How Lottie Guidi Turned a Dance Background into a Rising Vertical Drama Career

Before vertical dramas, Lottie Guidi spent years training in ballet, theater, and dance performance. Now, the actress is bringing that physicality and emotional intensity into fast-paced mobile dramas filled with romance, action, and morally messy characters.

Whether she’s playing a villain, love interest, or emotionally conflicted heroine, Lottie Guidi has quickly become one of the newer actresses audiences have started recognizing across vertical drama platforms.

Over the past year, Guidi has steadily built a growing list of lead roles in mobile-first series including “Hear My Love Again,” “Press Me to Your Skin,” “The Tutor Trap,” and “Villains Beware Mommy Punches Hard.”

But long before vertical dramas entered the picture, her background was rooted in ballet, musical theater, and years of performance training.

From Ballet to Acting

Guidi originally trained as a ballet dancer and began dancing when she was just two years old.

In a 2026 interview for GoodShort alongside actress and her best friend, Tess Dinerstein, she explained that dance was her first creative outlet, though she eventually realized she wanted something less restrictive than the structure of classical ballet.

“I really hated the fact that you weren't allowed to talk and you weren't really allowed to express yourself creatively in a very structured ballet setting,” she said.

According to Guidi, one of her dance teachers eventually encouraged her family to try theater instead.

“She’s really good, but I think she needs an outlet and this is not that outlet,” Guidi recalled the teacher telling her mother.

At eight years old, she performed in her first theater production through her church. Not long afterward, someone connected to the production invited her to audition for a television pilot, which became her first experience on a professional set.

“My mom always says we saw the look on your face your first day on set and we just knew … we lost her. She’s going to be an actor,” Guidi said.

That early combination of acting, dance, and theater would continue shaping her career throughout her teenage years.

Building a Foundation in Theater and Dance

Before moving into vertical dramas, Guidi spent years training in theater, dance, and voice performance.

Her resume lists productions including “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Hairspray,” “Into the Woods,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” and “Our Town.”

She also trained extensively in ballet and performed with programs connected to the Washington Ballet.

Guidi later attended Loyola Marymount University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts and Dance. Her training also included tap, jazz, pointe, and contemporary dance alongside vocal and accent work.

That performance background has carried over into the physicality of many of her vertical drama roles.

During a May 2026 interview, Guidi explained that one of the things she enjoys most about vertical dramas is the opportunity to perform action-heavy scenes and emotionally heightened material early in her career.

She specifically mentioned projects that allowed her to do stunt work, archery, sword fighting, and physically demanding sequences that many young actors do not immediately get the chance to explore.

Discovering Vertical Dramas

Guidi credits fellow actress Tess Dinerstein with first introducing her to vertical dramas.

While recalling the story during their GoodShort interview together, Guidi said the two were meeting at Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood when Dinerstein began describing the fast-paced mobile series format.

At the time, Guidi was still attending school and had never heard of vertical dramas before.

“You were like, ‘Yeah, they’re kind of like soap operas,’” Guidi told Dinerstein while remembering the conversation.

Soon afterward, she began auditioning for projects herself and quickly discovered how much she enjoyed the format.

“I would never have known about them at that time or gotten in so early or discovered how much fun they were quite so quickly,” she said.

Her first vertical drama project was “Broken,” where she played a villain opposite Lexi Manrey. From there, her list of projects expanded rapidly across multiple platforms.

The poster for "The Rise of Ms. Lyra" | Source: IMDb

Finding Emotional Depth Inside Fast-Paced Stories

Part of what has helped Guidi stand out in vertical dramas is the seriousness with which she approaches characters, even within highly exaggerated storylines.

During her May 2026 interview, she explained that she often builds personal backstories for characters herself because the pace of vertical productions sometimes leaves little time for extensive character development on the page.

She also spoke openly about how emotionally draining certain projects can become, especially scenes involving bullying, emotional isolation, or cruelty.

While discussing “The Virgin’s Christmas Wish,” which filmed in China, Guidi admitted some scenes became difficult to shake emotionally after filming days ended.

The poster for "The Virgin's Christmas Wish" | Source: IMDb

Guidi also said she gravitates toward female characters who are allowed to defend themselves rather than simply waiting to be rescued.

That interest in emotionally active, resilient characters has become a recurring pattern across many of her recent projects, particularly in revenge-heavy or emotionally intense vertical dramas.

The posters for "My Big Sister Strikes with Her Mafia Dynasty," "Villains Beware Mommy Piunches Hard," and "Press Me to Your Skin" | Source: IMDb

A Creative Career Still Growing

Although Guidi’s vertical drama résumé has expanded quickly, she still speaks about acting with the excitement of someone continuing to discover new creative possibilities.

Outside acting, her background remains deeply connected to dance, music, movement, and performance training. She also revealed that she sometimes uses music, scents, and physical habits to help shape characters before filming.

Guidi has also spoken openly about being dyslexic, joking during the GoodShort interview that she occasionally needs to reread audition sides multiple times before recording self-tapes.

Even so, she approaches the work with an enthusiasm that comes through clearly both onscreen and in interviews.

As vertical dramas continue expanding, Guidi appears to be building a career that blends classical performance training with the emotional intensity and fast-moving storytelling that define the genre today.