Proclaimed as “one of this year’s biggest and most respected breakout stars” as told to The Hollywood Reporter, the multi-talented, charismatic and beautiful actress Aliyah Royale is undoubtedly Hollywood’s next big superstar as she stars as the lead in the highly-anticipated television spin-off series “The Walking Dead: World Beyond,” co-created by TWD mainstay Scott M. Gimple and showrunner Matt Negrete. Based on the extremely popular AMC series, “TWD: World Beyond” is a gritty drama set 10 years following the apocalypse and is a coming-of-age experience for the youth who grew up in the decade following the outbreak. It will expand upon the already established apocalyptic society and introduce a new group of young characters led by Aliyah’s character ‘Iris Bennett’ and her sister ‘Hope’ (Alexis Mansour) who are the first generation raised in the apocalypse and have never known a world beyond.
‘Iris Bennett’ (Aliyah Royale) is a well-liked, above-average high school student who has spent the decade living with her adopted sister within an enclosed community and literally walled off from the dangerous world outside. A smart student leader, Iris is proud to be following in her scientist father’s footsteps to one day bring back the world to what it was. Just as she’s starting to wonder if she’s been living her life for everyone but herself, an unforeseen event pushes Iris to lead a seemingly impossible cross-country quest. As Iris and the group leave the sheltered world behind, they will be challenged and will forge deep friendships through shared experience, trauma, the love of family and ties that run deep.
The quest aspect makes it very different beyond the fact that these kids are unlike characters we’ve seen before. They’ve grown up in all of this but they’ve also grown up in relative safety. So they’re aware of the world and of walkers but they’ve grown up behind walls so they’re not out there mixing it up with the walkers and the dangers.- Scott M. Gimple (The Walking Dead showrunner & AMC’s Chief Content Officer)
Born in Maryland, Royale is a self-described “military brat” who grew up living on military bases in Michigan, Kentucky, Fort Knox, Baltimore, Macomb, and San Jose. She was an excellent student enrolled in honors and AP classes while also taking concurrent classes at a community college. She began acting at a young age and participated in local musical theater (including Playhouse West), church and school plays, and took acting classes which eventually led her to tell her mom she wanted to move to Los Angeles and pursue her craft professionally. In addition to being a talented actress, Royale always had a huge love for fashion and had the talent and skillset to participate as a kid designer in “Project Runway: Threads and The Designer Kids Project.” After moving to Los Angeles, Royale booked roles in commercials, television and film such as TNT’s “Major Crimes,” Bounce TV’s “Mann and Wife,” NBC TV movie “Strange Calls,” and her first TV series debut in the CBS limited series by Ava Duvernay and Greg Berlanti “The Red Line” in which she received rave reviews for her beautiful yet heartbreaking role as Jira, an adopted teenage daughter of an interracial male couple who is grieving the death of one father, an unarmed black doctor who was mistakenly shot by a white police officer during a drugstore robbery. This emotionally demanding role brought the young actress to the spotlight. In addition to her passion for acting and fashion, Royale is a huge movie buff and is a lover of classic films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Street Car Named Desire, Cape Fear and Schindler’s List, to name a few. She’s a fan of every genre, from comedy to fantasy, and gets her acting inspiration from movie star icons Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. Royale is also an avid reader and writer and one day hopes to start her own production company. Playing similar roles as an adopted child in both “The Red Line” and “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” and being raised by a single mother following her parent’s divorce as a teenager, Royale aims to help kids in foster and to create luxury housing communities for low-income, single family households.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond: Season 1 Comic-Con Trailer
