Every Jade Bender Movie & TV Show Ranked

May 14, 2024, 9 p.m.

Movies

Every Jade Bender Movie & TV Show Ranked

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Summary Jade Bender steadily built her career with small but impactful roles, showcasing her talent and dynamic range over the years.

Despite playing similar-aged characters, Bender skillfully uncovers the nuances that make each role unique and memorable.

Bender's breakout in "Senior Year" is a testament to her ability to handle critical parts in feature films with humor and heart.

Jade Bender may be best known currently for her breakout performance in Senior Year, but the young actor has steadily been expanding her presence in films and television shows since she was young, appearing in bit parts in notable series. Bender first began her acting career in 2010, at just 13 years old, appearing in an episode of Warren the Ape in a small role. She then took a hiatus from any major parts before returning to acting in 2015, embarking on a series of small performances in some fascinating projects.

Born on September 11, 1997, Bender has spent her high school and college years playing just that — teenage characters. It's not a typecasting, because the young people she plays are often very different, despite being from the same approximate age group and social background. She has an impressive insight into the tiny idiosyncracies that make young people tick and manages to uncover the little differences that make each of her characters unique. Beginning her career as a supporting player, the 2020s have seen Bender's star rise higher as she appears in major performances.

Related Senior Year: Every Main Character, Ranked By Likability Netflix's nostalgic comedy Senior Year has likable and unlikable characters, depending on how the teens and adults feel about popularity.

10 Honorable Mention Night School (2020)

Jade Bender Plays Mila (1 Episode, 2020)

Night School Director Malcolm D. Lee Release Date September 28, 2018 Cast Kevin Hart , Romany Malco , Taran Killam , Rob Riggle , Tiffany Haddish

Night School is a 2018 buddy comedy starring Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish. That is not the project that Jade Bender appeared in, however. Her Night School was the pilot for a planned 2020 TV show based on the Hart and Haddish movie. Bender was set to play Mila, one of the young adults taking classes at the titular night school. Ordered in January 2020 as a multi-cam, half-hour comedy for NBC. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted filming in March 2020.

According to the studio, production would resume on its paused pilots in June 2020, including Night School. As the virus lingered on, that production pause became permanent, and in December 2020, it was officially announced by Variety that Night School would be canceled. Night School came in the years between Bender having small roles and her break-out in the cast of Senior Year, so it's an interesting "What if?" about what her career would look like had she found mainstream success two years earlier than she did.

Watch Night School the movie on Amazon Prime Video

9 Warren The Ape (2010)

Jade Bender Plays An Unnamed Character (1 Episode, 2010)

Warren the Ape is an adult, puppet-centric reality show parody on MTV. A spin-off of a similar series, Greg the Bunny, Warren the Ape, premiered in June 2010 and lasted for one season with 12 episodes before it was canceled. Sarah Silverman and Seth Green star as two human characters, but the show primarily focuses on Warren, the title primate, who is trying to get his career going again after years of mishaps and bad choices.

Bawdy and crude, it's a show very much of the era, poking fun at popular reality series like Jersey Shore, which had premiered a year earlier. Bender appears as an unnamed background character in episode 3 "Crash Course". It's the first role of her career and while she does not have much to do, her comfort appearing in an adult comic series signaled where her career would end up in the future.

Warren the Ape is available to buy on Amazon Prime Video.

8 Bad Night (2015)

Jade Bender Plays Jesse

Jade Bender's feature film debut came in Bad Night, a 2015 adventure crime film starring Jenn McAllister and Lauren Luthringshausen, two actors best known for their popularity on YouTube. In the film, also starring Matt Walsh and Molly Ringwald, Abby (McAllister) and Lauren (Luthringshausen) are on an overnight field trip with their art history class when they're mistaken for art thieves and end up on a wild adventure.

One of their classmates, Jesse, is played by Bender. Her role, like everyone else in the high school cast, is relegated to the beginning quarter of Bad Night, but she still stands out among an ensemble of characters. Bender would go on to play many high school and college-age characters and her role as Jessie in Bad Night is early proof of how well she represents the demographic.

Bad Night is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.

7 The Player (2015)

Jade Bender Plays Shada Raqib (1 Episode, 2015)

The Player Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

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Jade Bender appears in episode 1, "Pilot" of the one-season The Player as Shada Raqib. The Player premiered in September 2015 on NBC for nine episodes. An action thriller crime drama, The Player stars Phillip Winchester as Alex Kane, a security expert in Las Vegas whose ex-wife is murdered by unknown assailants. His search for the murderers leads him to a gambling operation run by Isaiah Johnson (Wesley Snipes) and Cassandra King (Charity Wakefield), which pits criminals against "players", giving Kane the chance to get revenge.

Bender's role is small in The Player as it's only one of the first four performances of her career. Working alongside actors of Snipes' caliber could only have been a boon for a young actor. The Player was canceled after one season, the story of a few of Bender's projects, but her willingness to keep trying even after shows did not work out suggests a tenacity that has clearly helped her in her career.

6 A Cowgirl's Story (2017)

Jade Bender Plays Rasha

A Cowgirl's Story is not the biggest performance of Jane Bender's career, but it is her first substantial role. This family coming-of-age story stars the unexpected horror icon Bailee Madison as Dusty Rhodes, a high schooler who goes to live with her grandfather when her parents are both deployed to Afghanistan. At her new school, Dusty gets to be friends with a group of girls, including Rasha (Bender), and convinces them to start an equestrian drill team.

Madison is the star of the film, but Bender manages to stand out in the ensemble cast of friends despite her character not being as fully explored as Dusty. Bender shows off some horse riding skills and makes an impression anytime she's on-screen. Viewers may not have known the actor's name when they saw her, but they probably picked her out as someone to keep an eye on.

Watch On Amazon Prime Video

5 Major Crimes (2012-2018)

Jade Bender Plays Alice Herrera (3 Episodes, 2014-2015)

Major Crimes (2012) Cast Mary McDonnell , G. W. Bailey , Tony Denison , Michael Paul Chan , Raymond Cruz , Kearran Giovanni , Graham Patrick Martin , Jonathan Del Arco , Robert Gossett , Nadine Velazquez , Jon Tenney , Leonard Roberts , Daniel Di Tomasso , Jessica Meraz Release Date August 13, 2012 Seasons 6 Creator(s) James Duff Expand

Alice Herrera (Jade Bender) appears in three episodes of Major Crimes, the spinoff of the shortlived The Closer, but she only has a speaking role in her first appearance, season 3, episode 6, "Jane Doe #38". Later she appears only as a corpse. In episode 6, Alice Herrera is the alias of Mariana Wallace, an unhoused girl who is the murder victim in the episode. Living on the streets of Los Angeles, Alice is offered a housecleaning job.

However, an acquaintance demands Alice rob the home, and she refuses, leading to her murder at his hands, setting up the criminal investigation for the show. Bender's performance is sympathetic and heartbreaking as her one chance away from a difficult life is taken from her. Her acting, particularly in the scene where she's drowned, is affecting and high level for someone so young. Herrera's face is kept on the LAPD's crime board for many episodes, meaning Bender's character is not soon forgotten.

Major Crimes is available to buy on Amazon Prime Video.

4 Never Have I Ever (2020-2023)

Jade Bender Plays Blair Quan (1 Episode, 2023)

Never Have I Ever Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

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buy Not available Not available Not available Cast Darren Barnet , Poorna Jagannathan , Niecy Nash , Jaren Lewison , Sendhil Ramamurthy , Richa Moorjani , John McEnroe , Common , Maitreyi Ramakrishnan , Ramona Young , Lee Rodriguez Release Date April 27, 2020 Seasons 3 Showrunner Lang Fisher

While Jade Bender is not part of the main cast of Never Have I Ever, her one episode as Blair Quan, season 4, episode 5, "...been to New Jersey", is a memorable one. In this episode of Mindy Kaling's semi-autobiographical teen series, starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar, the high-achieving but sensitive high school senior goes to Princeton University for a visit. There she meets Blair, a former standout student from Devi's school.

Far from excelling, Blair has been kicked out of school due to her poor grades and constant partying, a result of being burnt out from her work in high school. Devi realizes that this could be her future if she continues disregarding everything but her studies. Bender makes a big impression in her one episode, and not just because of what her character means thematically. She plays the over-it, cocky but still sad college girl perfectly. It's hard to tell exactly what Blair thinks of her situation, making the character feel real.

3 Obliterated (2023)

Jade Bender Plays Sarah (4 Episodes, 2023)

Obliterated Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

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buy Not available Not available Not available Cast Nick Zano , Shelley Hennig , Terrence Terrell , C. Thomas Howell , Paola Lázaro , Alyson Gorske , Eugene Kim , Kimi Rutledge Release Date November 30, 2023 Seasons 1 Showrunner Jon Hurwitz , Hayden Schlossberg , Josh Heald

Jade Bender plays a supporting character in the cast of Obliterated as Sarah, a hard-partying woman on her bachelorette party in Las Vegas. The weekend of her bash coincides with a joint operation to diffuse a nuclear bomb in the city. After disarming the bomb, the special ops team celebrates, Vegas-style, only to be awoken the next morning to learn the bomb they diffused was a decoy. Now they have to fight through hangovers and the worst "Sunday scaries" of all time to stop it.

While working in one of the casinos, Paola Lázaro as Angela Gomez realizes she had a drunk hook-up with Sarah, who has decided that a life with her future husband may not be everything she wanted. Bender is outrageous in an already outrageous show. It's not easy to play drunk, but Bender manages to make it clear Sarah is having a little too much fun on this trip while keeping her aware and believable enough that her chasing after Angela doesn't feel creepy.

2 Grown-ish (2018-2024)

Jade Bender Plays Sophia (4 Episodes, 2023-2024)

Grown-ish Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

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A spin-off series to Black-ish, Grown-ish follows the Johnson children as they head off to college. In season 6, episode 3, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", Sophia (Jade Bender) is introduced as Annika (Justine Skye), Zaara (Tara Raani), and Kiela's (Daniella Perkins) new roommate as they all settle into their new sophomore dormitory. When asked what her major is, Sophia responds, "excellence". She constantly wears a suit, and her roommates have seen her go to bed or get up.

Sophia provides a hilarious contrast to her more laid-back roommates and manages to make them feel inferior in their schoolwork. For her part, Sophia does not see any issues with the different styles of college life she and her roommates choose to pursue. In the past, Bender has played the wild, partying character and this change of pace is a great example of the dynamic range she's developed over the years.

1 Senior Year (2022)

Jade Bender Plays Bri Loves

Senior Year Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

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buy Not available Not available Not available Director Alex Hardcastle Release Date May 13, 2022 Cast Mary Holland , Sam Richardson , Zoe Chao , Angourie Rice , Rebel Wilson , Alicia Silverstone , Chris Parnell , Justin Hartley Runtime 111 minutes

Senior Year is Jade Bender's breakout role, a sign that she can handle critical parts in a feature-length film, and has the well-rounded capacity to be funny, heartfelt, and scene-stealing all in one performance. In Senior Year, Steph (Rebel Wilson), awakens from a 20-year-long coma and, at age 37, decides to go back to high school and discovers things have changed a lot since she attended. Bender plays Bri Loves, the most popular girl in school and the daughter of Tiffany (Zoë Chao), Steph's high school archenemy.

Though Bender isn't billed high in the movie, she has an excellent role. Bri is critical to the plot, being the one to convince her parents and Steph to make amends. Her depiction of a popular Gen Z student is spot on. She's not necessarily a "mean girl" in the way her mother was, but she's self-absorbed, though not enough so that she can't recognize Tiffany and Steph's petty feud. It's a fully realized character by Jade Bender and an example of what she can do with a meatier role.