At just 28, Sydney Sweeney is emerging as Hollywood’s new lighthouse actor, one whose choices illuminate difficult social shores rather than simply chasing the spotlight.
With two powerhouse 2025 releases, the psychological thriller The Housemaid and the boxing biopic Christy, Sweeney has positioned herself at the center of a vital cinematic conversation: how to portray domestic violence with the care, complexity, and unflinching honesty it demands.
“Being able to have a film that’s on a more commercial level talk about a very difficult topic is important,” Sweeney tells the BBC. She approaches such roles with intentional “care,” acknowledging the subject’s painful prevalence. This thoughtful ethos is defining her fast-rising career and signaling a shift in what major studios are willing to back.
Sweeney currently stars as Millie Calloway in The Housemaid, an adaptation of Freida McFadden’s 2022 viral bestseller. The film, she says, is a “dream project” for its “complex, juicy, crazy, twisted” narrative qualities she actively seeks out.
The production was galvanized by an “uncanny” synergy between Sweeney and her co-star, Amanda Seyfried.
Cast partly for their physical resemblance, the pair discovered a deeper creative alignment. “There’s a similarity between us that is uncanny,” Seyfried notes, highlighting their shared “ideals about the job and life.” This bond, Sweeney explains, forged a dynamic where they could “go to these crazy places and discover so much more within your character.”
The movie consciously evokes the tense domestic thrillers of the 1990s but with a critically modern, psychologically grounded twist. Seyfried’s character, Nina Winchester, grapples with severe mental health issues within a narrative of psychological abuse.
“You have to play it as realistic as possible because it needs to reflect real life,” Seyfried emphasizes. Director Paul Feig, known for comedies, took a deliberately sensitive approach, stating he was “nervous” about the subject matter. “I made sure there wasn’t any physical abuse, that it was more psychological abuse,” he reveals.
This meticulousness aims to ensure the film entertains while also educating. Seyfried hopes audiences “come out with a better understanding of domestic violence” and “broaden their horizons,” particularly those fortunate enough to have no direct experience with it.
Sweeney’s work arrives amid a larger industry reckoning. The 2024 promotional cycle for It Ends With Us faced criticism for framing an abusive relationship through an overtly romantic lens, highlighting the peril of mishandling such themes.
In contrast, Sweeney’s projects, alongside collaborators like Seyfried and Feig, represent a growing faction determined to elevate the discourse, prioritizing authenticity over exploitation, and impact over mere intrigue.
