Sydney Sweeney Struggled Playing Euphoria’s Cassie

Sydney Sweeney is only in her mid-twenties, and she has already achieved so much. The young Euphoria star grew up in a lakeside home in northwestern Idaho and had been planning her breakthrough into the business for years. Luckily, her parents supported her wild ride.

Unlike her Euphoria character Cassie, Sweeney is actually a bit timid and super intelligent. She nearly always has a smile across her face, and she’s always happy to joke around. Here’s a glimpse into the many hidden talents of this rising star.

Where It All Began…

Sydney Sweeney has been in the business for nearly a decade, starring in lead roles in numerous movies and television shows. The young starlet landed her first big-screen acting gig in 2009 when she landed the part of Lisa in Zombies of Mass Destruction.

Over the years, she has starred in more popular TV shows, including Criminal Minds, 90210, Pretty Little Liars, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Handmaid’s Tale. Sydney’s most recent roles have been in the shows Euphoria and The White Lotus.

She Crafted a Plan to Convince Her Parents

You’re probably wondering what Sydney’s origin story is. Well, it all started when she was 12 years old. Little Sweeney dreamed of acting, so she decided to craft a five-year plan to convince her parents to let her act.

Her impressive PowerPoint presentation ultimately won her folks over. According to Sweeney, the plan was supposed to last only five years. However, after turning 18, she wasn’t exactly where she wanted to be. Luckily, a few months later, she started to land bigger roles which ultimately led her to Euphoria.

High School Valedictorian

As Sydney explains in several interviews, she isn’t really like her character Cassie, who is a boy-fanatic, hysterical teenager. In fact, as a kid, Sweeney cared for other things, including activities such as basketball, soccer, skiing, and even wakeboarding.

Sydney’s father is a doctor, and her mom is a lawyer, so the actress always felt motivated to do her best, just like her well-accomplished parents. She was raised as number one, and eventually, that upbringing led her to become the valedictorian of her high school. Nowadays, Sweeney is pursuing a degree in business.

She Isn’t a Fan of Partying

Sweeney is nothing like the heavy alcohol drinking, consuming drug gang of Euphoria. In fact, she has never found nightlife interesting. She’s probably more like her character Eden in The Handmaid’s Tale. She once explained:

“I’m not one to go out. I’ve never done drugs. I’ve never smoked weed, I don’t drink.” Sweeney drinks mostly water. Doing so has helped her over the years with her skin issues. The actress does point out though, that she might need a little pick me up at times. When that happens, she’ll have some Swedish Fish or gummies instead of coffee.

She’s Trained in MMA

Apart from her other sports activities, Sweeney trained in mixed martial arts from the age of 14. The starlet, who looks delicate on screen, actually had her first MMA competition at the age of 18. When talking with Marie Claire, Sweeney shared her feelings about the experience:

“It was a grappling competition against all guys in a weight category above me, and I got first place. Those guys were probably saying, ‘Oh, we didn’t want to hurt her,’ but they were definitely trying. Everyone broke a sweat.”

She Got the Opportunity to Train With Huge Names

Many kids try their hand at mixed martial arts. But Sydney isn’t just any kid. Sweeney’s parents pushed her so hard that she reached a pretty high level in the field. Hard work certainly pays off! From her school achievements to her level in sport, I think we can learn a thing or two from her upbringing.

Incredibly, Sydney Sweeney even got the chance to train with some huge names, like professional wrestlers associated with icon Ronda Rousey! Even though her acting career is in full swing, Sweeney also makes sure to train whenever she can.

Fixing Cars Is Her New Hobby

Apart from being great at, well, everything we mentioned above, there’s another thing Sweeney is pretty good at. Incredibly, she has found the time to invest in yet another hobby, and it’s a really cool one. She has recently purchased her dream car – a red 1969 Ford Bronco.

And now she’s working on restoring it! The actress shared some videos of her fixing her new car. She’s been working on it with her best friend’s dad, Rod Emory, who is helping her every step of the way. Incredible, isn’t it?

It’s Her New Passion

In a talk she had with British GQ, Sydney Sweeney joyfully explained how the process of restoring her dream car has been so far, and from the looks of it, time in the garage with her dad’s best friend has been doing wonderful things for her spirit.

“I changed over the transmission, and I fixed up the front and rear axle from drum brakes to disc brakes,” she explained. “I made it power steering. Everything to make it a safe everyday drive but still look classic.” This lingo may sound foreign to most of us, but for Sydney, it is her new passion.

She Steers Clear of Show Biz Guys

Sydney Sweeney recently got engaged to Jonathan Davino (woo-hoo!). But previously, she shared her preference for dating people who are out of the spotlight. She told Cosmopolitan Magazine:

“I don’t date actors or musicians or anyone in entertainment because I can just be normal Syd that way, and it’s easiest. I have a great support system.” She continued, “I have people who will battle for me and allow me to be on the pedestal and shine without making me feel like, ‘Oh no, I’m shining too bright, and I need to step back.’ “

She Broke Her Toe on Set

Wrapping up the second season of Euphoria was truly memorable for everyone in the cast; however, for Sydney, it was emotional in more ways than one. She broke her toe: “My toe got stepped on during filming, and it just exploded,” she explained in an interview with James Corden.

Sweeney didn’t reveal who did the stepping at first until she ultimately admitted it was her costar Alex Demie. “I didn’t tell her,” she said about Demie not finding out until news of her toe was publicly announced. “I’m so sorry, Alexa, I’m so sorry!” she confessed.

She Has Unique Ways to Get Into Character

Sydney Sweeney is super serious about her roles. She has a very specific way of getting into character. Prior to filming, she writes a mini-story about her character. “I have 100-page journals on each of my characters… I literally build from the hospital, from the day they’re born and the daycare that they go to,” the actress explained.

“Olivia, for instance, had a nanny that took her on when she was four years old,” Sydney said of her White Lotus character. As for why she needs all that backstory: “The reason we sit a certain way, or we look at a person a certain way, it all comes from some memory from our past that we may not be able to put our finger on. But it’s what made us who we are today,” she continued.

She Got First Place Fighting All the Guys

When competing in MMA, Sweeney kicked the butt of nearly all the guys in the competition. “I did competitions, and I got first place fighting all guys,” she spoke of her MMA experience on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

Nowadays, she doesn’t do much training anymore for the risk of getting hurt. The actress explained that in order to thrive in her acting career, she has had to put this passion of hers aside for the meantime. Who knows, we might see her back in the ring.

She’s Good Friends With Halsey

Before becoming close friends, Sydney and Halsey were huge fans of each other’s works. “I grew up a big Halsey fan in high school and going to her concerts,” the actress told StyleCaster. “I loved all her music. She apparently was a fan of me as well.”

After discussing her love for the musician, Halsey reached out to Sydney and asked to have her in her music video for “Graveyard.” They met and hung out on the set and became really close friends. “Now we hang out all the time,” Sydney told the outlet of their immediate connection.

She Attended College While Working on The Handmaid’s Tale

Sweeney is not only great at acting, but she has a love of studying as well. In fact, the actress was taking lessons in college while, at the same time, showing up on set for the show The Handmaid’s Tale! How crazy is that?

“My professor goes, ‘What are you doing here?'” she explained on The Drew Barrymore Show a time when she had to do her finals. “You’re not doing it,” her professor then said. Apparently, most of the students were upset that she’d missed so many days of school yet still excelled at the end of each semester.

She Began Acting in 2005

Before landing two of her major roles – Cassie on Euphoria and Olivia on The White Lotus, Sydney Sweeney starred in shows including Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes, Pretty Little Liars, and 90210.

So, if the young actress is familiar to you from places other than The White Lotus and Euphoria, it’s likely you’ve seen her in one of those shows or in the 2018 Netflix series Everything Sucks! In 2019, she starred in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.

She Starred in Several Music Videos

As mentioned before, Sydney was called in to star in Halsey’s music video for “Graveyard” back in 2019. Sydney also acted as the popular chick named Scarlett in singer Machine Gun Kelly’s music video, Downfalls High.

Sweeney’s character in MGK’s video acts as the lover of a boy named Fenix, played by TikTok star Chase Hudson. Chase plays a lonely teenager who soon becomes involved with Sweeney’s outgoing character.

They Became Besties

It seems like after starring in MGK’s music film, and the two became besties. Machine Gun Kelly later revealed that Sweeney’s dog, Tank, was in one of the video’s scenes because he wanted the actress to stay on set longer than they planned.

It seems like the two are really close. Sydney Sweeney recently shared some insight about their relationship, revealing that she trusts the singer so much that she would trust him with her body and allow him to give her a tattoo!

She Got Her Dog in Her Teens

In a sit-down with Elle UK, Sydney Sweeney talked about her adorable pitbull, Tank, and the tale behind her name. The actress revealed that as a kid, all she ever wanted was to have her very own dog. At the age of 13, the family’s German Shepherd sadly passed away.

And as a result, she kept asking for another one. She would help her grandmother, who volunteered at animal shelters, and eventually, she brought Tank home when she was 17 years old. The thing is… she didn’t tell her parents.

Surprise!

“I put [Tank] on my bed, and I went into my mom and dad’s room and said, ‘Guys, don’t kill me. I have to tell you something. Can you come to my room?'” Sweeney later recounted, “My mom was like, ‘This is your responsibility; we’re not helping you.'”

Her parents (and rightfully so) told her she needed to do things on her own when it came to Tank. “You need to learn how to take care of your own actions,” her mother told her. According to Sweeney, she named the dong Tank because she wanted her to grow up and be a huge dog, a massive tank!

Her Favorite Meme

Sydney’s favorite meme from Euphoria is of Cassie’s meltdown in the bathroom – Season Two, Episode Three. “I would have to say it’s the ‘I’ve never ever been happier’ meme. I love that meme,” the actress told Variety.

“There was a bit of Cassie that I got to play with when she started saying that she’s crazier than Maddy in a scene with Nate. And she kind of got a little more evil and dark and serious and not so frantic. I would love to play with more of that streak within herself,” she shared of her character.

She’s Preparing for Her New Marvel Role

Sydney is working hard to get into character for her upcoming role in Madam Web (her Marvel debut!). She will be starring alongside Dakota Johnson. When talking to Variety about her role, she said she has been reading a bunch of Marvel comics.

She’s been learning more and more about the supernatural story world. “There’s a lot to learn. I’ve always been a really big fan of all of the Marvel and Sony Universe movies. I’ve grown up watching them all, and I’ve been engulfed in the entire world my entire life, so being able to be a part of that is such an incredible, incredible thing,” Sydney shared.

An All-Star Cast

Sydney joined a spectacular cast for a vampire thriller titled Night Teeth. The all-star cast includes Debbie Ryan, Alfie Allen, Lucy Fry, Alexander Ludwig, and several more. “I can’t say much about it, but it’s definitely a fun surprise when you see me,” the starlet gushed.

She shared that she plays a character that her middle school self would have dreamed of playing. “I’m really excited for it,” she stated. So are we! According to Netflix (the platform on which you can watch the thriller), the synopsis of the show reads: “A young chauffeur picks up two mysterious women for a night of party-hopping across LA. But when his passengers reveal their true nature—and a dangerous underworld lurking in the shadows—he must fight to stay alive.”

She Struggles With Euphoria’s Cassie

According to Sydney, playing Cassie on Euphoria can be a challenge at times, especially because “she hasn’t really figured it all out.” Her character has slowly trickled into her personal life. “Sometimes—me as Sydney—I feel like, ‘Oh, I have this all figured out,’ and sometimes I find myself slipping into Cassie and overthinking and rethinking everything,” she admitted.

Sydney believes that Cassie doesn’t have a grasp on things in her life, and she’s hoping that as much as she loves and, at times, relates to the character, she wouldn’t want to be like her in that aspect. “I’m hoping that I, as Sydney, at least have a grasp on something,” she noted.

She’s Best Friends With Maude Apatow

If there’s one thing Sydney Sweeney loves, it’s recreating photos with friends. For example, she recreated an old Hollywood photoshoot with her good friend and costar, Maude Apatow.

“Maude and I are best friends in real life as well as our characters,” Sydney was quoted as saying, “So, she and I wanted to do a fun photo shoot together, and Maude is definitely in love with the old Hollywood era, and she just emulates that in such a beautiful way. We wanted to do something in that realm, so I started looking for inspo for makeup and hair. I came across a picture and sent it to Maude and said, ‘Oh my God, we should recreate this.’ We got the team altogether, and we did it for fun.”

The Terrifying Bathroom Scene

There was one scene in Euphoria that kind of resembled the movie Scream. I don’t know about you, but I know that a lot of people’s stomachs dropped while watching this specific scene. It’s the shower scene.

In the scene, actress Alexa Demie’s performance was so realistic that it even scared her costar, Sydney. The starlet noted: “Alexa was on the other side of the door banging the entire time, and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, if I was actually in this situation, I would be freaking out.'”

She Learned to Ice Skate to Play Cassie

While Sydney didn’t star in the Olympic-worthy routines you see on Euphoria, she did take several lessons to appear more convincing in the scenes where she is shown skating. While she has been doing sports her whole life, ice skating is something she hasn’t really tried her hand at.

“I’m a very athletic person,” Sydney admitted, “but I couldn’t do [those moves] to save my life,” she told the press. The young star also posted a video of her “interesting” moves on her social media account.

She Refuses to Star in Nude Scenes

Even though Sydney’s character Cassie doesn’t mind showing a bit of skin on the show, this isn’t to say that Cassie says yes to baring it all. There are moments when the actress feels like the timing isn’t right, and she isn’t afraid to speak up about them.

“There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless, and I would tell Sam, ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here,'” Sydney told The Independent. “I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me.”

She’s the Same Age as Maude Apatow

On the show Euphoria, Cassie is said to be one year older than her little sister Lexi. The storyline shows Cassie, who is currently an 18-year-old high school senior, and her sister Lexi, who is a 17-year-old junior.

Lexi is the same age as Rue, and Cassie is the same age as Maddy, but in real life, Sydney and Maude were both born in the same year – 1997 − and their birthdays are around three months apart.

Her Love, Jonathan Davino

As noted before, Sydney Sweeney goes to great lengths to keep her relationship private. But due to paparazzi who can’t get enough of the star, it’s clear what she’s been up to and with whom.

Sydney has been seeing her fiancé since 2018. The couple has been photographed having a blast in Hawaii, Italy, and Los Angeles. But for a long time, neither one of them made any public statements about their relationship. In fact, the star has completely shut down any questions about her boyfriend in the past.

How Davino Calls Her

Despite being close-mouthed about her relationship, Sweeney eventually did open up a bit and let a few details about their romance slip out. She shared that she could see herself moving to Davino’s hometown of Chicago at some point in the future.

“I have a place there,” she shared in an interview, “It’s like my getaway place.” She also quietly revealed that her fiancé has a special nickname for her. In case you were wondering, it was “Munchkin.” Awww…

She Hired Davino to Work With Her

While Sydney Sweeney’s fiancé may not be a celeb (she’s known to date people who aren’t in the business), he does seem to be dipping his feet in show biz. Davino’s IMDb profile shows him as one of the producers on The Players Table.

The series is Sweeney’s first project, released with the help of her production company, Fifty-Fifty films. Apart from producing the show, she will also be in the lead role. For the star’s sake, we hope she and her fiancé are able to mix business and pleasure successfully.

She Used to Break Down When Rejected

The Euphoria star shared that when she was just starting out, she put a lot of effort into her auditions. Eventually, she became so attached to her auditions that when she was rejected, she would spiral into bad moods for weeks.

“As a teenager, when you’re told no so many times, and you take that very personally, it starts becoming a little more difficult and unhealthy. So, I stopped building the books for the auditions,” she explained.

How Does She Prepare for Auditions Today?

But just because the star doesn’t write a whole book for each character, she’s auditioning for doesn’t mean she doesn’t have other ways of preparing. As mentioned before, the actress uses her imagination to get into character, envisioning a whole world they are born into.

The actress also researches a bit about the people she will be working on the project with in order to get a better sense of the film or TV show she is starting. She prepares her lines and sees who will be working with her, and then “feels it out.”

Her Very Own Production Company

Thanks to the recent (and exhausting) pandemic, Sydney Sweeney has had way more downtime than she was used to having before 2020. The production for Euphoria’s second season was paused, and she remained at home.

She was quarantined with her lovely dog, Tank! But rather than chilling out, she took the chance to launch her very own production company called Fifty-Fifty films. She hopes to tell female-led tales that will inspire many young women.

She’s Seen Her Fair Share of Bad Loves

“There was a time when Sydney’s parents tried to shield her so much that they wouldn’t share anything about the financial stress they were going through. Granted, she was a little kid, but still, it must have been hard trying to seem like all was fine.

“They didn’t explain things to me, and that made me angry,” the actress revealed. “So, I acted out, but not in the way you would think. I was a straight-A student in all AP classes. I was valedictorian. I never went to a high school party. I’ve never done drugs to this day. The acting-out Syd tried to find love through boys. I got myself into sometimes really unfortunate and even dangerous relationships.”