Catching Up With Madison Shamoun – Rising Co-Star in New Amazon Prime Series, The Lake

Madison Shamoun has featured in renowned television series that include Black-ish, BlackAF, Sidney to the Max, and All American. Now she is one of the main characters in the new series, The Lake.

Madison Shamoun said Skye, a character on All American that she portrayed, is far more confident than she is. Still, her work ethic to secure roles in Hollywood suggests otherwise.

“I knew I wanted to be an actress,” said Shamoun. “ I’ve always been in pursuit of acting.”

Madison was born and raised mainly in San Diego, California. She recalls feeling that her parents were overwhelmed by her hyperactivity to perform. As a youth, Madison participated in gymnastics, cheerleading, ice skating, musical theater, dance, and vocal lessons.

“My parents put me in any performance-based extracurricular that you could think of,” she said.

Madison’s desire to perform and continue her education led her to enroll in one of the top schools for theatre, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). According to Niche, a company that provides ranks, reports, and reviews of universities, UCLA ranked #13 in the 2022 Best Colleges for Performing Arts in America.

Although Madison has shown she is multi-talented and contains a degree from a prestigious university, she still has moments of doubt. 

“There are so many moments that I can recall where this [acting] gets challenging, and I don’t know if I want to keep doing this,” said Madison. 

She is not alone. Actresses like Laverne Cox, China Anne McClain, and others have felt the same way. McClain implied that she was fed up with Hollywood, telling Entertainment Weekly, “All this is an illusion. This industry for what it is and everything that people look to and praise, it’s not important.”

Shamoun’s love for acting helps her hurdle over obstacles of doubt.

“I know there is going to be a lot of no’s and unknowns – but I still want to do it [acting] because I just can’t imagine doing anything else,” said Shamoun. 

 Madison’s first break came in the Kid Life Crisis episode of ABC’s Black-ish, where she played Lily. A girl that Junior, actor Marcus Scribner, attempts to gain her attention. The show aired on January 21, 2020. On April 17, 2020, Shamoun appeared on BlackAF as Lindsay in the episode called because of slavery too. That same year, she featured in Sidney to the Max. 

Shamoun moved on to play four episodes in season four of The CW series, All American. The show is currently streaming on Netflix. 

“They [the casting crew] were so much fun. I think I had way too much fun on that set,” said Madison. Her character, Skye, is the new love interest of Tamia “Coop” Cooper, portrayed by actress Bre-Z. 

Madison’s character is straightforward and unafraid of being vulnerable. Shamoun mentioned it was fun portraying this character. 

“Skye is far more confident than I am,” said Shamoun. “She’s also very much herself, and I would say we’re similar in that way.”

Madison is co-starring alongside Jordan Gavaris and Julia Stiles in the new Amazon Prime series, The Lake, which premiered on June 17. 

The Lake tells stories about the Canadian Cottage Experience centered around Justin (Jordan Gavaris), a recently divorced gay man trying to reconnect with teenage Billie (Madison Shamoun), the daughter he gave up for adoption.

“Billie is wise beyond her years, very confident, super smart, and knows what she wants in life,” said Shamoun. 

Justin finds himself battling his stepsister Maisy-May (Julia Stiles) for the rights to the family cottage. Julia’s character is the antagonist. Shamoun ended the discussion on The Lake series with a cliffhanger. Billie and Justin’s father-daughter bonding is disturbed because of Maisy-May, but something else surfaces.  

“We get distracted by another plotline – that I can’t speak about yet. It’s a good one, and I think people will laugh and maybe even cry a little bit,” said Shamoun.

The Lake will not be the last time viewers see Shamoun. She told The Official Black Magazine that she already has something on the books this summer. 

“I can’t talk about it just yet. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, you’ll see a post from me, and you guys will get to be in all that inside scoop,” she said.