Rise to Fame
The Volpi Cup at Venice went to her before most people knew her name. Sofia Coppola cast her on Kirsten Dunst's recommendation, no formal audition, for a role that required playing a real woman still alive to judge the performance. Growing up as the seventh of nine kids in an Elvis-obsessed Missouri family, she had a weird advantage: the emotional texture of Priscilla Presley's world wasn't foreign to her. 'I watched my life through you,' the real Priscilla told her after the premiere. That's a credibility marker that no casting department can manufacture.
In the Spotlight
Her 2024 was a proof-of-concept year. Civil War (A24, $122M) and Alien: Romulus ($350M) within months of each other, one a divisive war-photography character study, the other a franchise revival that actually worked. The A24 relationship is becoming structural: Priscilla, Civil War, and a fourth film (Deep Cuts) in 2026. She's also the face of Miu Miu and keeps showing up in ensembles stacked enough to feel like a flex (Wake Up Dead Man has Daniel Craig, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin). In an era when movie stardom is mostly theoretical, she's quietly making a case for the real thing.
Side Notes
She never took an acting class. Her entire education came from watching films at home in Missouri, which is either inspiring or slightly alarming depending on your perspective. She dropped out of school at 13 to perform and started making 25-hour road trips to California with her mother for auditions. Before the film career took off, she fronted a rock cover band at 11, playing Pink Floyd and Joan Jett at birthday parties. Her childhood competition circuit also crossed paths with Chappell Roan. Both from Missouri, both doing local talent shows, and by Spaeny's own account, Roan always won.