From her dining room table to a big stage to the big screen, 13-year-old Savannah Lumar has already racked up an impressive resume in performing. Her newest role is on the hit Netflix series Outer Banks playing young Kiara for the final season which debuted Aug. 20.
Casey Tencate, Lumar’s mother, said she knew she had a “little superstar” since before she could speak when she would get on their table at home and sing songs from Frozen.
Lumar began her acting and singing career with a summer camp led by Ovation Academy, a local performing arts program where she was encouraged to pursue performing professionally. Both Lumar and Tencate credit Ovation and Oak Park for shaping who she is today in this industry.
“I think if we didn’t live in this community, she might not have had these same opportunities,” said Tencate. “We know people that are very talented and want to do this, but they live in an area that doesn’t harbor the arts and doesn’t have those same opportunities, so Oak Park is definitely a huge part of why she was able to get where she’s at now.”
Within a couple of years, her passions came full circle as she booked the role of young Elsa on the Broadway North American tour. From there, she has transitioned to television and film acting appearing in the new Superman movie, Amazon Prime Video series Scarpetta, and the new season of Outer Banks.
Behind the glitz and glamour of her acting career and nation-wide traveling is a normal teenage girl going to middle school and doing homework like her peers.
“I just live a normal life, and people, like a lot of my friends, didn’t even know when I first met them, they didn’t even know that I was acting,” said Lumar.
Lumar said more people have taken notice of her acting achievements, and she relies on her existing friends and family to navigate the new attention that comes with it. Her mom advises her against social media pressures telling her to, “respond to the positive, ignore the negative, be mindful of people’s intentions.”
Tencate said it is “surreal” to see her on the screen at home because she is treated like a normal kid, but it’s easy to believe it is just a character because of her talent in playing a role.
“Just even thinking about it now, just the fact that she was on that stage in front of 1000s of people at times, and just like so confident and so in her element, and just like doing things that I never would even dream of doing myself. I really look up to her in that sense,” said Tencate.
Lumar said she hopes to continue performing for the rest of her life and her ultimate dream is to be in a horror movie taking inspiration from classics like the Scream franchise.
Her advice to any other young people looking to get into the industry is to, “Be yourself and really just show people who you are, and don’t be nervous. I mean, you can be nervous, but don’t let your nerves stop you from what you truly want to do.”