This summer, Sydney Sweeney had her first taste of millennial fatigue. The actress, 24, is technically a member of Generation Z, but considering her life experience, this seems like a technicality. The panic attacks began in June, with a series of fast-paced events convincing her brain that she was dying. “I was losing my shit,” she admits.
She returned to the Pacific Northwest for two weeks of family-mandated phone-free vacation, immersing herself in the region’s fresh air while “hiking, skiing, and doing what I truly love.” The program succeeded in the short term—though, she adds, “I still can’t get my mind to shut up, and I don’t sleep”—and helped her recognize that her demanding schedule of back-to-back film and television productions was working against her. It’s a difficult lesson to take, considering the amount of pressure Sydney Sweeney feels to capitalize on this key point in her career — and how the same fear frequently convinces her that the momentum could halt at any time.
We’re eating breakfast in New York three days after the Emmy nominations were revealed; she received nominations for both Euphoria (supporting actress in a drama) and The White Lotus (supporting actress in a limited series). She recently flew from Boston to New York, where she will spend several months filming Marvel’s Madame Web film, with little information about her character available to the public. I’ve been asking her about her experience in the New England metropolis, hoping to learn something — anything — about the very classified Spider-Man offshoot.
“I’m a very open person,” she states. “I love to talk about everything,” she says, emphasizing how it bothers her that she can’t open up about Madame Web. I soon find that she’s preparing for the role with fight training, movement training, and something called Reformacore Pilates, and that she chose the film because she “liked the personal struggles that the character goes through.” She spends a lot of time talking about her cross-country road trip to Boston with her mother and her rescue dog, Tank, and how she likes the slower pace of Boston to New York’s frenzied nature. But up on the rooftop of Sydney Sweeney favorite Manhattan hotel, we’re safe from the mayhem of midtown.
The venue is not where one would expect to find burgeoning A-listers — the Sunset Tower is not one of them — but she’s developed friends with the staff, and even good-natured ribbing from friends and family hasn’t convinced her to leave for nicer pastures. Her loyalty proves to be great cash later on, as endless boxes full of designer gear for this shoot begin to arrive at the cheerfully helpful front desk at a record pace.
Throughout her brief career, she has had to learn to adapt to almost every situation. White Lotus brought a particular Eloise at the Plaza spirit into her life. The HBO miniseries, a darkly humorous investigation of white privilege at a posh Hawaiian resort, was filmed on-location at the Four Seasons on Maui during the pandemic. The sequestration was a COVID-protocol requirement, but it lent itself well to the project, allowing the cast — fellow Emmy nominees Connie Britton (who plays her mother), Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy, Steve Zahn, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, and Natasha Rothwell — to immediately bond over what Sydney Sweeney describes as an idyllic routine of celebrating each day’s end with a sunset swim. Britton states in a phone conversation that she and Sydney Sweeney initially met in the pool at the Four Seasons. “To be honest, the shoot was more fun for the cast than for me,” program creator Mike White laughs when asked to confirm the set setting. “I’d look out from my balcony while working and watch people drinking. But it provided everyone a sense of community and depth of relationship that, especially with Connie and Sydney, we could use for the program.”
Sydney Sweeney
Sydney Sweeney first visit to an elite resort also provided her with a front-row seat to a class barrier that she is now navigating: balancing her lower-middle-class origins with the wealth-filled surroundings she now inhabits. For much of the shoot, she had free reign of the property, getting to know the personnel well enough to pop into the kitchen and steal food from the fridge. “We were all friends, and [the resort] felt like a house that belonged to all of us,” she recalls. “Then, near the end, they opened up the resort to tourists, and it became evident that I did not fit in [with the clientele]. I used to go to breakfast in my sweater and pajama shorts and get the most horrible glares from the guests that I dared to show up like that.”
White views the entry of the outside world into the cast and crew’s COVID bubble as “almost traumatic” but ultimately impactful in the way it serviced the narrative: “Suddenly we’re watching employees, our family, get bossed around — it added to the meta feeling of the show reflecting life.”
Euphoria, with its rampant drug use and naked sexual politics, challenges everything one believed a high school drama could or should be; it’s also HBO’s most-watched show behind Game of Thrones. Sydney Sweeney was first advised that Euphoria’s casting director did not believe she was suitable for the character of Cassie — a charming, popular girl whose fears and daddy issues lead her into the arms of boys at school — and that she should not bother auditioning. Her agent—she’s been with the same Paradigm reps her entire career—had other clients who’d come in to read for the job and was willing to give Sydney Sweeney the script. She eventually recorded herself, reading alongside her mother, and sent it to the Euphoria team. They booked her directly. (“No hate to the casting director,” she adds. “I love her now.”)
Sydney Sweeney is open about what she went through — and claims she is still going through — to make it in this business. “The rejection you get while you’re trying to learn to be yourself is insane,” she states. “It’s insane how adults look at you.” Despite two Emmy nominations, she says she still feels like an outsider in Hollywood. “Before entering this industry, I had no idea how many people had connections. I started from scratch, and I know how difficult it is. Now I see how someone can just stroll in a door and say, ‘I worked my fucking ass off for 10 years for this.'”
Sydney Sweeney is open about what she went through — and claims she is still going through — to make it in this business. “The rejection you get while you’re trying to learn to be yourself is insane,” she states. “It’s insane how adults look at you.” Despite two Emmy nominations, she says she still feels like an outsider in Hollywood. “Before entering this industry, I had no idea how many people had connections. I started from scratch, and I know how difficult it is. Now I see how someone can just stroll in a door and say, ‘I worked my fucking ass off for 10 years for this.'”
Money was tight at home — financial aid helped pay for private school and college — but it was never a pressing issue until the family relocated to Los Angeles when Sydney Sweeney was 13 to pursue her acting career. She can’t identify when or when the itch began, describing it instead as a burgeoning “idea in my head, a goal, of who I wanted to become.” Sydney Sweeney parents left their home and life in Spokane, but the high expense of living in Los Angeles forced them to stay in a motel: “We lived in one room. My mother and I shared a bed, while my father and younger brother shared a couch. Sydney Sweeney was relatively unaware of their financial hardships until her parents’ relationship started falling apart, a combination she says of losing their home and savings and the strain of the disapproval of their life moves by family and friends back in Washington. She kept auditioning throughout her teens, taking “really shitty projects” for little pay (sometimes $100 a day), hoping it would be enough to keep her parents’ faith and maybe even make the family whole again. “I thought that if I made enough money, I’d be able to buy my parents’ house back and that I’d be able to put my parents back together,” she says. “But when I turned 18, I only had $800 to my name. My parents weren’t back together and there was nothing I could do to help.”
Sydney Sweeney believes Sharp Objects, Marti Noxon’s 2018 HBO miniseries based on the same-named novel, was her first truly successful audition. She read with the late director, Jean-Marc Vallée, and it felt “amazing.” She landed the role of Alice, a prisoner at a mental health facility whose death haunts Amy Adams. It would be her first of multiple dramas on the premium cable network, as well as her first of many collaborations with prominent performers, including Elisabeth Moss on The Handmaid’s Tale. Sydney Sweeney remembers Adams for her guidance on juggling a great acting career and her desire to have a family—in March, reports circulated that Sweeney was engaged to restaurateur Jonathan Davino after she was pictured with an engagement.She declines to discuss her relationship status and does not wear a ring to the interview. “I want to have a family, I’ve always wanted to be a young mom, and I’m worried about how this industry puts stigmas on young women who have children and looks at them in a different light,” she explained. “I was worried that, if I don’t work, there is no money and no support for kids I would have.”
Adams assured her that it could be done, but her concerns about her financial situation and the momentum of her career persist years later. There is no longer any pressure to say yes to every offer, and she has learned not just to negotiate her salary but also to enjoy the process of sticking up for herself, but she is still filling her schedule with as many movies and series as she can fit in. “If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that,” she explains. “I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help.” Surely HBO earnings allow for a lifestyle free of rising petrol prices?
Sydney Sweeney observes that actors are no longer paid as much as they once were, and there are no residuals with streamers. “The established stars still get paid, but I have to contribute 5% to my lawyer, 10% to my agents, and 3% or so to my business manager. I have to pay my publicist every month, which is more than my mortgage.” She doesn’t want people to feel bad for her, but she is insistent that the perks of the position do not obscure the realities of the company. To remain relevant as a young actress, especially one so strongly rooted in and reliant on the internet age, you must invest. There’s a lot of publicity to be done, and the related expenses — styling, tailoring, hair and makeup, travel — aren’t necessarily paid by a network. She believes this is what prompted her to pursue brand collaborations, including roles as a Miu Miu ambassador and starring in an Armani beauty campaign: “If I only performed, I wouldn’t be able to finance my life in Los Angeles. “I accept deals because I have to.”
After five years of hard labor, she was able to purchase a property in Los Angeles — something that remains out of reach for many of the city’s citizens — and the location was almost immediately revealed on real estate blogs. She was surfing through TikTok one day when she noticed a trend in which college kids (the residence is near one of the city’s institutions) drive past her front door and attempt to take a photo. The paparazzi have camped out, despite her mother’s urgent pleas to pack up and leave. I suggest the Kardashians, who live in gated complexes well outside the city, and she deadpans that she maxed out on her property purchase; there’s nothing left for a fence.
“The first time I saw her transform into this petulant child [on The White Lotus], I was shocked,” Britton recalls. “But she’s also quite humorous. We were having a great time exploring these hostile connections.” During the audition process, White was taken aback by Sydney Sweeney decision to play Olivia Mossbacher with an aura of intimidation rather than the straight-faced comedy that other actresses took. “And then she’s obviously nothing like that as a person, so that all felt really exciting,” he continues. “She’s incredibly pleasant and charming, but when you put her in front of a camera — I don’t want to sound like an Old Hollywood freak — she has these abilities. special actors possess a special type of enchantment.
Due to network scheduling, The Handmaid’s Tale premiered before Sharp Objects, serving as her onscreen debut for many viewers. In the second season, she played Eden, a teenager handmaid who was sent to an arranged marriage with Max Minghella as Nick. It was a supportive yet significant function. It was the first time she was frequently recognized in public, often by women who felt obligated to tell her how much they disliked her character: “I think most people wanted Elisabeth’s [Moss] and Max’s characters to be together, and Eden disrupted that.”
Handmaid’s Tale was nominated for 20 Emmys that year, and the whole cast was present. This year’s show, which will air on NBC on September 12th, Sweeney’s 25th birthday, will be her return. Zendaya was the only Euphoria castmember to receive a nomination for the show’s first season, and Sweeney admits her own nomination surprised her: “Of course, I was hoping for Euphoria because I’m so proud of my character and I put a lot into it, but I didn’t think I was going to get it because of the other actresses who gave such incredible performances this year.”
Francesca Orsi, HBO’s head of drama and executive vice president of programming, describes the double nomination as a thrilling moment for the network: “Sydney has an incredible ability to create unforgettable, breakout performances, and with Cassie and Olivia, she brought such versatility to her portrayal of these two very different young women.”
The show’s second season, for which she is nominated, focuses on Zendaya’s Rue’s growing addiction while also putting Maddie (Alexa Demie) against Cassie as Sydney Sweeney character self-destructs with her best friend’s ex-boyfriend (Jacob Elordi’s Nate). During the pause between the first and second seasons, Sam Levinson, the show’s creator, director, and sole staff writer, phoned Sweeney. “He read me that first scene where Cassie and Nate go into the bathroom,” she adds of the ill-fated couple’s first secret encounter. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, Sam, you’re a madman.'” The plot twist paid off, resulting in one of the series’ most viral images (of Cassie hiding in the bathtub, terrified) and laying the groundwork for her eventual snot-filled breakdown monologue (“I have never, ever been happier!”), which felt like the star’s clear Emmy submission. “I feel really bad for Cassie; she’s losing herself so much,” Sydney Sweeney says about her character. “But I thrive on that garbage. People remark about how heavy this season is, but I enjoy it.
There have also been reports about the manner Levinson manages the production of the show: Guest stars such as Minka Kelly have given interviews about initial drafts of scripts they felt were too sexual, there were rumors of actress Barbie Ferreira feuding with the creator, and HBO was forced to issue a statement in response to concerns about long working hours, stating that the set was in “full compliance with all safety guidelines and guild protocols.” Levinson declined to participate in this tale, and Sydney Sweeney declines to discuss this aspect of the program in depth, stating, “I fully trust the filmmakers that I work with, and I’m always so excited for whatever Sam writes.” This could be an evasion, but at the photo shoot a few hours after our breakfast, I witness her utterly lose herself, and I’m almost willing to believe it. Sydney Sweeney becomes so fixated on the cameras that she appears to be dissociating. She tells me that during photo shoots and red carpet appearances, she’ll even construct a persona for herself as a method to calm her anxiety and build a layer of armor between who she is and who the work requires her. (The cover photo shows the version known as “Daphne.”)
“People forget that I’m playing a character, and they think, ‘Oh, she gets naked onscreen, she’s a sex symbol,'” she explains, referring to her many naked scenes in Euphoria. “And I can’t move past that. I have no objections to those moments and will continue to perform them, but I wish there was a more convenient method to have an open discussion about what we expect of actors in the industry.”
With the establishment of her production firm, Fifty-Fifty Films, she hopes to reclaim some of that authority for herself. The first project on the slate is an adaptation of Jessica Goodman’s 2020 YA novel They Wish They Were Us, which will air as a limited series on HBO Max under the new title The Player’s Table. It’s a murder mystery set in an elite East Coast private school, and Goodman characterizes it as a story about a young lady (Sydney Sweeney) navigating class tensions and sexual politics while seeking agency in her life. “When we met, it was immediately evident to me that Sydney was incredibly smart.
Sydney Sweeney is reflecting on her professional beliefs as she prepares to move on to the next part of her career. One of the most worrisome aspects of the industry, she says, is how it fails to foster loyalty — whether to yourself and your values or to others around you. “It’s built to try to make you backstab people,” she continues. “This is absurd. “My agent is my best teammate, and I’ll keep her forever.” But she says, “I see how people are like, ‘We support each other’ — and I’m like, ‘No. “You fucking don’t.” I ask her if she has somebody to commiserate with. No. Not the other gals from Euphoria? “We don’t really talk about that kind of stuff,” she replies.
While celebrity has increased her understanding of how the world works, it has a chilling effect on her personal life. “I can feel my bubble of who I can talk to, share intimate things with, and have relationships shrinking, shrinking, shrinking,” she adds, describing her experience as a loss of control. “You will write about this, and people will not believe me. And that’s quite difficult.
