated as "A truly effective costume provides character information even before the character speaks." The red dress can be seen in all three TV series trailers released and through many of the episodes.
Upon the completion of the nine episode series run, Co-Creator Kreutz considered a spin off series with Rylee Cravens as the lead along with Erin Morris to continue their on screen chemistry at the forefront of a weekly program.
Filmography
| Movie/TV Show Name | Date of Release | Role |
|---|---|---|
| To Inflict | 2013 | Summer Swanson - Office Intern |
| Hercules: The Brave and the Bold | 2013 | Clotho |
| Up on High Ground | 2014-2015 | Savannah Swanson |
| I Miss Me | 2015 | Bookstore Customer 3 |
| Supreme Justice with Judge Karen | 2018 | Herself |
| Ford v Ferrari | 2019 | Le Mans Spectator |
| Daughterhood | 2019 | Churchgoer |
| The Way Back | 2020 | Hayes Student |
| The Never List | 2020 | High School Dancer |
