Mia Isaac From ‘Not Okay’ and ‘Don’t Make Me Go’ Is Having A Breakout Year

Last year, Mia Isaac had never been in a feature film. Now, at 18, the young actor has delivered two buzzy performances as a lead in two different movies—Amazon’s Don’t Make Me Go and Hulu’s Not Okay, released less than a month apart—and will soon be headlining a Hulu series produced by Oprah Winfrey. To say that Isaacs is having a moment would be an understatement.

In Don’t Make Me Go, which was released on Amazon Prime in mid-July, Isaac starred as the 16-year-old daughter of a single father (played by John Cho) who is whisked away on a road trip, after her dad learns about his terminal diagnosis. It’s a sweet, endearing, and, eventually, tragic father-daughter story that relies heavily on Cho and Isaac’s performance, which they delivered in spades.

But it’s Isaac who is the real breakout star. She’s impossible not to love, sincere and earnest in a way that makes you want to shield her from the horrors of the world. When she delivers her big, emotional plea to her father to fight for his own life—tears streaming down her face—she breaks your heart. It’s her movie, really, and it’s hard to believe as you’re watching that it’s her first feature film role.

In a previous interview with Decider, Don’t Make Me Go director Hannah Marks said her team viewed tapes from nearly 400 girls to play the role. “From her very first tape, there’s something so special about her,” Marks said. “She had never really acted before, and so we did several callbacks and a chemistry-read Zoom between John and Mia. They had chemistry even over Zoom.”

Isaac plays a very different sort of character in Not Okay, which was released on Hulu on Friday, but her performance is no less compelling. While’s sweet, open-hearted, and just a touch naive in Don’t Make Me Go, in Not Okay she’s traumatized, angry, and grieving. Rowan (Isaac) is a survivor of a school shooting, who has channeled her rage and sorrow into activism. One of her viral, rousing anti-gun speeches catches the attention of protagonist Danni Sanders (played by Zoey Deutch), who lied about being a survivor of a terrorist attack and is now milking her “trauma” for the internet clout.

As annoying as Danni is, you immediately see why she’s so drawn to Rowan. It’s not just her Instagram follower count; it’s a magnetism that Isaac exudes, drawing everyone into her orbit. Rowan is everything that Danni isn’t. She’s generous. She’s compassionate. She’s real. She graciously humors Danni’s attempts at friendship, because she thinks Danni is going through something, and she genuinely wants to help. And when she finally learns about Danni’s lie—her betrayal—Isaac once again breaks your heart.

The movie gives Rowan the final word, via a wrenching slam poetry performance from Isaac. She radiates rage and hurt, as she spits her words—aimed at Danni, who is sitting in the audience, unknown to Rowan—into the mic. Her eyes shine with tears, and her whole body quivers as she puts everything she is feeling out into the world. It’s the kind of performance you can’t look away from.

Needless to say, you’ll know by the end of the film that Isaac is a young performer to keep your eye on. Coming up, she is starring in Black Cake, a family drama Hulu series produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films company. Isaac will star as a young bride in the 1960s, whose disappearance becomes the plot of a murder mystery cold case. If her talent in Don’t Make Me Go and Not Okay is any indication, this is just the beginning of a long career for Isaac.