Every so often, a TV series will come along that will herald a new generation of actors who will go on to define filmmaking for at least the next decade. In 1999, there was Freaks and Geeks with young stars Linda Cardellini, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen, and then in 2007, Skins arrived on UK screens, bringing with it the arrival of Nicholas Hoult, Dev Patel, Jack O’Connell and Daniel Kaluuya. For contemporary audiences, the show with the same cultural influence is HBO’s Euphoria, which has made way for Zendaya, Hunter Schafer and Sydney Sweeney.
Whilst a large number of the Euphoria cast has gone on to find further success, Sweeney is one of the biggest success stories, going on to work alongside Quentin Tarantino in 2019s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as well as the celebrated HBO murder-mystery The White Lotus two years later. Next, she will appear in the anticipated remake of the 1968 science fiction flick Barbarella, a movie she will also produce for Sony.
Sweeney was close to turning down her breakout role in Euphoria, however, with the actor hesitant to take on the character who was due to appear in several nude scenes. Eventually deciding to appear in the project, feeling that the opportunity was too big to turn down, Sweeney now has a defiant stance on her nude scenes, sharing her opinion with W Magazine in 2019.
“I’ve never done anything like that before,” she told the publication, explaining: “But I love this show, and I love everything about it, and it’s way more than nudity. I think if it were my first job, it would have been completely different, and I might have been typecast, but I feel that anyone who gives me s*** for it, I’m like, ‘Okay, go look at Handmaid’s Tale’”.
Despite her stance against critics of her decision and her Emmy award nomination for her turn in Euphoria, Sweeney admitted that she felt people didn’t take her seriously until she appeared in The White Lotus. Appearing in the first series of the show before the furore of season two took hold, Sweeney starred alongside Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy and Steve Zahn.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan in February 2022 about her role, she admitted: “The White Lotus has been a completely different kind of turning point”. Continuing, she explains the effect the show has had on her career: “I don’t think as many people took me seriously in Euphoria because I took my shirt off. With The White Lotus, all of a sudden, all these people came out of the woodwork like, ‘You’re the most amazing…’ and I’m like, But I went through the craziest emotional roller coaster in Euphoria. So, thanks?”.
In addition to Barbarella, Sweeney also has the Marvel comic-book movie Madame Web to look forward to, where she’ll star alongside Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott and Emma Roberts, as well as the Tony Tost crime drama National Anthem, co-starring Red Rocket’s Simon Rex.