While Sydney Sweeney has been acting since 2009, it’s fair to say that she didn’t get her breakout role until she was cast as Cassie in Sam Levinson’s hit series, Euphoria.
By the time the show premiered in 2019, Sweeney had already appeared in gritty TV programs such as The Handmaids Tale and even Quentin Tarantino’s movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but it was the HBO drama that really put her on the map.
But this transition into the mainstream has not come without its pitfalls, and Sweeney has been incredibly open about the struggle of constantly being sexualized over the years.
And this reductive perception of the 26-year-old star has only continued, with Sweeney recently going viral on social media after she said that her dream is to work with esteemed director Martin Scorsese.
The twice-Emmy-nominated actor made the revelation during a SXSW Q&A session, but the passing comment took on a life of its own when it reached X – formerly known as Twitter — and online critics took it as an opportunity to post about Sweeney’s looks.
Suffice to say, people were horrified by this flagrantly misogynistic response to Sweeney’s very realistic dream — with it quickly being pointed out that she already has a pretty lucrative acting career, which is a testament to both her talent and her work ethic.
This includes Sweeney’s Euphoria costar Jacob Elordi, who recently won critical acclaim for his performance as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s movie Priscilla before starring in Emerald Fennell’s hit movie Saltburn.
Other examples include Oscar-nominated actor Austin Butler, who started out with roles in shows created for a younger audience — such as Hannah Montana, Zoey 101, and The Carrie Diaries — before working with Baz Luhrmann on Elvis.
Riverdale’s Charles Melton also recently won high praise for his performance in the Todd Haynes movie May December.
It was also reiterated that Scorsese is no stranger to casting attractive young women in his movies as people questioned why it was considered to be beyond the realm of possibility for Sweeney to star in one of his films.