Sydney Sweeney’s Parents ‘Gave Up Everything’ for Her Dreams: ‘We Lost Everything’
Sydney Sweeney was only 11 when she convinced her parents to let her pursue a career as an actor. When she learned that an indie zombie film had come to her hometown of Spokane, Washington, she was desperate to audition. However, she knew that she needed to show her parents that she was serious about acting. So, the double Emmy nominee enlisted the help of PowerPoint.
How Sydney Sweeney convinced her parents to let her be an actor at a young age
After researching extensively on Google, Sweeney put together a 5-year business plan and presented it to her parents. In the PowerPoint presentation, she explained everything that would happen if they let her audition for the Zombie movie. Impressed by their daughter’s thought-out ideas, they decided to let her audition. And when Sweeney booked the role, they were willing to let her go after her dreams with full force.
The double Emmy nominee says her parents sacrificed everything for her acting dreams
Of course, Sweeney’s road to stardom wasn’t an easy one. She may be an in-demand actor now with an impressive resume, but it took time and tremendous sacrifice to get where she is today. Though the MMA fighter planned on a 5-year path to success, it took closer to 10 years for her to realize a lot of her goals. And she dealt with many hardships along the way. She was relentlessly bullied in school and rejected countless times. And the Euphoria actor isn’t the only one who experienced hardship.
“I wouldn’t have been able to pursue my dreams without her supporting that decision,” Sweeney said of pursuing a career with her mom’s support in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “I was 12, 13 years old, and my mom and dad gave up everything that they knew for me to be able to pursue my dreams. We lost friends, we lost our house, we lost everything in pursuit of it.”
Sweeney said her parents always supported her despite years of rejection
But even when Sweeney’s parents went bankrupt or the family of four was sharing a tiny hotel room, The White Lotus star still had their support. And it was this support that encouraged her to keep pursuing her dreams no matter the rejection she faced. Even when The Players Table producer was told she’d never be on TV, she kept pushing forward. Eventually, her tenacity paid off, and her career gained momentum.
“It wasn’t great for a very long time, because it was just fighting, fighting, fighting,” Sweeney explained of trying to secure acting jobs. “I had no connections. I did not come from money. And when you’re 16, and you don’t really like yourself, and you’re trying to figure out what the hell is going on in your body and your makeup and your hormones, and people are telling you that you’re not good enough — that weight is so heavy. But I had parents who, no matter what, believed in me.”
