Natalia Dyer's Career Timeline: from 'Hannah Montana: the Movie' to Global 'Stranger Things' Icon
By James H. Sterling
Dyer did not grow up in Los Angeles navigating cattle-call auditions. Raised in Nashville, Tennessee, she started performing in community theater as a child after an injury at sports camp led her parents to sign her up for local drama classes. When Walt Disney Pictures moved production of Hannah Montana: The Movie to rural Tennessee in 2008 to shoot Miley Stewart's hometown scenes, casting directors searched locally for supporting roles and extras.
Dyer secured the role of Clarissa Granger, the daughter of British tabloid reporter Oswald Granger (played by Peter Gunn). The part required an English accent and involved comic scenes alongside Lucinda Dryzek, who played her sister. For the thirteen-year-old actress, the experience provided a direct look at the machinery of a massive franchise at peak mania. Yet unlike many child actors who used Disney cameos as leverage to pitch television pilots to the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon, Dyer returned directly to school in Nashville.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
