You probably know her as the sharp-as-a-tack Katrina Bennett from Suits or maybe as the brilliant Dr. Cassie Railly in 12 Monkeys. But if you grew up in the early 2000s, Amanda Schull is, was, and will always be Jody Sawyer.
She was the girl with the "bad feet" who somehow managed to land the guy and the lead in the workshop. It’s a classic story.
Except, here is the thing: Amanda Schull wasn't just an actress playing a dancer. She was a legitimate, high-level professional ballerina who happened to stumble into a movie set. Honestly, the way she got the part in Center Stage sounds like something straight out of a screenplay itself.
She was an apprentice at the San Francisco Ballet. Basically, she was just trying to survive the grueling rehearsals and keep her job. A casting director wandered into the studio, saw her working for an end-of-the-year showcase, and that was it. No long-term plan to move to Hollywood. No headshots in her bag. Just a girl in a leotard who "jumped higher and kicked higher" because she heard a producer was watching.
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The San Francisco Ballet Years: Not Just a Hobby
Most people assume that once the credits rolled on Center Stage, Schull packed her bags for Los Angeles.
She didn't.
She actually went back to San Francisco and kept dancing. For seven years. Imagine being the star of a cult-classic film and then going back to being one of many in a corps de ballet. That takes a specific kind of humility and a genuine love for the craft. She wasn't just "staying in shape"; she was performing in some of the most demanding ballets in the world.
What she actually danced
During her tenure at the San Francisco Ballet (1999–2006), Schull wasn't just standing in the back holding a spear. She was deep in the trenches of the repertory. You’ve got to understand the level of discipline we're talking about here. She performed in:
- Balanchine masterpieces like Jewels and Serenade.
- Classical staples like The Nutcracker, Giselle, and Romeo and Juliet.
- Contemporary works by heavy hitters like Christopher Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky.
She even guest-starred in lead roles for Coppélia and Sleeping Beauty outside of the company. She was a "real" dancer. Not an actress who took a few classes.
Why Amanda Schull Left the Stage
Ballet is brutal.
It’s a finite career. Your body has an expiration date, and Schull knew that better than anyone. In 2006, she officially retired from the San Francisco Ballet. The catalyst? A back injury that sidelined her for a good chunk of a season.
Injuries suck. But for Amanda, it was a moment of clarity. She realized that while she loved the life, she wasn't one of those people who "ate, slept, and breathed" only dance. She saw colleagues who were 100% consumed by it, and she felt a little envious of that singular focus.
But she had that "tickle" in the back of her brain. The acting bug hadn't left since the Center Stage days. She was 28—an age where most dancers are either hitting their peak or starting to look at the exit sign. She chose the exit.
The "Bad Feet" Myth and Reality
In Center Stage, Jody Sawyer is constantly berated for having "bad feet"—meaning she lacked the high, banana-shaped arches that ballet purists crave.
Funnily enough, that was true for Schull in real life. She’s been very open about the fact that she didn't have the "stereotypical dancer's body." Her feet weren't perfect. She had to work twice as hard to get the same lines as the girls with natural arches.
But that's probably why she was so good as Jody. She wasn't faking the frustration. When you see her in that final jazz-ballet hybrid number (the one with the red tutu and the iconic Cooper Nielson motorcycle entrance), you’re seeing someone who is genuinely relieved to finally be dancing on her own terms.
Transitioning to the Screen
Moving from the stage to a TV set like One Tree Hill or Pretty Little Liars isn't as easy as it looks.
Dancers are trained to project to the back of a 3,000-seat theater. Their movements are big. Their expressions are heightened. Film acting is the opposite. It’s all in the eyes. It’s tiny.
Schull has mentioned that her ballet training actually helped her with the technical side of acting. Dancers are hyper-aware of their bodies. They know where the light is. They never accidentally turn their back to the camera. They have a discipline that makes "normal" actors look lazy. If a director tells a dancer to hit a mark and move two inches to the left, they do it perfectly every single time.
The Mao’s Last Dancer Connection
In 2009, she combined her two worlds one last time in Mao’s Last Dancer. She played Elizabeth Mackey, the first wife of Li Cunxin. It was a full-circle moment. She was back in the ballet world, but this time she was there as an established actress.
She still takes ballet classes five days a week in Los Angeles. She says she uses it as a "barometer" for her life. Even now, with a resume full of Hallmark movies and high-stakes dramas, that foundation hasn't crumbled.
The Actionable Insight: What We Can Learn from Schull
The lesson here isn't just "follow your dreams." That’s boring.
The real takeaway from Amanda Schull’s career is the power of pivoting with grace. She didn't treat her ballet retirement like a failure. She treated it like a graduation.
If you're looking to transition careers or move into a new field, take a page from her book:
- Don't ignore the "tickle." If you have an interest in something else, let it simmer while you finish your current chapter.
- Use your previous discipline. Schull didn't stop being a dancer; she just stopped dancing for a living. She took the work ethic and the body awareness and applied it to legal jargon in Suits.
- Accept your "bad feet." Whatever your perceived weakness is in your current field, it might be the very thing that makes you relatable and castable in your next one.
She’s now a staple on the Hallmark Channel and a recurring force in prestige TV. But if you watch her walk across a room on screen, you can still see it. The posture. The turnout. The discipline. You can take the girl out of the San Francisco Ballet, but you can't take the ballet out of the girl.
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If you want to see her best "actor-dancer" work, go back and watch Mao's Last Dancer. It's a more mature, nuanced look at the world she left behind than Center Stage, and it shows exactly why she was able to make the leap that so many others fail to stick.
Next Steps for the Fan:
- Watch: Mao's Last Dancer to see her bridge the gap between her two careers.
- Compare: Look at her movement in Suits versus her early roles. Notice how she uses her physical presence to command a room.
- Practice: If you’re a dancer looking to act, focus on "downsizing" your movements for the camera, as Schull had to do during her first few years in LA.