Meet ‘East of Eden’ Star Zoe Phillips: All About the Actress Playing Abra
Most of the East of Eden cast are no strangers to the spotlight, even the younger actors. Joe Anders stars as Aron Trask, and he’s the son of Kate Winslet and director Sam Mendes. His character’s twin brother, Cal, is played by The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and We Were Liars star Joseph Zada. But the actress playing their shared love interest — yep, we got a brother love triangle going on — is newer to the Hollywood scene.
Zoe Phillips plays Abra Bacon in the Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic 1952 novel. During their childhood, Aron and Abra, who comes from a well-off family, meet and fall in love. Years later, when Aron is away at war, Abra’s head is turned by Cal. Since Abra is at the center of this drama, get to know the breakout star.
Where is Zoe Phillips from?
East of Eden may be a classic American novel, but Phillips is using an American accent to play Abra. She’s actually from Melbourne, Australia. Zada is from Australia as well.
What has Zoe Phillips been in before?
Phillips had only been in two projects prior to East of Eden, both Australian book-to-TV adaptations that came out this year. The first was the crime thriller miniseries Dustfall, in which Phillips appears in all six episodes. The next was Netflix’s My Brilliant Career, in which she appears in one episode as a daughter of the McSwat family.
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When she was named one of Casting Guild Australia’s 2025 Rising Stars, Phillips told the agency about how her acting journey began. She cited her interest sparking during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
“I, like, was kind of going crazy as I think many people were with not being able to connect with anyone,” she explained. “So I went online with my mum and we found an acting course, and I would do Zoom classes every week, and I think for that entire year, it was the only thing that got me through, is these friends that I made over the computer.”
After lockdown, Phillips took in-person acting classes and “the spark just grew bigger and bigger. And then my drama teacher in high school, she was big help and support and doing drama throughout BCE, that pushed it even further,” she added.
Noting that her list of projects wasn’t very long yet, Phillips said East of Eden has been her most memorable acting experience so far. “I went over to New Zealand and filmed for a few months,” she recalled. “That was just amazing. I think the most special thing about that was the people I met. I definitely have some connections for life now, and yeah, it was just unbelievable.”
How old is Zoe Phillips?
Phillips turned 21 in March this year. For comparison, Anders is 22, and Zada is 21 at the time of the show’s premiere.
East of Eden, October 1, Netflix
