Joey King’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Bessie Cavallo, played by Joey King, is the heart of Radium Girls. King shows Bessie as a young woman who starts out just trying to help support her family, but as she sees her sister and coworkers getting sick, she becomes more determined to uncover what’s really happening. Her curiosity and growing courage push the story forward, turning her into the main voice fighting to expose the dangers of radium. King’s performance makes the historical events feel personal and real, helping the audience connect emotionally with what the Radium Girls went through.
Abby Quinn Role in the film Radium Girls
Abby Quinn portrays Josephine Cavallo, Bessie’s older sister, whose declining health becomes one of the first signs that something is terribly wrong at the radium factory. Quinn plays Josephine with a soft, grounded presence that highlights the physical and emotional toll the job takes on the dial painters. Her performance helps show how the radium poisoning crisis wasn’t just a historical event—it was a personal tragedy for the young women who trusted their employers. By showing Josephine’s gradual illness and the impact it has on her family, Quinn adds emotional weight to the story and strengthens the film’s message about workplace safety and corporate responsibility.
Cara Seymour’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Cara Seymour appears in Radium Girls as Wiley Stephens. Through her performance, she helps show the power imbalance between the young dial painters and the people connected to the radium industry. Seymour plays Wiley with a calm, controlled energy that highlights how companies and institutions tried to manage the growing concerns about worker safety. Her role adds depth to the film’s message by showing how those in positions of influence shaped the narrative around radium, even as the women around them were getting sick.
Scott Shepherd role in the film Radium Girls
Scott Shepherd plays Mr. Leech in Radium Girls, that reflects the corporate side of the radium industry. His character represents the people in positions who maintained control over information and workplace practices as concerns about radium exposure grew. Shepherd’s performance is subtle but effective, showing how those with influence often shaped decisions that affected the young women working in the factories. By portraying Mr. Leech with a composed, businesslike demeanor, he helps highlight the contrast between the vulnerable dial painters and the institutional forces surrounding them.
Collin Kelly‑Sordelet’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Collin Kelly‑Sordelet appears in Radium Girls as Walt, bringing a steady and sincere presence to the story. His character reflects the everyday people connected to the dial painters’ lives those who see the growing danger around the radium factory and feel the impact of the unfolding crisis. Kelly‑Sordelet plays Walt with warmth and quiet concern, adding a grounded emotional layer that helps show how the tragedy extended beyond the workplace and into the community. His performance supports the film’s focus on the human cost of the radium industry’s negligence, making the story feel more personal and real.
Susan Heyward’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Susan Heyward appears in Radium Girls as Etta, bringing a warm and steady presence to the group of dial painters at the center of the story. Her character reflects the everyday women who worked alongside Bessie and Josephine, facing the same dangerous conditions while trying to build a life for themselves. Heyward plays Etta with sincerity and quiet strength, showing how the women supported one another as the truth about radium exposure slowly surfaced. Her performance adds an important sense of resilience and solidarity, helping highlight the shared struggle that defined the Radium Girls’ fight for justice.
Neal Huff's Role in the film Radium Girls
Neal Huff appears in Radium Girls as Dr. Flint. His character reflects the doctors who examined the dial painters as their unexplained illnesses grew more severe, offering a grounded perspective amid the rising fear and confusion. Huff plays Dr. Flint with quiet seriousness, adding a sense of realism that helps balance the emotional weight of the story. His performance highlights how the medical community became an important part of uncovering the truth, reinforcing the film’s focus on the human impact of the radium industry’s negligence.
John Bedford Lloyd’s Role in the Film Radium Girls
John Bedford Lloyd appears in Radium Girls as Arthur Roeder, portraying one of the key figures connected to the leadership of the radium company. His character represents the executives who oversaw the factory during the growing concerns about worker safety. Showing how corporate leaders often tried to protect the company’s image even as evidence of harm continued to surface. By playing Roeder with a composed and businesslike demeanor, he helps highlight the tension between the young women seeking answers and the powerful individuals shaping the company’s response. His performance adds depth to the film’s exploration of accountability and the human cost of industrial negligence.
Joe Grifasi’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Joe Grifasi plays Nonno in Radium Girls, plays as the grandfather to Bessie and Josphine. As a supportive elder figure, Nonno represents the family members who watched the dial painters’ struggles unfold and felt the impact of the crisis from the sidelines. Grifasi’s performance is subtle but heartfelt, adding a sense of stability and compassion to the story. By portraying Nonno with quiet warmth, he helps highlight the personal and emotional cost of the radium industry’s negligence, reinforcing the film’s focus on how the tragedy affected entire families not just the women who worked in the factory.
Olivia Macklin’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Olivia Macklin appears in Radium Girls as Paula, a supporting character who helps round out the world of the American Radium dial‑painting factory. Her role adds texture to the ensemble of young women whose lives are shaped by the factory’s dangerous working conditions.
Colby Minifie’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Colby Minifie appears in Radium Girls as part of the film’s principal ensemble, credited among the core cast that helps bring the American Radium Factory world to life. Her role supports the film’s broader focus on the many young women whose lives were shaped quietly and often tragically by radium exposure during the 1920s.
Greg Hildreth’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Greg Hildreth brings a grounded, lived‑in presence to Henry Berry, a working‑class figure who reflects the everyday community surrounding the American Radium Factory. Central to the legal battle at the heart of Radium Girls, Berry represents the men whose lives ran parallel to the dial painter’s neighbors, laborers, and townspeople who witnessed the factory’s influence without fully understanding the danger unfolding around them. Hildreth plays him with a quiet authenticity, giving the film’s world texture and reminding viewers that the radium scandal rippled far beyond the women on the factory floor.
Carol Cadby’s Role in the film Radium Girls
Carol Cadby appears in Radium Girls (2018) as Mrs. Butkiss, a small but memorable supporting character who helps flesh out the social world surrounding the American Radium Factory. Her role contributes to the film’s textured portrayal of the community around the dial painters, grounding the story in the everyday interactions and authority figures the young women encountered. Mrs. Butkiss appears within the factory’s orbit, representing the adults and authority figures who shaped the environment the dial painters navigated. Characters like hers help illustrate how the radium industry was embedded in everyday life—normalized, trusted, and rarely questioned by those around it.
Lydia Dean Pilcher Director of the film
Lydia Dean Pilcher’s role in Radium Girls is best understood as the creative engine who helped shape the film’s voice, purpose, and historical grounding. She co-directed the movie with Ginny Mohler and brought decades of producing experience, a long-standing commitment to women-centered stories, and a deep interest in environmental and labor justice. The information below draws directly from the page you have open.
Lydia Dean Pilcher - IMDb
Ginny Mohler Director of the film
Ginny Mohler is the creative spark who first imagined Radium Girls as a film, and her influence shapes its tone, themes, and emotional core. Your open YouTube tab features an interview with Mohler and co‑director Lydia Dean Pilcher, which helps anchor the details below.
Ginny Mohler - IMDb