Sydney Bernice Sweeney (born September 12, 1997) is an American actress.[1] She is best known for her roles in the HBO drama series Euphoria (2019–present) and the first season of the anthology series The White Lotus (2021), which earned her nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards.[2][3]
Sweeney first gained attention in 2018 for appearing in the television series Everything Sucks! and The Handmaid's Tale, and in the limited series Sharp Objects. In the following year, she was featured in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In 2023, she gained praise for portraying Reality Winner in the drama film Reality and starred in the romantic comedy Anyone but You.
Sweeney made her hosting debut on Saturday Night Live on March 2, 2024, the thirteenth episode of Season 49, with musical guest Kacey Musgraves.
She is also the 2nd cast member from Euphoria to host SNL, after Jacob Elordi, as well as the second cast member from Madame Web to host, after Dakota Johnson.
Sweeney began her career as guest star in TV shows such as 90210, Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy and Pretty Little Liars.
Sweeney starred as Emaline Addario on the 2018 Netflix series Everything Sucks!, which revolved around two groups of high school students in Oregon in 1996. She then appeared in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects, recurring as Alice, a roommate whom Amy Adams' character meets at a psychiatric facility. Her character was originally supposed to have a smaller role, but the director kept bringing her in for more scenes. For the role, Sweeney studied stories of girls who suffered from mental illness and self-harming, and visited hospitals who had patients who self-harmed. She filmed Everything Sucks! and Sharp Objects concurrently, the former during the week and latter on weekends.
Sweeney had a role in the thriller film Under the Silver Lake in 2018. She had a recurring role during the second season of the dystopian drama series The Handmaid's Tale as Eden Spencer, a pious and obedient girl from the totalitarian and theocratic Republic of Gilead. She also starred as the heroine in the horror film Along Came the Devil. The next year, Sweeney appeared in the drama film Clementine, the coming-of-age film Big Time Adolescence, and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In June 2019, Sweeney began portraying Cassie Howard, a teenager with a promiscuous reputation, in the HBO drama series Euphoria. Her performance received praise, earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2022. Variety asserted that role of Cassie "proves that Sweeney’s one hell of a shapeshifter between her deft turns in this, The Handmaid’s Tale, Everything Sucks and Sharp Objects". Her many nude scenes in the series received significant attention, generating discussions about nudity in film and the male gaze. Despite this, Sweeney has stated she would not stop doing nude scenes.
Sweeney is the founder of production company Fifty-Fifty Films, launched in 2020. She starred in the TV film Nocturne in 2020. In 2021, Sweeney appeared in the first season of Mike White's anthology black comedy series The White Lotus as a sardonic college sophomore, receiving critical acclaim for the role. For her portrayal of the character, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in 2022. Her accomplishments earned her a place on the Time 100 Next list for 2022.
In 2023, Sweeney starred as U.S. Air Force veteran Reality Winner in Tina Satter's thriller drama Reality, which premiered at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival, where she received critical acclaim for her performance. Steph Green of IndieWire found the film "inventively mounted and extraordinarily tense" and labelled Sweeney as "the real deal". Jessica Kiang of Variety wrote that she played "Winner so convincingly that it’s hard to remember her as the sardonic, pampered teen in The White Lotus, or the nice-girl-turned-nasty in Euphoria". Sweeney next had a role in the crime thriller Americana, which premiered at the South by Southwest Festival in 2023. She starred in the music video for The Rolling Stones' single "Angry", from their Hackney Diamonds (2023) album. Blur frontman Damon Albarn criticized the video for objectifying Sweeney, but she defended it as “empowerment through embracing [my] body”.
Sweeney starred with Glen Powell in the romantic comedy Anyone but You, which premiered on December 22, 2023. It became a sleeper hit.
Sweeney has one of the lead roles in the superhero film Madame Web, set in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) franchise. She will also produce and star in the psychological horror film Immaculate and star alongside Julianne Moore in Echo Valley.
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