Sydney Sweeney is blowing audiences away with her portrayal of Cassie Howard in season 2 of HBO’s Euphoria. Despite Zendaya’s Rue technically being the main character of the show, Cassie-content is dominating social media, and for good reason. Her storyline this season is nail-baiting stuff; from her affair with Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) — her best friend’s ex — to her near-constant mental breakdowns, Cassie has a lot going on. And Sweeney is fantastic at letting us know.
A testament to her acting skills, it’s hard to imagine the actress playing anyone else. But she has, and she is equally brilliant in these roles too. From The Handmaid’s Tale to more recently The White Lotus, these are the five best movies and series starring the formidable Sydney Sweeney.
The Handmaid’s Tale is an Emmy-winning dystopian TV series created by Bruce Miller. Based on the best-selling Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, it depicts life in the fictional totalitarian state of Gilead where women are stripped of their basic human rights and assigned oppressive roles. At the center of the story is Handmaid June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss). Handmaids are fertile women assigned to the households of high-ranking men with infertile wives. Forced into mating rituals, it’s their job to carry a child for that family, and as such, they are seen as nothing more than breeders.
Sweeney stars as flawed Econowife Eden Blaine, a recurring character in season 2. As an Econowife, Eden’s job is to marry and provide for her assigned, low-ranking husband Nick (Max Minghella) who’s clearly not in love with her. Though Eden tries her best to fulfill this role, she falls in love with a Guardian named Isaac (Rohan Mead) and the two begin having an illegal affair. What results in tragedy for the couple, however, prompts a triumphant performance from Sweeney that’s worth watching.
Sweeney gained mainstream attention for her role as Emaline in the Netflix series Everything Sucks! created by Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan. Set in 1996, this coming-of-age comedy-drama follows a group of high school misfits in the A/V and drama clubs who come together to make a movie. Key members of the former include Luke O’Neil (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) and his crush Kate Messner (Peyton Kennedy) who has her eyes on someone else: Emaline.
Sweeney’s Emaline is a prominent member of the drama club who starts the series dating fellow drama student Oliver Schermerhorn (Elijah Stevenson). Emaline is initially mean to Kate, but through the group project the two bond and secrets are spilled; Kate’s crush on Emaline isn’t unrequited. Everything Sucks! might parody teen dramas, but its representation of LGBTQ+ youth is seriously good.
Euphoria isn’t Sweeney’s first rodeo with HBO; in 2018 the actress starred in the network’s critically-acclaimed miniseries Sharp Objects. Based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name, the Marti Noxon-created series follows crime reporter Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) who returns to her Missouri hometown to cover the murders of two girls. Here, under the same roof as her critical mother Aurora (Patricia Clarkson), she must also confront her struggles with mental illness and alcoholism.
Sweeney’s Alice is another character who must face her demons, albeit in a more sterile setting. In flashbacks, Alice is introduced to audiences as Camille’s friend and hospital roommate. Both there for self-harm, the two relate to each other and develop a sisterly bond that comes to a sad, impromptu end when Alice dies. In the present day, Camille is haunted by memories of Alice, and this is just one of the ways Sharp Objects brilliantly depicts trauma as something as tangible and as terrifying as murder.
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is a comedy-drama movie set in 1969, around the time of the Manson Family murders. Featuring a mix of both real-life and fictional characters, the story rewrites history and places fictitious TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) center stage. In this alternative reality, Manson victim Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) lives next door to Rick who happens to really hate hippies.
In this universe, Sweeney is Snake, a member of the Manson Family who lives on the ranch with the other hippie girls, including Squeaky (Dakota Fanning), Pussycat (Margot Robbie), and Gypsy (Lena Dunham). Sweeney’s role in the movie is small, but highly coveted nonetheless; in addition to its A-list cast, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood boasts 10 Academy Award nominations and two wins.
Another product of HBO, The White Lotus is a comedy-drama series that follows guests and employees at the Hawaiian White Lotus hotel. Filled with dark humor and many facepalm moments, it is, in essence, a satire about whiteness and class privilege. At the heart of the show is hotel manager Armond (Murray Bartlett), a man who is sick and tired of dealing with Karens and Kens. His colleague Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), a Black woman, is also messed around by this cohort, though in different ways.
Sweeney has a starring role in TheWhite Lotus as Olivia Mossbacher, the wealthy daughter of boss babe-figure Nicole (Connie Britton). Olivia is on holiday with her family and best friend Paula (Brittany O’Grady) whom she spends the majority of her time with. The two appear inseparable, gossiping about other residents and reading together on their lounge chairs; however, their relationship becomes strained when Paula falls in love with a native staffer and begins to sees through Olivia’s “wokeness.” As she does in Euphoria, Sweeney does a fantastic job of playing a Gen-Z teenager caught up in the world of Instagram and hashtag activism. Like Cassie, Olivia is insufferable at times, but viewers can’t help but like her… just a little bit.
