A biology degree, a long trip across continents, and two years of actor training in Melbourne: Kate Mayhew’s path to genre leads took a few turns before bringing her back to Toronto. Now, with roles in Andromeda Studios’ Sorority Shark Attack and Storm Warning, her journey has landed squarely in the kind of stories built to grip an audience.
A different route to the screen
Mayhew is a Canadian actor based in Toronto, Ontario. Acting was always a passion, but she first completed a B.Sc. majoring in Biology at the University of British Columbia. After graduation, she travelled across the United States, Canada, and overseas, eventually settling in Melbourne, Australia, for two years.
There, she trained at the Melbourne Actors Lab. She later returned to Toronto, bringing that experience with her as she continued building a career in film. It’s a distinctive route into acting, and a reminder that a creative career doesn’t always start with a straight line.
Mayhew has led two feature films, taken supporting roles in others, and appeared in numerous short films. She has also written and directed some of her own shorts. Away from the set, writing remains part of her creative life: she’s often found working at her favourite cafe, or out practising photography. Her official bio offers a fuller look at her background and work.
That range matters in genre filmmaking, where performers often have to make heightened situations feel immediate and human. The creature may be larger than life. The fear, determination, or split-second choice at the heart of a scene still needs to feel real.
Two Andromeda films, two different challenges
Mayhew plays Chloe in Sorority Shark Attack, a genre feature that brings her into Andromeda Studios’ mix of horror and horror-comedy. Her character is part of a story built around danger and survival, and the title makes its promise without wasting time.
For audiences, a creature feature offers an instant hook. For the cast, it means grounding the danger in characters viewers can root for. Mayhew’s role as Chloe is one entry in a growing body of film and short-form work that puts her in front of audiences across different kinds of stories. More on the film is available at the official Sorority Shark Attack site and on its Andromeda Studios slate page.
Her next Andromeda feature, Storm Warning, reunites her with co-lead Marc Rico Ludwig, who also appeared in Sorority Shark Attack. The horror thriller was written by Bill Dever, produced by Sam Dever, and directed by Drew Antzis, with cinematography by Jack Peresin. Filmed in Guelph, Ontario, the production completed principal photography in 2026.
The wider cast includes Curtis Harrison as Gary Gibson, Eddie Curry as Josef Megele, Lambros Bryan Demos, Jemilla Mills-Smith, and character actors Ross Mullan and Rick Bland. Mullan’s credits include Game of Thrones and Doctor Who, while Bland has appeared in Star Wars and Doctor Who.
Producer Sam Dever said Mayhew and Ludwig’s lead performances “anchor the movie with compelling character work.” That’s a concise description of what a lead performance brings to a thriller: a centre of gravity. Spectacle can raise the stakes; the characters make those stakes matter.
The production announcement describes Storm Warning as a film balancing psychological tension with visceral horror, combining practical effects with a style that honours classic horror traditions while aiming to feel fresh and contemporary. The project is now moving into distribution and festival strategy; no release date has been confirmed. Follow the film’s Andromeda slate page for updates.
Building a body of work
Beyond her Andromeda projects, Mayhew’s screen credits include #Float (2022), Lockdown Lovers (2023), and The Pleasures of the Damned (2024). Together with her feature leads, supporting roles, and short-film work, these projects show a career moving across formats and productions rather than sticking to one lane.
That flexibility is useful in independent film production, where the scale and demands of one project can look very different from the next. A performer may need to shift from a compact short to a feature-length story, or from a grounded scene to a world where danger arrives with fangs, fins, or worse. Mayhew has experience across that range, and also brings a writer’s and director’s perspective from her own short films.
Her creative interests extend beyond acting, too. Writing and photography offer different ways to shape a story: one through words and structure, the other through a frame and a moment of light. For genre movies, that attention to story and image is part of the appeal. A suspenseful scene depends not only on what appears in the frame, but on what the audience senses just beyond it.
A Canadian slate with room to roam
Andromeda Studios is a Canadian media production company focused on genre projects, including horror, science fiction, fantasy, and comedy. Its 2026 features include Sorority Shark Attack, Storm Warning, and Lake Patrol. For an indie film production company, a varied slate makes room for distinct kinds of audience experiences, from creature-feature thrills to atmospheric horror and comedy. The company’s wider digital media production work and film slate are available here.
Mayhew’s work with the studio links two very different horror experiences, with the shared energy of genre storytelling: danger arrives, characters respond, and the audience gets pulled into the action. Her route from biology labs to Melbourne acting training to Toronto film sets is just as distinctive.
For fans, the next step is simple: keep an eye on the films. Storm Warning is complete and moving through distribution and festival planning, while Sorority Shark Attack offers another chance to see Mayhew in the thick of the trouble. For independent filmmakers, her path is a lively reminder that useful creative experience can come from more than one direction. Sometimes it starts in a lab. Sometimes it ends with a shark.