Sydney Bernice Sweeney (born September 12, 1997)[1] is an American actress and producer. She gained early recognition for her roles in Everything Sucks!, The Handmaid's Tale, and Sharp Objects. She received wider acclaim for her performances in the drama series Euphoria (2019–present) and the first season of the anthology series The White Lotus (2021), both of which earned her nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards.[2][3]
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In film, Sweeney appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) and later took on leading roles in the drama film Reality and the romantic comedy Anyone but You. In 2024, she starred in the superhero film Madame Web and produced and starred in the horror film Immaculate.
Early life
Sydney Bernice Sweeney was born on September 12, 1997,[4][5] in Spokane, Washington.[6][7] Her mother is a former criminal defense lawyer, and her father is a hospitality professional.[8] She has one brother.[9] Sweeney was raised in the Idaho panhandle[10] along the Washington border, at a rural lakeside home that her family has inhabited for five generations.[11] According to Sweeney, she has a religious family.[12]
Sweeney attended school at Saint George's School in Spokane.[13] She was active in numerous sports: "I was in every single sport possible", she said. "I was on the soccer team, the baseball team, the snow slalom ski team, I was wakeboarding." Sweeney said she had a wakeboarding accident as a child where the edge of her board propelled backward and sliced the area next to her eye, leaving a permanent scar.[11]
Sweeney became interested in acting after auditioning to be an extra in an independent film that was shooting in the Spokane area.[13] To convince her parents to allow her to pursue acting, she presented them with a five-year business plan.[14] Sweeney began to audition and book commercial acting jobs in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, where the family temporarily resided, until choosing to relocate to Los Angeles when she was 13 years old.[15]
In high school, Sweeney was on the robotics team and participated in the mathematics club.[16] She was valedictorian of her graduating class at Brighton Hall School in Burbank, California.[17] In 2016, Sweeney briefly worked at Universal Studios Hollywood, but left after she had been hired for an acting job. She also briefly attended the University of California, Los Angeles.[18]
Career
Early work (2009–2019)
Sweeney began her career as a guest star in television shows such as 90210, Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy and Pretty Little Liars.[19][20] Sweeney starred as Emaline Addario on the 2018 Netflix series Everything Sucks!, which revolved around two groups of high school students in Oregon in 1996. She then appeared in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects, recurring as Alice, a roommate whom Amy Adams's character meets at a psychiatric facility.[21][22] Her character was originally supposed to have a smaller role, but the director kept bringing her in for more scenes.[23] For the role, Sweeney studied stories of girls who experience mental illness and self-harming, and visited hospitals which had patients who self-harmed.[21][23] She filmed Everything Sucks! and Sharp Objects concurrently, the former during the week and latter on weekends.[24]
Sweeney had a role in the film Under the Silver Lake in 2018.[25] She had a recurring role during the second season of the dystopian drama series The Handmaid's Tale as Eden Spencer, a pious and obedient girl from the totalitarian and theocratic Republic of Gilead.[20] She also starred as the heroine in the horror film Along Came the Devil.[26] The next year, Sweeney appeared in the drama film Clementine, the coming-of-age film Big Time Adolescence, and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.[27][28][29]
Breakthrough (2019–present)
In June 2019 Sweeney began portraying Cassie Howard, a teenager with a promiscuous reputation, in the HBO drama series Euphoria.[30] The show was a breakout hit, becoming the second most watched HBO series.[31] Her performance received praise, earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2022.[32] Variety asserted that the role of Cassie "proves that Sweeney's one hell of a shapeshifter between her deft turns in this, The Handmaid's Tale, Everything Sucks and Sharp Objects."[33] Her many nude scenes in the series received significant attention, generating discussions about nudity in film and the male gaze. Despite this, Sweeney has stated that she does not consider on-screen nudity a boundary.[34]
Sweeney is the founder of production company Fifty-Fifty Films, launched in 2020.[35] The same year, she starred in the television film Nocturne as well as Webtoon’s live-action advertisement for the online comic Lore Olympus, appearing as Persephone.[36][37][38] In 2021, Sweeney appeared in the first season of Mike White's anthology black comedy series The White Lotus[39][40] as a sardonic college sophomore.[41] For her portrayal of the character, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in 2022. Her accomplishments earned her a place on the Time 100 Next list for 2022.[42]
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In January 2023, Sweeney became a brand ambassador for companies Armani Beauty and Laneige.[43][44] She starred as U.S. Air Force veteran Reality Winner in Tina Satter's thriller drama Reality, which premiered at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival. Steph Green of IndieWire found the film "inventively mounted and extraordinarily tense" and labelled Sweeney as "the real deal".[45] Jessica Kiang of Variety wrote that she played Winner "so convincingly that it's hard to remember her as the sardonic, pampered teen in The White Lotus, or the nice-girl-turned-nasty in Euphoria".[46] Sweeney next had a role in the crime thriller Americana, which premiered at the South by Southwest Festival in March 2023.[47][48]
She starred in the music video for the Rolling Stones' single "Angry," from their 2023 album Hackney Diamonds. The video premiered in September 2023.[49] In response to criticism that the video objectified her, Sweeney defended it as "empowerment through embracing [my] body".[50] At age 25, Sweeney was selected as one of Forbes' 2023 30 Under 30 in the celebrity category.[51][52] Sweeney starred with Glen Powell in the romantic comedy Anyone but You, which premiered in December 2023.[53] It became a commercial sleeper hit.[54] Sweeney was an executive producer for the film and was instrumental in hiring costar Glen Powell and director Will Gluck in addition to contributing to the script.[55]
In 2024, Sweeney had a supporting role in the superhero film Madame Web, set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe franchise.[56][57] It was released in February 2024, receiving negative reviews and bombing at the box office.[58][59] In regards to the box office and critical failure of the film, Sweeney said "I was just hired as an actress in it, so I was just along for the ride for whatever was going to happen."[60] In March, she hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.[61] She then produced and starred in the psychological horror film Immaculate.[62] Sweeney originally auditioned for the project in 2014. Years later, she purchased the rights to the screenplay and hired frequent collaborator Michael Mohan to direct.[63] Sweeney has said that she considered producing as a way to create opportunities for herself.[64] Later in 2024, she co-starred in Eden directed by Ron Howard.[65] Reviewing the film for TheWrap, critic Chase Hutchinson said: "(Sweeney) runs away with the whole thing ... it's her subtle looks and a growing agency that turns Eden into something more ... every moment with her at the forefront is Eden at its best."[66]
In 2025, Sweeney starred alongside Julianne Moore in Echo Valley.[67] She learned how to ride horses for the role.[68]
Upcoming
It was reported that Sweeney will next produce and star in Christy, a biopic about boxer Christy Martin.[69] On taking the role, Sweeney said: "I was blown away and inspired by (Martin's) strength, her perseverance, and who she is as a woman. Having a character that has so many layers and depths, that's a dream as an actor... Then, on the physical side, I grew up kickboxing and grappling. I'm a very outdoorsy, athletic person, so to play a character that (required me) to transform myself was a dream. I loved every part of it."[70] At the end of 2025, Sweeney is set to co-star in The Housemaid, an adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name.[71]
Sweeney is attached to play Kim Novak in Scandalous, a romantic drama to be directed by former co-star Colman Domingo.[72] It will shoot in early 2026.[70]
In popular culture
In May 2025, Sweeney received widespread attention on social media after partnering with personal care brand Dr. Squatch to launch a limited-edition soap line containing her bath water.[73]
Following Sweeney's appearance on Saturday Night Live in March 2024, the conservative Canadian publication National Post ran an article asking "Are Sydney Sweeney's breasts double-D harbingers of the death of woke?",[74][75] and personality Richard Hanania tweeting "Wokeness is dead" alongside a clip of Sweeney centered on her bust.[76][77] Sweeney called the obsession with her appearance "this weird relationship that people have with me that I have no control over".[78]
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In July 2025, Sweeney was featured in an American Eagle ad campaign called "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans." The campaign, which makes a pun on the homophones of jeans and genes, seemed successful initially. American Eagle's stock price (NYSE: AEO) rose 24% (its biggest gain since 2000) after announcing the campaign, and the advertisement was compared to Brooke Shields' 1980s commercials for Calvin Klein.[79][80][81] The advertisements drew the attention of the Trump administration and some conservative commentators, who alleged that there was a "woke" backlash against Sweeney, a claim that was described as "exaggerated" by news agencies.[80][82][83][84]
Personal life
Sweeney started dating businessman Jonathan Davino in 2018, and they became engaged in 2022.[85][86][87] They produced films together (including Anyone but You and Immaculate), and Sweeney considered Davino to be her "producing partner".[87] The couple separated in 2025.[88][89]
Sweeney is an automobile enthusiast. She has restored a 1969 Ford Bronco and a 1965 Ford Mustang, and also owns a 1956 Ford F100 with original patina, gifted by her grandfather.[90][91] In partnership with Ford, Sweeney designed a custom 2024 Mustang.[92]
In June 2024, it was reported that Sweeney had purchased a $13.5 million home in the Florida Keys.[93]
Filmography
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |
Film
Television
Podcasts
Web
Music videos
Awards and nominations
References
External links
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