As an up-and-coming actress with a bright outlook on the future, Alycia Debnam Carey already has a worldwide following for her roles in some of the most popular TV shows out there. She turns 30 later this year, and while she’s still relatively green in terms of regular film appearances, her rise to fame by landing the lead role as Alicia Clark in Fear the walking dead has already catapulted her to the kind of stardom other artists can only dream of.
Given more time and the right roles, there’s no telling how far the young star can go from here. After leaving the show last year, she already has a new show and movie in post-production, with other exciting roles on the horizon. We’re pretty sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of the talented young actress in the future. For now, though, here’s a look at Alycia Debnam-Carey’s best performances in film and television to date.
11 At the tattoo artist
Alycia Debnam-Carey started her acting career at a young age with appearances in small independent films. Hailing from Australia, the land down under Hollywood seems to have provided a new big star in the making. Between 2006 and 2011, Debnam-Carey appeared in four short films. While she’s far from the big, mainstream movies she’s probably looking for right now, these movies proved to be a great launching pad for her career and a way to showcase her acting skills from a young age.
In one of these movies At the tattoo artist, Debnam-Carey joined other young actresses in a story that revolved around a group of young school friends who took part in a rebellious afternoon at a tattoo parlor. While there, the girls are wasting their time indulging in flirty exchanges with guys in the dark and seedy place. The fun and games don’t last long though, as a surprising secret soon comes to light. Even as a teenager at the time, Debnam-Carey already showed the kind of poise in film that would serve her well in her bigger roles.
10 McLeod’s daughter
Three years after making her acting debut in an Australian film, Debnam-Carey made her quiet small start in television roles when she appeared in an episode of the Australian drama series, McLeod’s daughters. She played the role of Chloe Anderson in an episode of it titled “Second best.”
The show was popular in Australia and ran for eight seasons, winning many awards during that time. It revolved around two sisters who have to run a cattle station called Drover’s Run after inheriting it from their father. Although it was a small one-time role on the show, the episode in question marked Debnam-Carey’s first appearance in a TV series. As her fans well know, it certainly wouldn’t be her last.
9 The Devil’s Hand
Considering the kind of shows Alycia Debnam-Carey is famous for, and the movies she’s been involved in, she’s probably earned the title of scream queen by now. In 2014, as her fame started to grow, she landed a role in the theological horror, The Devil’s Hand. The film had some creepy moments and was praised by some critics for its great cinematography.
However, it ultimately failed to wow any of them, except for critics who noted that the actors were the film’s strongest points. Debnam-Carey starred in the film and was responsible for much of the little praise the film received. It was a good start for her introduction to the genre that would become an important part of her career.
8 A violent divorce
In 2019, Alycia Debnam-Carey had already gained fame through the shows she is best known for. That led to roles in bigger movies supported by the studio. In A violent divorce, she played Frances Campbell, a young woman on a mission for justice when she crosses paths with a corrupt deputy sheriff and his relatives.
The film was not particularly well received. As a thriller, however, it worked well and had its moments. The story had quite a few twists and intriguing elements that made it perhaps a bit more underrated than it deserved. Nevertheless, Debnam-Carey performed well in the film, which was unlike anything else she had starred in before.
7 The safe house
Barely a teenager, that same year, Debnam-Carey could already boast of her range as an actress. In the 2006 Australian animated short film, The safe house, she lent her voice to the main character in the film, a little girl named Lee Whitmore. The movie was a great little bit shown from the perspective of a seven-year-old child as she watches the strange happenings taking place in her usually quiet and boring neighborhood.
No one explains to her what is going on and all she can glean from the events are the bits of conversation she overhears as she notices strange black cars and very official-looking people on her street. Little Lee’s imagination takes over and her little brain can’t really comprehend that she’s actually seeing a part of history unfold. That’s because the movie is actually based on the events of the infamous Petrov affair, when a KGB agent defected and was tracked down in Australia.
6 Puzzle girl
In the beautiful short film Puzzle girl, Debnam-Carey plays a 14-year-old girl named Caitlyn who encounters a woman she believes to be her mother. The strange thing is that her mother presumably died when she was a baby. Amidst the tumult of teen angst, she pursues the woman, pushing her father away as she believes he lied to her. But as the story unravels, she discovers that all is not as it seems. At a young age, Puzzle girl turned out to be a great part for Debnam-Carey, and she excelled at it.
5 Friend request
In 2016, Debnam-Carey appeared in Friend request as the main character, Laura Woodson. The film was an English-language German horror film with an intriguing plot and added another title to her growing manifestation of horror genre performances.
It revolved around Laura, a popular college girl who accepts a friend request from a more socially awkward student. The other student later commits suicide and when Laura unfriends her, strange things happen and her friends die one by one. Despite its entertaining premise, the movie was largely panned by critics. However, Alycia Debnam-Carey was convincing in her role and probably played no part in why the movie was so poorly received.
4 In the storm
While Alycia Debnam-Carey was just starting to make her name with Western audiences, her career got a huge boost when she landed a role in a major mainstream movie. In the storm was a disaster movie with great effects and exciting scenes. It took place in a small town that is unexpectedly hit by a bunch of massive tornadoes.
While the film never did well with critics (there don’t seem to be many more these days), it was still a relative commercial success and introduced Debnam-Carey to a new audience at a time when her career was slowly reaching new heights with each passing. year.
3 Saint X
Since leaving the show that has defined her career so far, one of the first new projects Debnam-Carey signed on to was the Hulu psychological drama series, Saint X. Based on a bestseller by Alexis Schaitkin, the show features Debnam-Carey as Emily Thomas, a young woman who embarks on a perilous journey as she tries to unravel the mystery of what happened to her sister who was murdered while traveling to the Caribbean two decades earlier.
The show hasn’t been a hit with critics, which is kind of sad considering it was based on a great book and so far, despite being a slow burn, hasn’t really been bad. Fans of the show and Debnam-Carey are eagerly waiting to see if it will be renewed for a second season since, regardless of what critics say about it, it still has a lot of loyal viewers.
2 The 100
In 2013, Alycia Debnam-Carey appeared in an Australian documentary series called Next stop Hollywood which followed young hopeful Australian artists as they tried to break into mainstream Hollywood. A year later, Debnam-Carey would achieve this goal when she was cast in The CW’s popular post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, The 100. She was brought in play Lexaa recurring character in seasons 2 and 3 of the show, who returned in season 7 as a guest character.
The part turned out to be amazing, both for how well she played it and for her career – which has since progressed in leaps and bounds. The show follows a group of survivors from an alien habitat who return to Earth a century after it was destroyed. The show was very popular and a huge critical hit, with many of the seasons receiving 100% ratings. It would also prove to be the catalyst for Alycia Debnam-Carey’s career as it took off from there as she also joined the cast of her most famous show while working on The 100.
1 Fear the walking dead
Based on a comic series, Fear the walking dead was the first spin-off show from the wildly popular The living Dead franchise. Of huge draw from fans of the original show, any show that followed would likely be popular as well, and Fear the walking dead certainly did not disappoint on that point. It’s now running for seven seasons, with the eighth and final season set to premiere soon.
Alycia Debnam-Carey played Alicia Clarke on the show, which revolved around her dysfunctional family adapting to survive the zombie apocalypse made so famous by the show’s predecessor. Her character has become an iconic character on the show, catapulting Debnam-Carey’s career to worldwide stardom in the process. After seven seasons, in 2022, Debnam-Carey left the show.
She’s been praised by both critics and co-stars for her time on the show, and it looks like her character may return in other upcoming spin-offs planned for the franchise. In June 2022, franchise legend Jeffrey Dean Morgan had this to say about her in a Tweet.
“To the incredible @DebnamCarey, you kick ass. Period of time. On and off screen. What’s next? I’m here for it.”
With the huge popularity she has earned from the show, the future of the young actress looks bright. She has since finished filming for a seven part series called The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and her latest movie, Liked, is also currently in post-production. Now that she’s established herself as a Hollywood star, there’s no telling how high Alycia Debnam-Carey’s career will go from here.