Why Cassie From Euphoria Looks So Familiar

HBO's teen drama "Euphoria" — which features Rue (Zendaya), a teenager in the throes of addiction while trying to balance life and relationships — has seen monumental success in its latest season. While the series was popular when it first premiered, the Season 2 premiere scored some lucrative viewership numbers for HBO Max, and it seems likely that the series will only gain more attention from here. The aesthetic and heightened reality of "Euphoria" have made the intense and provocative visuals one of the most recognizable aspects of the show.

Characters Jules (Hunter Shafer), Maddy (Alexa Demie), and Lexi (Maude Apatow) round out the cast, as Rue's friends who have their own trials to contend with while Rue deals with the fallout from her addiction. Even sweet-tempered Cassie is not let off the hook: after a tumultuous season and one graphic scene in a hot tub, Cassie finally had to deal with the repercussions of sleeping with Nate. Sydney Sweeney depicts Cassie's insecure nature and resulting mistakes with sincerity, making her a young actor to keep an eye on as her career continues. However, she has already appeared in many acclaimed properties before "Euphoria," giving her a strong start.

Sydney Sweeney has been acting pretty consistently since the 2010s, but her career really picked up in 2018, when she booked several television shows including Netflix's criminally short-lived comedy "Everything Sucks!" 

The series only lasted one season and revolved around the lives of high school students in Oregon during the 1990s. Sweeney plays Emaline, a student who processes her insecurities by being in the drama club. "Everything Sucks!" was complimented for its realistic portrayal of the teenage experience. 

In an interview with Hollywood Life, Sweeney commented on what made the show so special. "I think this show sets itself apart because it's very real and raw. There's no sugar coating on anything. They show teenage life as it actually is." Coming to terms with sexuality is a big part of the series, culminating in Kate (Peyton Kennedy) and Emaline getting together in the final episode. While there will be no continuation of the series, both actors agreed how important the representation of the story was (via BuzzFeed News).

In a literal role reversal, Sweeney shot HBO's twisted drama "Sharp Objects" the same time that she was in "Everything Sucks!" Sweeney described the hectic shooting schedule in a 2018 interview. "During the week, I'd be filming 'Everything Sucks!' and then I'd take a red eye to either LA or Atlanta and would go finish up filming for 'Sharp Objects.' It was night and day since my characters were so completely different" (via Hollywood Life).

Sweeney plays Alice, a character that Camille (Amy Adams) meets while attempting to recover from alcoholism and bouts with self-harm. Alice is another patient at the recovery center who also deals with self-harm. Camille sees herself in the younger girl, coming to care for her deeply. This is all the more heartbreaking when Alice is unable to recover and dies by suicide. "Sharp Objects" is a gritty look at addiction and how trauma affects survivors later in life. Though not an easy series to watch, Sweeney's depiction was authentic to the character and the elements that the series explored.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

No stranger to intense subject matter, Sweeney's next endeavor was the critically acclaimed Hulu original "The Handmaid's Tale," set in a terrifying future where women are subservient to men in a theological society. Because of mass infertility, women are farmed in order to create offspring for the wealthy and powerful. This pointed commentary rests on the idea that women have to accept their place, as society devotes its resources to brainwashing them.

Sweeney's character Eden Spencer is a casualty of this society. Only 15 years old, she was raised and indoctrinated into the desires of Gilead, unaware that there used to be a time when women were allowed to read or own property. Her greatest ambition is to be a wife and she gets her wish in a mass marriage ceremony known as the Prayvaganza. "She works on blind faith alone: others may judge the regime, but she doesn't know any different – and I wanted the audience to be able to see that," Sweeney told Stylist. Her story arc makes clear the danger of Gilead's fanaticism, and Sweeney's character is a big part of demonstrating that.

Sweeney has returned to HBO many times, and she turned in another standout character in the hilarious and uncomfortable show "The White Lotus." Written by Mike White, the series is a satirical look at a resort hotel in Hawaii. Each of the guests come from privilege, while the employees of the hotel have to deal with their day-to-day antics. Sweeney's character Olivia is a different type of character from her previous roles. The college student appears studious and well-read, consuming Nietzsche books, but her complicated relationship with her best friend — as well as her abuse of her brother — shows the different dichotomies of the character.

Olivia was born from privilege, her mother Nicole (Connie Britton) being a high-powered CFO for a tech company. "The White Lotus" points at how privilege can warp people's perceptions, and Olivia is one example of how that impacts multiple generations. Her acting in "The White Lotus" has been praised, though Sweeney has a different perspective which she addressed in an interview with Cosmopolitan. "With 'The White Lotus,' all of a sudden, all these people came out of the woodwork like, 'You're the most amazing...' and I'm like, 'But I went through the craziest emotional roller coaster in Euphoria. So, thanks?'" 

The young actor has proven that she can be taken seriously, whether critics were aware of it before or not. She continues to act in acclaimed content and is the newest standout star in the industry.