Kayla Cromer

Kayla Cromer is an American actress. In 2020, she began appearing as Matilda in the series Everything's Gonna Be Okay. She is the first actor on the autism spectrum to play an autistic main character in a TV series.

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Early life

Cromer was born in San Jose, California, to Pam and Reno Cromer and grew up in the suburb of Morgan Hill. She became interested in the paranormal when she was nine years old and received her first piece of paranormal investigation equipment at the age of 10 as a Christmas gift. Cromer has investigated famous locations such as the RMS Queen Mary when she was in eighth grade and the Winchester Mystery House.
Originally wanting to be a criminal profiler with the FBI, she began to desire a career in acting after watching Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. In 2017, she moved to Los Angeles to focus on her acting career.

Career

Cromer made her acting debut in the TV series South of Hell in 2015. She later appeared in the films Desert Dwellers and Blood Orange, the latter of which she wrote before landing the role of Matilda in Everything's Gonna Be Okay. She was set to appear in a film titled Okinawa but production was derailed due to the death of the writer and director in 2018. She has also worked as a model. In 2024 she joined the cast of The Good Doctor as Charlotte "Charlie" Lukaitis, an autistic medical student. She first appeared on the show in Season 7's episode 2 titled "Skin in the Game".

Personal life

Cromer was diagnosed with dyscalculia, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the age of seven and was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder years later. She publicly disclosed her diagnosis at the 2019 Freeform Summit. She is the first autistic actor to play an autistic main character in a TV series and works as an activist trying to end the stigma of being autistic.