When she’s not on the high fashion catwalks, befriending actor Woody Harrelson or starring in the hit Netflix show stranger thingsSadie Sink spends her free time doing nothing.
Well no nothing. The 20-year-old reads (correction: try to read more). She plays with her five-month-old puppy. And, like many deceased teenagers, she browses TikTok. During a recent scroll, Sink thought she had fallen into a niche algorithmic vortex. Despite the persistent sweep, clip after clip, the soundtrack was the same: “Run on that hill (a deal with God)”, a 1985 British pop ballad that weaponizes Sink’s character, Max Mayfield, against the supernatural.
It had to be a coincidence. Although there are numerous accounts claiming to be Sink, some with tens of thousands of fans, the star’s legitimate profile is anonymous (Zoomer slang: a “finsta”). TikTok couldn’t have known it was really her behind the screen. In the same week, the Kate Bush runway would be hit number one on iTunes—40 years after its release—thanks to the show.
“I can’t even tell you how many times I had to listen to ‘Running Up That Hill’,” Sink says. “I knew the show had a giant fanbase, but I didn’t know how big it was until I got there.”
The resurrection of “Running Up That Hill” has parallels to Sink’s rise to stardom. Like he’s one of Netflix’s most beloved characters most watched The series in English were not enough, the Sink-led stranger things the episode “Dear Billy” will be make Emmys history if he wins in the seven categories for which he was submitted. winona ryder identified Flow like the next Meryl Streep. Then, of course, there are her fan leagues (20 million on Instagram alone) who obsessively ingest any bit of content she provides – from press appearances at In the wings Overview.
“I was introduced to the [Hollywood] side of things so late,” she explains. “Coming from the theatre, it’s such a smaller world with fewer bells and whistles. I never really had a chance to process what was going on. I didn’t really think that [kind of fame] was going to come with everything.
Fame indeed comes with its perks, especially in the world of fashion. Performing seven outfits seven times in a recent vogue video, Sink dons designers en masse: her short suit, Miu Miu; jeans, Acne Studios. Even her bucket hat, the key accessory she “never gets tired of”, can be attributed to Jacquemus. In fact, she seems to have become the industry’s favorite new face. The actress’ relationship with Chanel began even before she stranger things debuted at the ripe old age of 15 when the brand reached out to dress him in mid-century inspired style monochrome cocktail dress for the season two premiere (Sink made its first appearance in season two). During the year, the teenager at the time had to face a wave of requests: a Miu Miu Campaign alongside Elle Fanning, a Nike partnership attached to their Epic Fly Knit sneaker, then a first Paris Fashion Week show, opening Shelteredfrom the FW18 show. Since then, modeling has become something of an off-duty hobby. You may have seen the star traveling with Chanel in Aspenappearing in the Prada show at Milan Fashion Week, or perform in a Givenchy Beauty country.
Dress: Rodarte; Jacket: ROKH; Boots: McQueen; Base: Wolford
For a “theater kid” from a small town in Texas, this is a solid resume, to which she can now add “expert sartorialist.” While style isn’t always a priority during Sink’s days off at her parents’ Summit, New Jersey, her post-modernist style (often present on the circuit of the press) still adorns many moodboards. The founder of a popular fan page created a stream dedicated to the Sink, @stylesofsadieand garnered 10,000 fans by describing the actress’ outfits.
“As I got older, I started to understand what I really liked and what I felt most confident about,” Sink shares on her style trajectory. “When I’m doing the press and red carpets, that’s when I have more fun and my true style shows.”
It makes sense that Sink has already amassed such dedicated followers – on paper, it looks like she’s been working from the womb. His IMDB page is littered with pop culture canon, with roles spanning Americans (2013), Mandrel (2016), and Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021). It might surprise some that after moving to Jersey to star in Anne (2013) and after Queen Elizabeth II (2015) on Broadway, Sink’s acting career stalled. Too old to play a child and too young for adult roles, the “in-between” actress returned to school in eighth grade. Until then, the stage had been her classroom — “as corny as it sounds,” she says.
“It’s funny, adolescence is already the worst time of your life and when you stop working it’s like the worst thing that can happen – you say to yourself, ‘I’m never going to work again,’ Sink recalls “I started to understand the differences between what I had been through and where everyone else was in their lives. I found it really nice to let go of responsibilities and just go to school.
Top, bra, skirt, ear cuff: Givenchy; Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Over the years, the fact that Sink appeared on Broadway began to carry less and less weight with his peers. Likewise, Sink’s career has never taken center stage in her family (she is one of five highly successful children). By the time stranger things arrived, the teenager was far enough away from the industry that the chance to move to Atlanta and learn to skateboard seemed like a lottery win. Still, as a perennial “new kid on the block” on set, “comforting in the spotlight” didn’t come easy.
“It’s really scary out there,” she said. “The older you get, the more aware you become of the many different aspects of this industry, so it can be easy to get caught up in everything. I was kind of in awe of the kids on the show — who went to weekend awards shows so casually. I was just like, I’m terrified of it all. There are some things I’m more used to at this point, but it took a while.
Although there are still some advantages to get used to. Recently, the Sink team received a request for the actress’ cell phone number. Taylor Swift was making her directorial debut – a short to accompany her re-recorded fan favorite “Very good”— and hoped to make Sink his star. The next day, Swift personally texted the young actress.
“I really thought it was just this elaborate ploy to get my information,” Sink says. “Then I met her and Dylan [O’Brien] and a month later we shot the short. I was screaming the lyrics to this song even though I couldn’t relate to it in the slightest – to find out that I could help bring it to life, I couldn’t believe it.
Each of the top five comments on the song’s YouTube video refers to Sink’s skills. “Sadie Sink isn’t just an actress,” reads a recent entry. “She is A FEELING, A MOMENT, A MASTERPIECE of [a] To be human.”
They are not the only ones to think so. Recently, Sink was exploited by director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a dream) for his next film, The whale. The cast came on the heels of Sink’s appearances in The glass castle (2019), alongside Woody Harrelson, with whom she remains close. She credits veterans like Harrelson and Helen Mirren (her The audience co-star) as his “role models” in managing Hollywood with grace.
“Working with these people, there was this realization that they had all had these incredible careers doing exactly what I wanted to do,” she says. “I looked up to every single one of them. But Helen and Woody, it’s like not only were they so talented, but they also had such kind hearts, so professional on and off screen. But we’re all theater morons, those boring theater morons.
Jacket: ROKH
As a pre-teen backstage at said theater, Sink would write scripts which she would pitch and then direct with her fellow actors to pass the time. At the dawn of the fifth and final season of stranger things, Sink can imagine trying writing again. Again, there are a lot of things to like. She wouldn’t mind exploring formal acting training (her brother is currently studying musical theatre). However, the absolute priority remains the return to his first love: the stage.
“It feels like some kind of graduation,” she says. “We’ve all been on [Stranger Things] long enough for us to have developed these individual career paths, but the series is a home base. I’m not going to lie, losing is going to be heartbreaking, but I think we’re all in a good position to do it.
“Good” is a definite understatement. When Sink’s Google Hits aren’t dominated by songs the actress claims could save her from stranger things‘villain Vecna (Billboard you found when they alleged Taylor Swift’s “August,” they chronicled her many magazine covers or her endless luxury fashion campaigns (read: Kate Spade, Sandro and Chopard). Sink says it’s either “all at once or nothing at all” – the party line of overachievers everywhere. Any well-trained theater kid like Sink will easily climb hill after hill, but Sink doesn’t even sweat.
“I just trust my instincts and roll with the punches. It’s like a lot of space is opening up, and [I’m so] excited to see what happens to me.
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