Maybe it was American Horror Story. Maybe it was The Franchise. Or perhaps you spotted him in a smaller role in a movie like Dear Evan Hansen or Cat Person.
His career is interesting because Hollywood was not actually his starting point. Powell first made his name on Broadway, where he landed major roles almost immediately after finishing drama school. From there, he moved into movies, television, and streaming series.
So, if you are searching for Isaac Powell movies and TV shows, here is the career breakdown, including his best-known roles and some facts about his background.
Isaac Powell movies and TV shows at a glance
| Year | Movie or TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2018–2019 | Indoor Boys | Logan |
| 2018 | Murphy Brown | Jack |
| 2021 | Dear Evan Hansen | Rhys |
| 2021 | Modern Love | Vince |
| 2021–2022 | American Horror Story | Troy Lord / Theo Graves |
| 2022 | Susie Searches | Ray Garcia |
| 2023 | Past Lives | Guy, voice role |
| 2023 | Cat Person | Clay |
| 2023 | Our Son | Solo |
| 2024 | The Franchise | Bryson |
| 2026 | The Beauty | Manny after transformation |
| 2026 | The Moment | Lloyd |
IMDb’s current filmography lists Powell across film, television, shorts, and producing work, including American Horror Story, The Franchise, The Beauty, and The Moment.
He became a Broadway star before Hollywood noticed
Powell’s screen résumé makes more sense once you know where he started.
Born on December 30, 1994, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Isaac Cole Powell studied acting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He graduated in 2017.
Then things moved quickly.
Only months after graduating, Powell landed the role of Daniel Beauxhomme in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island. Playbill confirms that he was part of the original 2017 Broadway revival cast.
That was already a huge start.
Then came Tony.
Powell was cast as Tony in Ivo van Hove’s Broadway revival of West Side Story. The production officially opened in February 2020, with Powell leading the cast opposite Shereen Pimentel as Maria.
That role showed why casting directors kept paying attention to him. He could sing, dance, handle romantic material, and carry a major production.
The COVID-19 shutdown cut that Broadway run short, something Powell later described as disappointing, though he said he still carried what he learned from the production with him.
Isaac Powell’s movies
Dear Evan Hansen
Powell appeared as Rhys in the 2021 film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen.
It was not a leading role, but the movie gave him exposure outside Broadway and placed him inside a major studio musical with Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Julianne Moore, and Amy Adams.
For someone coming directly from musical theater, it felt like a natural bridge into film.
IMDb lists Dear Evan Hansen among the projects Powell is best known for.
Susie Searches
In the mystery comedy Susie Searches, Powell played Ray Garcia.
The movie follows a college student who runs a true-crime podcast and becomes involved in a disappearance. Powell’s role gave him more to work with than some of his earlier screen appearances.
It also showed that his movie career was beginning to move beyond musicals.
Past Lives
Yes, Isaac Powell is credited in Past Lives, but this one needs context.
His contribution is a small voice role credited as Guy. So if you watched Celine Song’s acclaimed romantic drama and cannot remember seeing Powell on screen, there is a good reason.
IMDb confirms the voice credit.
Cat Person
Powell also appeared as Clay in Cat Person, the 2023 psychological drama based on Kristen Roupenian’s widely discussed short story.
Again, it is not a giant starring role, but it adds another very different type of project to his résumé.
That variety is becoming a pattern with Powell. Musical drama, mystery, romance, horror, satire. He does not seem interested in staying in one lane.
Our Son
In the 2023 family drama Our Son, starring Billy Porter and Luke Evans, Powell played Solo.
The film follows a married couple dealing with the collapse of their relationship and questions surrounding custody of their son.
The Moment
Powell’s 2026 film work includes The Moment, directed by Aidan Zamiri and built around Charli xcx.
A24 lists Powell among a cast that also includes Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Rachel Sennott, and Alexander Skarsgård. The film follows a rising pop star dealing with fame and industry pressure while preparing for an arena tour.
Powell is credited as Lloyd.
It is another sign that his film career is moving toward unusual, filmmaker-driven projects rather than simply chasing conventional leading-man roles.
The TV shows where Isaac Powell really stands out
American Horror Story
For many television viewers, this is probably where Isaac Powell became recognizable.
He first appeared in American Horror Story: Double Feature as Troy Lord.
Then he returned for American Horror Story: NYC as Theo Graves, giving him a much more substantial presence.
FX’s official AHS: NYC cast page lists Powell as Theo alongside Joe Mantello, Russell Tovey, Zachary Quinto, Patti LuPone, and other members of the ensemble.
IMDb credits Powell with 14 episodes of American Horror Story across 2021 and 2022.
This was an important shift. Broadway audiences already knew him, but American Horror Story introduced Powell to viewers who might never have seen him on a New York stage.
The Franchise
Then came one of his funniest screen roles.
In HBO’s The Franchise, Powell played Bryson, the nervous but increasingly important representative of a powerful studio boss.
The show is a satire about the chaos behind the production of a fictional superhero blockbuster.
Think workplace comedy, except everyone is trapped inside an expensive movie franchise that seems permanently close to disaster.
GQ described Bryson as the studio head’s right-hand man and noted how the character becomes more important as the series develops.
Powell appeared in all eight episodes listed by IMDb.
It is probably one of the clearest demonstrations of his comic timing on television.
The Beauty
Powell returned to the Ryan Murphy universe in 2026 with FX’s The Beauty.
Here is where the casting gets unusual.
Ben Platt plays Manny before his transformation, while Isaac Powell plays Manny after the transformation.
TV Guide and IMDb both identify Powell as Manny (Post Beauty).
That explains why you may see both Powell and Platt listed as playing Manny.
It is not a database mistake. They portray different physical versions of the same character.
Modern Love, Murphy Brown, and Indoor Boys
Before his larger television roles, Powell was steadily building credits.
He played Logan in the web series Indoor Boys across 2018 and 2019. His appearance in the series was already being discussed during a 2018 Gay Times profile.
He also guest-starred as Jack in the 2018 Murphy Brown episode “A Lifetime of Achievement.”
In 2021, he appeared as Vince in an episode of Amazon’s anthology series Modern Love.
These were smaller jobs, but you can see the progression. One episode becomes several episodes. Supporting parts become recurring characters. Eventually, he is holding his own in ensembles packed with established actors.
Was Isaac Powell actually in And Just Like That?
This one causes a lot of confusion.
Powell was announced as a series regular on And Just Like That… in 2021. He was expected to play George, a Fashion Institute of Technology student.
But Powell never appeared in the finished episodes.
Reporting in 2022 said scheduling conflicts with another job prevented him from doing the series.
So And Just Like That… should not really be treated as an actual Isaac Powell screen appearance, even though some online filmography pages still list it.
What is Isaac Powell known for?
Isaac Powell is best known for combining a strong Broadway career with increasingly prominent television roles.
His major career markers include:
- Daniel in Once on This Island
- Tony in West Side Story on Broadway
- Troy Lord and Theo Graves in American Horror Story
- Bryson in The Franchise
- Manny after transformation in The Beauty
- Rhys in Dear Evan Hansen
His Broadway work remains a major part of his identity as a performer. GQ described him as first becoming a star through Once on This Island and West Side Story before expanding further into television.
Are Glen Powell and Isaac Powell related?
There is no publicly documented family relationship between Isaac Powell and Glen Powell.
They are both American actors, and they share the same surname, but their documented family backgrounds are different.
Isaac Powell was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sources identify his parents as Will and Terry Powell.
Glen Powell was born in Austin, Texas. His parents are Glen Powell Sr. and Cyndy Powell.
So despite the name, there is no reliable evidence showing that the two actors are related.
What ethnicity is Isaac Powell?
Isaac Powell has described himself in the context of being mixed race.
A Gay Times interview specifically focused on Powell’s racial identity and his experience of people trying to categorize his background.
IMDb states that his father is African American while his mother is of European descent.
The important part is that Powell himself has spoken about how uncomfortable it can be when strangers push him to explain where he is “really from.” His comments make the subject more personal than simply putting him into a demographic box.
Who is Isaac Powell’s father?
Isaac Powell’s father is Will Powell, a fitness professional and competitive athlete who became a three-time world CrossFit champion.
Fitness was a major part of Isaac’s childhood.
In a 2024 GQ interview, Powell explained that his family owns Powell Fitness Training and Wellness and that he spent much of his childhood around the gym. He said family trips often revolved around his father’s bodybuilding and CrossFit competitions.
Interestingly, Isaac did not follow his father into professional fitness. Acting pulled him in another direction.
But that athletic background probably did not hurt when he reached Broadway. Playing Tony in West Side Story is not exactly a sit-down job.
Where Isaac Powell’s career stands now
What makes Isaac Powell worth watching is not that he already has dozens of starring movies. He doesn’t.
It is the direction of the career.
He went from drama school to Broadway almost immediately. Then came Dear Evan Hansen, American Horror Story, Past Lives, The Franchise, The Beauty, and The Moment.
And none of those projects feels exactly like the one before it.
That is the interesting part of the Isaac Powell movies and TV shows story. He is still moving between theater, comedy, horror, drama, and independent film instead of settling into one predictable type of role.
For audiences who first noticed him as Tony on Broadway or Theo in American Horror Story, his screen career still feels like it is opening up rather than reaching its peak.
I am Jeremy Jahns – Your Cinematic Explorer
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