Yellowstone's Elsa Dutton Is Seriously Stunning In Real Life

Paramount's neo-Western drama "Yellowstone" has no shortage of leading ladies who are just as stunning behind the scenes as they are on the screen. Just look at Beth Dutton actor Kelly Reilly, who rose to fame despite her humble beginnings — or Monica Dutton actor Kelsey Asbille, who's had quite the glow up since her "One Tree Hill" days. This trend also extends to the "Yellowstone" spinoffs. And if you want stunning, look no further than Isabel May, who played Elsa Dutton in the prequel miniseries "1883," starring opposite Sam Elliott, as well as real-life married couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. May reprised her role as Elsa to narrate the follow-up series "1923," later doing the same for the final episode of "Yellowstone" itself.

"1883" is a series that seldom shies away from depicting some of the harsh realities of frontier life in the late 19th century — and May's Elsa Dutton certainly went on a harrowing journey over the course of the show's 10 episodes. What's more, the actor herself earned a fair bit of recognition along the way. "I think what's telling is when you are at a grocery store and you bump into someone and they look at your face, and you know they recognize you, and then their eyes fill up with tears," May told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023. "I don't get recognized very often, but when I do it's that; it's very emotional." However, that's not the only way she's made an impact beyond what "Yellowstone" fans see on TV.

A then-17-year-old Isabel May got her first big break in early 2018 when the sitcom "Alexa & Katie" premiered on Netflix. May co-headlined the show with fellow actor Paris Berelc, with the two starring as main characters Katie Cooper and Alexa Mendoza, respectively. The show ended up running for four seasons and eventually concluded in 2020. What makes this particularly impressive is the fact that "Alexa & Katie" wasn't just May's breakout role — it was her first acting job, period.

Prior to booking the high-school comedy, May had no prior credits whatsoever, and the extent of her training was a four-week acting class she had taken. "When I say zero experience, I really emphasize zero experience," May said in a late-2018 interview with Terroir, shortly after turning 18. She added that while she knew she wanted to be an actor, it was something she hadn't fully committed to at that point. But the "Alexa & Katie" audition changed everything. "I went in and tested for it with Paris," May recalled, adding, "I knew there were two other girls testing for the same character next to Paris, but was fun, I didn't feel pressure. I'm the kind of person who doesn't get too nervous." May also noted that she learned quite a bit on the job. Still, the fact that she got the role in the first place really speaks to her natural talent. And it wouldn't be the last time someone saw her potential.

Isabel May's stunning transformation continued to take shape back in 2018 when, in addition to her leading role on "Alexa & Katie," she landed a supporting role on the beloved "Big Bang Theory" prequel series "Young Sheldon." During Seasons 2 and 3 of the CBS sitcom, May starred as Veronica Duncan — an early love interest of Montana Jordan's Georgie Cooper. "I love it, it's so great," May said of joining the "Young Sheldon" cast during an early-2019 appearance on KTLA 5. "It's such a great set," she continued, adding, "[The] cast is fantastic, Annie Potts is in it. ... She's, like, a legend. ... It's fantastic, I love it."

However, despite all her newfound success — and a lot more notoriety than she was used to — May was seemingly able to keep herself grounded and humble through it all. "I'm not so much of a social media person," she confessed. "I'm frightened of it. So, I tend to — I'll sneak in and check stuff out, and then disappear for a while." May added that, in real life, she actually looks quite different than how she tends to appear on TV, which has helped her maintain a certain level of anonymity (though she mentioned that she does occasionally get recognized by fans). The actor also told KTLA 5 about a moment where she saw herself on a giant "Alexa & Katie" billboard in New York's Times Square and "almost passed out."

As we previously mentioned, the casting directors for "Alexa & Katie" weren't the last people to see something special in Isabel May, despite her relative lack of experience at the time. Someone else who clearly saw May's potential was none other than "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan, who apparently wrote the role of Elsa Dutton in "1883" specifically for her.

"I tested for something else, another one of [Sheridan's] projects, and I was completely wrong for the character, but he kept bringing me in," May recalled in a December 2021 interview with Town & Country, adding that even though she didn't get the part, Sheridan promised to find a character she was right for. Not only that, but that day came a lot sooner than May thought it would. "I thought, okay, well, that's nice, but that's probably six years from now or something," the actor confessed, adding, "I didn't have any expectations whatsoever. And then two weeks later, he called and said, 'I haven't written it yet, but you are Elsa and I want you to be Elsa.'"

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter the following month, May further explained that she was the only person who actually auditioned to play the lead role in Sheridan's first "Yellowstone" spinoff. She also confirmed that the project she had originally auditioned for was the "Yellowstone" creator's unrelated Paramount Plus drama "Mayor of Kingstown," which starred Jeremy Renner in the lead role.

It's not exactly a stretch to say that Isabel May's "1883" character Elsa Dutton is one tough cookie. "She's someone that was faced with hardship, pain and loss, and despite all of that, still found beauty in the world around her and still found a way to live fully," May said of the character in a 2023 interview with People. But while Elsa is certainly no pushover, May's resilience in real life is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Speaking to Town & Country in 2021, May described all the hard work that went in to playing Elsa as authentically as possible — from learning how to ride a horse to spending three weeks undergoing what was essentially a cowboy boot camp. Then, when it came time to actually film, May and the rest of the cast and crew had to contend with blistering heat while filming in Texas, and freezing cold while filming in Montana. "I've never sweated that profusely," May said, adding, "There's something gratifying about it, because you can leave saying, 'I was fully in that. I was shaking the way that my character needed to be shaking for real.'"

To cap it off, May actually filmed her final scenes for the show while suffering from bronchitis, for which she was prescribed steroids. In a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor even recalled getting an X-ray done at a horse veterinarian because a COVID-19 surge made her wary of going to a regular hospital.

For years, the world of superhero movies was unquestionably dominated by male leads — despite the abundance of badass female superheroes, some of which you've probably never heard of. That said, there's definitely been a bit of a shift in recent years, with numerous stunning ladies stepping up to lead big-budget superhero flicks — from Brie Larson in Marvel's "Captain Marvel" to "House of the Dragon" star Milly Alcock in DC's "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow." But what you may not know is that "1883" alum Isabel May was very nearly part of this super club.

In April 2022, Warner Bros. tapped May to star opposite "Riverdale" lead KJ Apa in a "Wonder Twins" movie that would release exclusively on the Max (then HBO Max) streaming service. May and Apa would have portrayed the Wonder Twins themselves, Jayna and Zan, a pair of shapeshifting alien siblings originating from the 1970s DC cartoon "The All-New Super Friends Hour." That year, May promised a fresh take on the characters during an interview with The Playlist.

Shortly after this, however, news broke that Warner Bros. had axed the project. This ended up being something of a prelude to the more widespread cuts the company made later in 2022, which also claimed a nearly-finished "Batgirl" movie starring Leslie Grace. Despite this setback, May has continued to add to her filmography — even landing a role in the slasher sequel "Scream 7." In the end, it seems you just can't keep a good Dutton down.