Anna Cathcart On Fashion, First-Day Jitters And Being Yourself

Between her breakthrough role as Kitty Covey in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and an upcoming reprisal of Dizzy Tremaine in Descendants 3, Anna Cathcart has defined subtle snark and quirky cool. But IRL, the 16-year-old is making a name for herself as one of the sweetest actresses in young Hollywood. Following suit? Her D3 costars Brenna D’Amico and Jadah Marie. Here, the rising style stars share on-set secrets…all while highlighting the season’s dreamiest denim trends.

- Sydney Adamson

In many ways, the first day on set for an actor is a lot like the first day of school. There are the nerves, the unknowns, the nonstop schedule, the strange faces in the hallways, the looming expectations and the piled-on pressure. But, just like with the first day of school, there can be plenty of excitement, too.

Just consider Anna Cathcart’s very first time on the Descendants 2 set back in 2016. “I was only supposed to be there to try on my wardrobe and test out my hair and makeup,” says Anna, whose character, Dizzy Tremaine, is the daughter of Cinderella’s evil stepsister, Drizella Tremaine. “But Kenny [Ortega, the movie’s director and choreographer] took my hand and introduced me to everyone— people that I’ve looked up to for so long, like Dove [Cameron] and Sofia [Carson]. Honestly, I was starstruck.”

Now imagine newcomer Jadah Marie’s jitters last year when the Disney Channel diehard (she’s obsessed with Liv and Maddie) and Descendants superfan (she owns several store-bought costumes from the series) strode into the dance rehearsal studio after being cast in Descendants 3 as Celia, the daughter of Dr. Facilier from The Princess and The Frog.

“Everyone was just hanging out, and Kenny thought it would be funny if I snuck up behind Dove and scared her,” Jadah, 14, recalls. “Cameron [Boyce] almost blew my cover, but I successfully spooked her. Dove gave me a big hug, then we just hung out. The whole time I was thinking, ‘I cannot believe I’m sitting next to Dove Cameron right now.’”

Brenna D’Amico was in for just as big of a surprise on her first day of Descendants in 2014 when she found out that playing Jane, the daughter of the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella, meant she had to nail some seriously challenging choreography on top of learning her lines.