HOT STREAK

When you go from trying to find work to bona fide star in just three years, it might feel like you got a lucky break. Unless you're Madelyn Cline.

- EMMA BATY

I've always read other people's cover stories that start like this. 'Having lunch with so-and-so at somewhere.' Like, 'She sits across from me and....""

Madelyn Cline trails off as she slides into her seat, seeming to grasp what until recently felt unimaginable to the 25-year-old: She is now the so-and-so. (And I truly can't resist, so yes, she is indeed sitting across from me in a booth with Pacific Ocean views at Malibu Farm, the kind of L.A. place you get after typing "beach aesthetic" into Instagram Explore.)

Unimaginable to her because just three years ago, she was still a literal unknown struggling to get auditions. Not too long before that, she was living out of her car. And then..."it" happened that almost mythical Hollywood win. For Madelyn, "it" went like this: Netflix hired her to costar in its 2020 teen adventure drama Outer Banks, which quickly became one of the service's most streamed shows (season 3 premieres February 23). Then came an American Eagle deal. Then she was cast in this winter's blockbuster mystery Glass Onion. And suddenly, she was all anyone could google.