Born on January 6, 1994, in Vidalia, Georgia, McLain's parents are Stephanie and Marty McLain. Her father is a Baptist minister at a Georgia church. At the age of seven, she became a born-again Christian,[2] later becoming interested in acting as a 15-year old in high school. In an interview, she credited her mother's background as an accomplished singer and dancer for her own interest in the stage.[3] After graduation from high school, she attended Kennesaw State University. McLain married Caleb Stanley, a writer and co-founder of a movement called "The Alternative", in 2019.[4]
Professional career
Films
In 2016, McLain was cast in the starring role of Rachel Scott in the feature-length film, I'm Not Ashamed.[1] Scott was a student killed in the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. At the time of the film's production, McLain was in her senior year at Kennesaw State University.[5] In preparing for her role in I'm Not Ashamed, McLain read Scott's journals and talked to the slain girl's mother.[3] In an interview, McLain said that she could relate to her character's Christian faith and found the shooting scene to be a spiritual experience.[2] After the film's release, McLain said, "I love acting in films, but to be a part of a film that is having an impact in people’s hearts around the world is above and beyond anything I could have ever expected".[6] The film has since been released on DVD, including German and French versions.[7][8]
The next year, McLain appeared in the teen movie, Because of Grácia.[9] The 2017 film deals with the trials and tribulations of various teens navigating relationships in high school. In 2018, she had the female lead in the film, If You're Gone, about a high school senior whose boyfriend mysteriously disappears.[10] The disappearance results in her character's spiraling into deep depression and even questioning her faith in God.[11] The film was based on the popular Christy Award-winning novel of that name by Brittany Goodwin.[12][13]If You're Gone was released on DVD in 2019.[14]
Author
McLain wrote the book, It's Worth It, in 2017.[15] Based on her spiritual faith journey, it is a devotional guide geared to high school-age youth.[16][17]
Although Guardian film critic Jordan Hoffman generally panned I'm Not Ashamed, he praised McLain's acting, saying she was the film's "saving grace" and "a terrific, warm and engaging performer", concluding that "the sky is the limit" for her future in acting.[1] Writing in The Christian Index, editor Gerald Harris called her, "...a gifted actor, charming in every way, and certainly sincere in her faith".[6]
She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 2017 for her role in the film Because of Grácia at the Great Lakes Christian Film Festival.[20] Of her acting in the 2018 film, If You're Gone, a reviewer said McLain, "really shines ... You feel her joy, her sadness, and her grief as she portrays this character".[10]
^Ja, ich glaube : Rachel Joy Scott musste sterben, weil sie offen zu ihrem Glauben stand. Dies ist die Geschichte ihres Lebens. WorldCat. OCLC1012497745.
