Sadie Sink
American actress (born 2002)
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Sadie Elizabeth Sink (born April 16, 2002) is an American actress. She began her career in theater, playing the title role in the musical Annie (2012–14) and young Elizabeth II in the historical play The Audience (2015) on Broadway. In 2016, she made her film debut in the biographical sports drama Chuck. Sink had her breakthrough portraying Max Mayfield in the Netflix science fiction horror drama television series Stranger Things (2017–2025), and received critical praise for her performance.
Sadie Sink | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sadie Elizabeth Sink April 16, 2002 Brenham, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2011–present |
Sink appeared in the horror film trilogy Fear Street in 2021 and starred in Darren Aronofsky's 2022 psychological drama The Whale, for which she received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer. She earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway production of John Proctor Is the Villain (2025).
Early life
Sadie Elizabeth Sink[1][2] was born in Brenham, Texas on April 16, 2002.[3][4] She has English, German, and Irish ancestry.[5] Her mother Lori (née Baughman) is a math teacher, and her father Casey Sink is a football coach.[6] She has three older brothers, Mitchell, Caleb, and Spencer, and a younger sister, Jacey, who played younger versions of her characters in the third season of Stranger Things and the film The Whale.[7][8] While her family was sports-oriented, she and her brother Mitchell were interested in performing arts, particularly musical theater.[3][9] The pair would often recreate scenes from High School Musical (2006) and watch Broadway plays and Tony Award performances.[10][3][11]
When Sink was seven, her mother put her in acting classes in Houston.[12] Sink began acting in community theater with a production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in Brenham at age seven.[3] When she was eight years old, she had a leading role in a local production of The Secret Garden, which involved "more learning lines and real practice". The experience encouraged her to pursue a professional acting career.[3][12] In 2012, Sink's family supported her career by moving to New Jersey.[13][14] She began homeschooling while in second grade and returned to regular school after performing in The Audience (2015).[15][16]
Career
2011–2016: Broadway and early onscreen roles
Sink was regularly performing in plays at Theater Under the Stars by the age of nine;[17] she appeared in musical productions of White Christmas (2011) and portrayed the title role in Annie (2012).[12][18] At age 10, Sink was cast in the 2012 Broadway revival of Annie.[19] [11] She appeared in the show for 18 months,[11] performing eight times a week.[16] From October 2012 to July 2013, she was a standby for the characters of Annie, Tessie, Duffy, July, and Pepper.[20] Following the departure of Lilla Crawford at the end of July, Sink and Taylor Richardson began alternating between the roles of Annie and Duffy. On their casting as Annie, director James Lapine said: "As we were preparing to cast the next Annie, I realized we had two wonderful candidates already in the orphanage. Both Taylor and Sadie are such unique young actresses, that I decided to let them share the role".[21] Sink continued appearing in the production until its final performance in January 2014.[22] She said she gained discipline from performing in the play and subsequently decided to pursue her acting career permanently, having loved "every second" of the show.[16]
During her Annie Broadway run, Sink made her television debut in 2013 in a guest role on the spy drama series The Americans.[23] The part prompted her to seek a career in film.[10] She also made an appearance in a 2014 episode of the police procedural show Blue Bloods.[24] In 2015, Sink starred as Suzanne Ballard in the NBC action thriller series American Odyssey,[25] which was canceled after one season.[26] That year, she appeared in the Broadway production of The Audience as young Queen Elizabeth II, who is portrayed by Helen Mirren as an adult.[27] Sink's relationship with acting "really shifted" after observing Mirren's approach.[17] She said working with "some of the greatest minds in the industry" showed her the true meaning of acting.[9] Reviews in USA Today and The New York Times deemed Sink's performance as Elizabeth "touching" and "very good".[28][29] She made her film debut in the biographical sports drama Chuck (2016).[30]
2016–2022: Breakthrough with Stranger Things
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In September 2016, Sink auditioned to play Maxine "Max" Mayfield in the second season of Netflix's science fiction drama series Stranger Things.[31] The casting directors deemed the 14-year-old Sink too old for the role, but she "begged and pleaded" for more material to perform for them.[9] She attended four callbacks, including a chemistry read with Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin.[9][31] During the audition process, Sink lied about having rollerblading experience.[32] According to director and writer Matt Duffer, casting Sink was "a bit of a no-brainer" due to her "innocent, child chemistry" with Matarazzo and McLaughlin.[33] After she booked the role, Sink had to learn how to skateboard, an activity she disliked due to falling on her first day of practice.[32] She attended three-hour lessons daily for two months.[31] The role became Sink's breakthrough.[34][35][36] Critics described her as "spirited",[37][38][39] with IGN commenting that she acts "beyond her years and makes a welcomed addition to the cast".[40] Sink, along with her Stranger Things cast members, was nominated for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.[41]
In 2018, Sink walked the runway at Paris Fashion Week, making her modeling debut at age 15.[42][43] She later walked the runway for brands such as Miu Miu and Kate Spade New York.[44][45] In film, Sink appeared in The Glass Castle (2017) and Eli (2019). She also reprised her role in Stranger Things's third season, for which she received critical praise.[46][47][48] The BBC considered her performance "wonderfully loose and natural",[49] while Variety praised her and co-star Millie Bobby Brown's energy.[50] In 2021, she starred in Fear Street Part Two: 1978, the second installment of The Fear Street Trilogy.[51][52] Sink portrays Ziggy Berman, an aggressive and tomboyish teenager who has a difficult home life. She said she was drawn to the character's potential for depth. Director Leigh Janiak suggested that Sink watch slasher films, such as Friday the 13th (1980) and Scream (1996), to prepare for the role.[53] She did most of her own stunts in the film.[54] Sink's acting received critical praise;[55] the Los Angeles Times commended her portrayal of Ziggy's emotions, attractions, and loyalties,[56] and RogerEbert.com said that her "intense performance gets a great deal of volume" from a one-dimensional character.[57] In the trilogy's third film, Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021), she played Ziggy and Constance.[58]
Sink had a leading role opposite Dylan O'Brien in All Too Well: The Short Film (2021), which was written and directed by American musician Taylor Swift. The singer had been impressed by Sink's onscreen presence and emotivity in Stranger Things.[59] Swift said that had Sink declined her offer, she would not have proceeded with making the film.[60][61] Sink saw the role as an opportunity to "step out of being a kid on screen" and play a "more rounded and mature" character.[7][62] The short received critical acclaim.[66] Collider stated that Sink and O'Brien gave "vividly emotional performances" and told "an incredibly moving tale of love, power, gaslighting, and heartache".[63]
Sink appeared in the fourth season of Stranger Things, released in two parts on May 27 and July 1, 2022.[67] She journaled and did internal reflection to prepare for the character's journey.[68] Critics gave the season positive reviews,[69] with Sink receiving acclaim.[74] Rolling Stone described her performance as "poignant and emotionally raw", stating that she brings "a degree of emotional heft" that balances out the season's more comedic moments.[75] For her performance, Sink won the Hollywood Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series, Drama,[76] and received a Saturn Award nomination for Performance by a Younger Actor.[77]
2022–present: The Whale and return to Broadway
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Sink was cast in the psychological drama The Whale (2022) in February 2021, following a Zoom meeting with director Darren Aronofsky and lead actor Brendan Fraser. She starred as Ellie, the estranged daughter of Fraser's character.[11] Commenting on her role, Sink explained that "I'd just have these moments of, 'Is she actually evil?' And then there would be some days where I was like, 'No, she's good. She's just in so much pain.'"[15] Sink said filming could be "so draining" at times due to the darker subject matter requiring her to "fully shed every layer and be really vulnerable".[78] She stated that the role enhanced her confidence, which she attributed to "stepping out of the child actor role and into ... your adulthood, where you stop seeing yourself as this little puppet that stands on their mark and takes direction".[15]
The Whale premiered on September 4, 2022, at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.[79] Variety's Owen Gleiberman argued that Sink "acts with a fire and directness that recalls the young Lindsay Lohan",[80] while the Los Angeles Times's Justin Chang found her emotional intensity "impressive" but felt her role was poorly written.[81] In a more negative review, Sandra Hall, for The Sydney Morning Herald, wrote that her acting "is dialled up to unrelenting obnoxiousness".[82] At the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, Sink received a nomination for Best Young Actor/Actress.[83]
Sink led the drama film Dear Zoe in 2022.[84] That same year, she appeared on the annual Forbes 30 Under 30 and Time 100 Next lists.[85][86] For her profile for Time, Stranger Things co-star Winona Ryder wrote: "[Sink] is this creative acrobat and she's on this balance beam that very few have the courage to walk. [...] As an actor, she knows that we are ultimately in service to the characters and story".[86] In July 2023, Sink was announced as a global ambassador for Armani Beauty.[87] Sink starred in the thriller film A Sacrifice (2024), an adaptation of Nicholas Hogg's 2015 novel Tokyo.[88][89] IndieWire praised her and co-star Eric Bana's performances, stating they "make for a pleasant viewing experience even when the [film's] intellectualism comes up short".[90] Sink also starred as the titular character in Searchlight Pictures's rock opera film O'Dessa. The film received mixed to negative reviews, but Sink's performance was met with critical praise and seen as a standout in the film.[91]
In March 2025, Sink fronted a recycled nylon campaign by Prada alongside Benedict Cumberbatch.[92] She later returned to Broadway, starring in the comedy play John Proctor is the Villain.[93] Opening in April 2025, the play and her performance were met with critical acclaim. Christian Lewis of Variety wrote that Sink "gives a spellbinding performance as a girl who is deeply pained but shielded with thick armor: She's smart but underestimated, and ready to harness her rage against the patriarchy."[94] The role earned her a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.[95] Sink will make her West End theatre debut in March 2026, playing Juliet in Robert Icke's second production of Romeo and Juliet.[96]
Sink will star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) in an undisclosed role that she will reprise in Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).[97][96] She will also executive-produce the film adaptation of John Proctor Is the Villain.[98]
Public image
Personal life
In an interview with Variety, Sink described her experiences of having panic attacks from as young as 11 years old.[109]
Sink stated that she prioritizes her privacy, noting that the less the public knows of an actor's personal life the more believable their roles can be. "I think the louder that gets, the quieter the impact of your characters can be."[110]
Sink identifies as a feminist, which she considered an obligation as a woman.[111] She became vegetarian in 2015 after watching the documentary film Food, Inc. (2008). A year later, she went vegan; her Glass Castle co-star Woody Harrelson's family inspired her to try it.[111][112] In 2019, Sink stated that she supports local animal shelters and encourages fans to become vegetarians or vegans.[113]
Acting credits
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Chuck | Kimberly Wepner | [114] | |
| 2017 | The Glass Castle | Young Lori Walls | [115] | |
| 2018 | Dominion | Herself (voice) | [116] | |
| 2019 | Eli | Haley | [117] | |
| 2021 | Fear Street Part Two: 1978 | Christine "Ziggy" Berman | [118] | |
| Fear Street Part Three: 1666 | Constance / Ziggy Berman | [119] | ||
| All Too Well: The Short Film | Her | Short film | [120] | |
| 2022 | The Whale | Ellie Sarsfield | [121] | |
| Dear Zoe | Tess DeNunzio | [122] | ||
| 2024 | A Sacrifice | Mazzy Monroe | [123] | |
| 2025 | O'Dessa | O'Dessa Galloway | [124] | |
| 2026 | Spider-Man: Brand New Day † | TBA | Post-production | [97][125] |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Americans | Lana | Episode: "Mutually Assured Destruction" | [23] |
| 2014 | Blue Bloods | Daisy Carpenter | Episode: "Insult to Injury" | [24] |
| 2015 | American Odyssey | Suzanne Ballard | Main role (11 episodes) | [126] |
| 2016 | Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt | Tween girl | Episode: "Kimmy Sees a Sunset!" | [127] |
| 2017–2025 | Stranger Things | Maxine "Max" Mayfield | Main role (seasons 2–5) | [128] |
Theater
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | White Christmas | Susan Waverly | Theater Under the Stars, Houston | [12] |
| 2012 | Annie | Annie | [18] | |
| 2012–2013 | Annie, Tessie, Duffy, et al. (standby) | Palace Theatre, Broadway | [20] | |
| 2013–2014 | Annie, Duffy (alternating) | Palace Theatre, Broadway | [129] | |
| 2015 | The Audience | Young Queen Elizabeth II | Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Broadway | [130] |
| 2025 | John Proctor Is the Villain | Shelby Holcomb | Booth Theatre, Broadway | [131] |
| 2026 | Romeo & Juliet | Juliet Capulet | Harold Pinter Theatre, West End | [96] |
