Sydney Sweeney – 'Women are underestimated...'

After exploding in landmark TV shows like Euphoria and The White Lotus, Sydney Sweeney is now headlining acclaimed whistle blower drama Reality. With her ambitions showing no limits, the fast-rising star talks to Total Film about tackling tough material, moving into producing, and joining the superhero universe.

- By James Mottram

Wearing a sleek silver dress and matching heels as she strolls into The Ritz-Carlton, Sydney Sweeney is basking in the Berlinale. It’s just after midday and she’s in glam mode for a mad dash across the German city for a Q&A for her new movie, Reality. Already, the buzz has been building for what trade magazine Variety called the ‘breakout’ of the Berlin Film Festival. ‘I mean, we’re just so blown away by the reception,’ Sweeney beams. ‘I think we’re still just taking it all in.’

It marks yet another major milestone in her increasingly stratospheric rise. In the past five years, she’s featured in touchstone TV shows Sharp Objects, The Handmaid’s Tale, The White Lotus and Euphoria. For her roles as Lotus’ bitchy Gen-Z poster girl Olivia and Euphoria’s troubled teen Cassie, she gained two Emmy nominations.

Last year, she made Time magazine’s 100 Next list, aptly placed in the ‘Phenoms’ category. Alongside her entry, ‘Sydney is an unstoppable force,’ wrote Maude Apatow, her Euphoria co-star, highlighting that killer scene in the HBO show where Cassie puked in the hot tub. It’s a salient point. Now 25, Sweeney is already producing, is about to star in her first Marvel spin-off, and has a juicy role opposite Julianne Moore to look forward to in Echo Valley, the new ‘dramatic thriller’ from Beast’s British director, Michael Pearce.

Then there’s