Kara Young isn’t a breakout star in 2026. She’s been nominated for four Tony Awards and won two of them, one for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Purlie Victorious and then another for her work in Purpose. But, hopes are very high that her new movie, Is God Is, will make her a sought-after talent on screen as well.
Young is the Racine to Mallori Johnson’s Anaia in Aleshea Harris’ big screen adaptation of her own play, a project that marks her feature directorial debut. Racine and Anaia are twin sisters who suffered severe burns as children. After years in the foster system, now young adults, the twins are summoned by their estranged mother (Vivica A. Fox) from her deathbed with a very important mission for them. She wants them to kill the person responsible for their burns, and hers as well. She tells them, “Make your daddy dead.”
Is God Is is downright electrifying. It’s a bold and singularly stylish revenge thriller packed to the brim with powerhouse performances, but anchored by a lead duo that’s utter perfection — Young and Johnson. Johnson’s Anaia is dubbed “the quiet one” whereas Young’s Racine is “the rough one,” and Young absolutely soars while portraying Racine’s unbridled determination and ferocity. Young is currently on Broadway yet again, this time sharing the stage with Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle in Proof, but if she wants to carve out a bigger space for herself on screen moving forward, I can’t imagine a stronger calling card than her spellbinding work in Is God Is.
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