Sadie Sink is best known for Stranger Things, but she’s probably going to be the actor who comes out of that show with the best career long-term. Don’t come at me with Millie Bobby Brown – Millie cannot pick a project to save her life!! But Sadie is building a very solid career for herself, mostly because she’s returned to the theatre. She received a Tony Award nomination this year for her work in John Proctor is the Villain, and she plans to produce the film adaptation (her first time as a producer). She’s 23 years old and staying booked and very busy. She also covers the latest issue of Glamour! Some highlights:
Working on the latest Spider-Man movie in the UK: “I really love London. It’s grown on me a lot. At first I was really missing New York, but now that I’ve figured out the Tube, I’m good. I feel like, Okay, I’ve got experience. [In my spare time,] I’ll sit in the garden. I’ll read. Honestly? I really love going to the grocery store, so I feel like I’m just constantly shopping. I’ve been getting really, really into cooking. Most of this year I was doing a play, and I never cooked because I didn’t have the energy for it. Now I’m operating at a much slower pace, so I’m cooking a lot, which is great. And reading more. I hadn’t read at all this year until I came here and finally had the mental capacity for it. And then I found a good yoga spot. I love Barry’s Bootcamp too. I’m obsessed with it.”
Her child-actor days: “It’s something that I’ve been able to think a lot about now. There’s more perspective on it. Looking back on my teenage years, growing up on the show, I was really protected by the people around me. And by myself too. I think I was super protective of who I was. It definitely was hard in all the ways you would expect it to be hard, but the biggest thing, looking back, was that when things were hard, when there would be certain pressures, or I’d be overwhelmed, I felt like I couldn’t talk about it because it was such an amazing thing that was happening. Of course it was, and I wouldn’t change anything, but sometimes you don’t feel like you can have any complaints or struggles, which I think is common for lots of people even if you’re not in this line of work.”
Her family: “I guess it’s important for people to know that it’s kind of a miracle that I’m doing this, that I fell into this. I’ve talked about how I don’t come from a creative family or anything. The journey to get to where I am now wasn’t calculated in any way. It was this random, natural progression. I come from a very small town. My parents are both teachers, seven kids in my family, and we were always cramming into tiny apartments when we moved up to New York and everything.
Whether she would dye her famous red hair: “No. I’ve thought about it, but I’ve never dyed my hair. Anyone who has red hair knows the ups and downs of your relationship with it. Sometimes you’re like, Yes, I love my hair. It’s the best thing ever. And then sometimes you’re like, Oh my God, I hate it. I just want to change it. But no matter where you stand, what you hear your entire life as a redhead is to never dye your hair. “People pay so much money for that hair.” So I never have, and I don’t think I will. I like the idea that my hair isn’t dyed. I don’t have any piercings or tattoos or anything…I like the idea of never doing anything.”
Homogenized beauty & culture: “I think that’s my job too. Anything that I do hairwise, anything, is going to play a part. I think I always need to be this canvas, which is also something that’s so…. Nowadays, it’s hard to ignore how much people change looks and fashion, and all of that has blended into actors and the entertainment industry. Growing up in that, and actively being a part of that, is a little bit confusing sometimes because it’s like, Wait, what? Are we all supposed to look like this? Is this what everyone wants us to look like? I don’t want to do that, but everyone else is doing it.
Hollywood goes through phases where all the actors have lots of piercings, tattoos and they’re constantly changing their hair, and then there’s a phase where no one is doing any of that. It seems to be generational too, and I’d be willing to bet a lot of the Gen Z actors will stay tattoo-free and maybe just have a few ear piercings. The issue, from where I sit, seems to be the prevalence of injectables, even with actors in their 20s. I hope that phases out as well. I think it’s cool that Sadie is talking about being a natural redhead and being told that people pay a lot of money to get that hair color – she’s right, and it is a sort of ginger privilege! Anyway, she sounds like a cool girl, private, with a rich interior life. I’m telling you, she’s going far!
Cover courtesy of Glamour, photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
