AUSTIN is an actress and screenwriter originally from North carolina
Austin Highsmith Garces is an actress and screenwriter working across film, television and stage. She is best known for playing Phoebe in the Warner Bros./Alcon Entertainment films Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2, and for her role as Ms. Lang in season two of MTV’s Scream. Her television credits include Criminal Minds, S.W.A.T., The Rookie, and Chicago Med, among others, and her additional film work includes Gangster Squad, as well as numerous independent and television movies. Theatre credits available upon request.
As a writer, Highsmith Garces has developed and sold multiple projects for film and television. Her first television movie, A Country Romance, premiered on UPtv and is now streaming on Amazon Prime. She also co-wrote and starred in the comedy feature The Plus One, starring Ashanti and Cedric the Entertainer, which was released theatrically in 2023 and is currently streaming on Starz. Her independent feature Inheritance, for which she wrote the story, produced, and starred, also received a theatrical release and is now available on Amazon and Tubi.
Her original science-fiction pilot Strange Chapel received First Prize in the 2024 FadeIn Sci-Fi Awards and placed in several major competitions, including the Chicago Script Awards, Cinequest Screenwriting Competition, and The Writer’s Lab 2021.
Highsmith Garces is also the author and illustrator of the children’s book The Miracle Tree, inspired by her survival of a life-threatening childhood illness and her father’s yearly tradition of returning to the hospital Christmas tree to give thanks for her recovery. She is currently developing a screen adaptation of The Miracle Tree with Emmy-winning writer Noam Dromi.
