A version of this story about “Dopesick” star Kaitlyn Dever first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
It’s rare to experience a life-changing epiphany at any age, much less at 15. But that’s how old Kaitlyn Dever was when she played a self-harming young woman in the acclaimed 2013 indie “Short Term 12.” She’d already been acting for several years by then — she was a cast regular on the ABC sitcom “Last Man Standing” and had a recurring role on FX’s “Justified” — but the gritty drama about a group home for troubled teenagers made a lasting impression on her.