The 2024 Hulu teen comedy Prom Dates features a strong cast of talented up-and-comers along with a few more recognizable faces. Directed by Kim O. Nguyen, Prom Dates follows best friends Jess (Antonia Gentry) and Hannah (Julia Lester), two high school seniors who made a pact at 13 to have the perfect prom night. Less than 24 hours before the big night, the girls find themselves without dates, so they set out to find replacements and fulfill their pact.
Though it landed better with audiences, critics were underwhelmed by Prom Dates. Many reviews for Prom Dates stressed how the teen comedy was more focused on getting laughs than putting in the work to properly flesh out its characters and establish a solid foundation for the overarching narrative. One of Prom Dates’ strengths that critics did highlight, though, was the comedic performances from some of its young cast.
Actor: Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Antonia Gentry broke big as the titular Ginny Miller in the smash hit Netflix series Ginny & Georgia. Gentry’s striking performance as the troubled yet precocious Ginny in season 1 of Ginny & Georgia earned her a nomination for Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Before she was cast in Ginny & Georgia in 2021, Gentry played Jasmine in the 2018 Netflix romantic comedy Candy Jar. She also appeared in season 1, episode 4 of the Netflix superhero series Raising Dion in 2019.
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Character: In Prom Dates, Gentry plays Jess, one of the co-leads opposite Julia Lester’s Hannah. Having a prom date is the most important thing to Jess, but she’s left date-less after finding her boyfriend Luca cheating on her and dumping him. Jess makes it her and Hannah’s mission to find prom dates with less than 24 hours to spare.
Actor: Born in Los Angeles, California, Julia Lester got her start as a child theater actor. Lester’s breakout role was playing Ashlyn Caswell in all four seasons of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019-2023), the Disney+ spinoff series of the High School Musical DCOM franchise. Prior to this, she had minor parts in TV shows like Spirit Riding Free, Mom, and The Thundermans. She also played Ingrid in the high school comedy series Mr. Student Body President from 2017-2018. Though she’s starred in some short films, Prom Dates serves as Lester’s feature film debut.
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Character: In Prom Dates, Lester plays Hannah, one of the co-leads opposite Antonia Gentry’s Jess. Hannah is a lesbian who has stayed in the closet her whole life. After finally breaking up with her boyfriend Greg, Hannah comes out to Jess, who convinces her to seek out a girl to ask to prom.
Actor: Born in Dallas, Texas, JT Neal’s breakout role was playing Jacob Bowmanon the ABC sitcom Bless This Mess (2019-2020). Prior to that, Neal played Scott Tomlinson in season 2 of the Nickelodeon sitcom The Haunted Hathaways and had a minor role as Mike in the Netflix teen comedy Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018). In 2019, Neal starred in the romantic drama Life in a Year. He also appeared in an episode of the iCarly reboot. Neal is also known for his role as Brody in the Netflix franchise Malibu Rescue and Matt in the short-lived comedy series Pivoting.
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Character: In Prom Dates, Neal plays Jacob, Hannah’s older brother whom Jess secretly lost her virginity to earlier that year. Jacob visits from college and comforts Greg as he cries over Hannah.
Actor: Born in Seattle, Washington, Kenny Ridwan is best known for playing Dave Kim in the ABC ’80s period sitcom The Goldbergs. During his run on The Goldbergs, which began in 2014 and continued until 2023, Ridwan played Gideon in seasons 2 to 4 of the Nickelodeon superhero comedy The Thundermans. He reprised his role as Gideon in the 2024 follow-up film The Thundermans Return. Ridwan has also had recurring roles on the CBS sitcom The McCarthys and the Amazon Prime Video series Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street.
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Character: In Prom Dates, Ridwan plays Greg, Hannah’s overbearing boyfriend who worships her. When Greg tells Hannah he transferred to Penn State for college so they can be together, a panicked Hannah runs out on him, insinuating a breakup.
Actor: Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Jordan Buhat got his breakout role playing Vivek Shah in Grown-ish, the college spinoff of ABC’s Black-ish. During his run on Grown-ish from 2018-2022, Buhat had minor roles in the teen horror mystery Summer of ’84 (2018), the Nickelodeon TV movie Blurt (2018), and appeared in the horror thriller Margaux (2022). In 2023, he starred in the TV movie Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Something New.
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Character: In Prom Dates, Buhat plays Luca, Jess’ arrogant boyfriend who mistreats her. Jess dumps Luca after catching him cheating on her, leaving her without a prom date.
Terry Hu as Angie: Hannah’s crush and “first queer friend.” Hu is best known for playing A-Spen in Zombies 3. They also starred in the TV shows Never Have I Ever and The Girls on the Bus.
Zión Moreno as Heather: A.k.a. “Vodka Heather,” Jess and Hannah’s party girl college friend. Moreno was part of the main cast of the Gossip Girl reboot as Luna La. She also starred in K-12, Control Z, and Claws.
Emery Kelly as Reggie: The frat boy Jess tries to ask to prom. Kelly is best known for playing Lucas Mendoza on Alexa & Katie. He also starred in Lab Rats, Max Winslow and the House of Secrets, and Big Shot.