Sydney Sweeney Revealed She Cringes at Her Old Movies
Sydney Sweeney’s career looked a bit different before she starred in projects like Euphoria. So much so that she hated the idea of looking back at her previous works.
Why Sydney Sweeney has a negative opinion on her old movies
Sweeney would be the first to say she isn’t a fan of her work past a certain point. The now-26-year-old considered the Netflix comedy Everything Sucks to be her first true role. But before that, Sweeney already had a presence in the entertainment industry. She had a few acting credits to her name in lesser-known projects she would rather forget about.
“Anything before Everything Sucks! And Sharp Objects. I pretend that was a whole different person. I have blocked out so much of that time, of my high school life,” Sweeney told Cosmopolitan not too long ago.
At the time, Sweeney followed a five-year plan she presented to her parents via PowerPoint. This convinced the actor’s family to move from Spokane, Washington, to LA to pursue her career. She ended up guest-starring on TV shows like Criminal Minds to further build her portfolio. But the transition from Spokane to LA also gave her a bit of a culture shock.
“People’s values were on a whole different level,” she said. “My grandparents gave me their old Volvo that squirrels were living in. I had to put cardboard on the floor because oil would just spill out everywhere. All the other kids had Range Rovers and BMWs, and I was so embarrassed by my car. I feel bad because I’m so beyond grateful that I had grandparents who were able to give me a car, but I would leave the keys in the ignition, hoping someone would steal it so I could take the insurance out on it. No one did.”
Although she had faith in her acting abilities, Sweeney shared that her commitment did waver from time to time.
“I knew I was a good actor, but no one believed in me,” she said. “I was told to lose weight or that my hair was the wrong color. Random things that make you start to question, ‘Am I not going to ever become my dream?’”
Sydney Sweeney had to fight for roles she really wanted after doing ‘Euphoria’
Sweeney scored perhaps her most iconic part in Euphoria. The actor famously portrays Cassie in the hit show, propelling her to superstardom. But the catch with her Euphoria success is that people might only see her in those roles. Her next big hit, The White Lotus, nearly passed on Sweeney because of her connection with the teen drama.
“They didn’t think that I was right for White Lotus because I did Euphoria. So I put myself on tape. I auditioned for The White Lotus just like everybody else and had a call back like everybody else,” Sweeney said in an interview with Variety.
Sweeney asserted she could coast on getting roles similar to her Euphoria character. But she’d rather stretch her acting muscles with more diverse parts, even and especially if they presented a challenge. It’s this same ambition that helped her secure her 2023 crime feature Reality.
“It’s the ones I have to fight for that usually are the ones that I want that are different, like Reality. I had to audition for it. I had to put myself on tape and send in my audition just like everybody else,” she said.
But that isn’t to say Sweeney’s tired of playing her Euphoria character. She confided that she looks forward to doing the show more than ever before and is ready to delve deeper into Cassie.
“I just hope that I get to continue to challenge myself as an actor and get to go to crazy places through her because she’s such a crazy, dramatically heightened character, and it’s fun to play her,” she said. “Whatever Sam decides he wants to do with her, I fully entrust in Sam’s vision. I’m excited.”
