EMPIRE Presents
DIFFERENT CLASS STARRING
Sydney Sweeney
SHE’S AN A-LIST ACTOR WITH OLD HOLLYWOOD CHARM, BUT LIKES NOTHING MORE THAN GETTING REAL. WITH GRITTY DRAMA ECHO VALLEY ON THE WAY, SHE TELLS US WHY SHE LOVES SUBVERTING EXPECTATIONS
Words REBECCA NICHOLSON
Sydney Sweeney, photographed exclusively for Empire in Los Angeles on 6 March 2025.
Portraits ART STREIBER
Previous page: Dress: Alberta Ferretti. This page: Dress: Georges Chakra; Shoes: vintage
SYDNEY SWEENEY VEERS BETWEEN worlds. To her 25 million followers on Instagram, she’s a glamorous, polished, pin-up type, and there’s something of the old-school, old-fashioned movie star about her public image. She leaned into that in the first season of The White Lotus, as the acidic pool-lounger Olivia; warred with and, duh, fell for, Glen Powell’s beefcake in crowdpleasing romcom Anyone But You; and played a youthful superhero-in-waiting in Madame Web. Look at it from one angle, and she’s the essence of the trad leading lady. But for the most part, her work tells a different story.
The 27-year-old rose to fame as the naive, fragile Cassie in HBO’s Euphoria, in which her character is — deep breath — pressured into having an abortion, has a messy affair with her best friend’s abusive boyfriend, and eventually collapses into a chaotic, much-memed bathroom meltdown — while dressed like she’s in the musical Oklahoma!. And Cassie’s demons and dark side set a template for what was to come. As Sweeney’s film career began to take off, she played a Manson girl in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, starred as a real-life whistleblower interrogated by the FBI in stressful drama Reality, and as a producer, worked for ten years to ensure that Immaculate, in which she plays a novice nun impregnated with the spawn of Satan by evil priests, got made. Now, in new film Echo Valley, she embraces the grit again as the troubled drug-addict Claire, who brings all sorts of pain to her mother’s (Julianne Moore) door. Clearly, Sweeney seems to relish roles that require as little vanity as possible.
She calls Empire during a rare break from filming Euphoria’s long-delayed third season. She is self-aware, a little guarded, clearly smart. And even returning to her breakout role, she’s an actor who needs to be continually challenged — she tells us — on every level…
What are you doing in Europe right now? Has
Euphoria
decamped to another continent?
No — I am filming Euphoria right now, but I had a little bit of time off. I’m shooting a beauty campaign in Barcelona.
That world of glamour is a million miles away from Claire, your character in
Echo Valley
. She’s struggling with addiction, which leads her down some dark roads. There is plenty of shouting and crying and angst. When shoots are over, are you able to leave it all at work?