Sydney Sweeney has admitted that not everyone has been immediately taken by her looks.
In an interview with Variety published Monday, the Christy actor spoke about what it was like as she auditioned for both movies and television as a teenager living in rural Idaho.
“I have very strong eyebrow muscles,” she told the publication as she proved her point by furrowing her eyebrows. “And I had someone tell me to fix my face or else I’m not going to make it. I should get Botox. I was 16!”
The Anyone But You star continued, recalling another audition horror story in which she was reading a scene “and the casting director is eating a bag of chips, and I’m like, ‘You’re not paying attention at all.’”
Despite Sweeney’s refusal to get any cosmetic injections, she still managed to gain the attention of The White Lotus creator, Mike White.
“There was just something very unaffected by her,” White told Variety about what he remembered from Sweeney’s audition for season one of the hit HBO show.
“She was very likable. And I thought that that would be helpful because the part is so unlikable on the page. Then in editing, you realize she just pops on-screen. She’s obviously lovely in person and photogenic. But my eyes kept going to her, no matter who’s in the scene with her. That’s natural screen magnetism that is hard to quantify. She just has that. I don’t know what makes somebody a star, but there is something about her that just is.”
Sweeney isn’t the only actor who was asked at a young age to change part of themselves. Last month, Leonardo DiCaprio revealed that when he finally landed an agent as a young actor, he was told he’d need a new name.
Speaking on the New Heights podcast at the time, the Titanic actor and Benicio del Toro were asked to talk about the “holy s***” moments in their illustrious careers.
DiCaprio recalled trying to get representation as a child actor, saying agencies would line people up “like cattle,” going down the line saying “yes” or “no.”
“I remember saying to my dad, ‘This is horrible,’” he said. “But I went back and they did it again.”
However, when DiCaprio “finally” got an agent when he was around 12 or 13, he recalled being told that his name was “too ethnic.”
“I go, ‘What do mean? It’s Leonardo DiCaprio.’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never gonna hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams,’” he shared.
The new name was supposed to be both a nickname for Leonardo and a version of DiCaprio’s middle name, which is Wilhelm. However, his father did not appreciate the change after seeing his son’s headshot with the name Lenny Williams printed on it.
“My dad saw this photo, ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.’”
