Margaret Qualley

• 1. Introduction

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  Margaret Qualley got her first screen role because she happened to be standing on a film set. In 2013 she was visiting her then-boyfriend, Nat Wolff, while he worked on Gia Coppola's drama Palo Alto. A small part came her way. She had not set out to be an actress at that point. How does a girl who spent her teens training as a ballet dancer end up on screen? Why do so many of her roles ask her body to do as much work as her voice? And what happens when an actress moves between prestige television, a major video game and body horror without settling into one lane?

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• 2. Montana To Ballet

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  Sarah Margaret Qualley was born on the 23rd of October 1994 in Kalispell, Montana. Her mother is the actress and model Andie MacDowell. Her father is Paul Qualley, a former model. She has an older brother, Justin, and an older sister, Rainey, who is also an actress and singer.

  The family first lived on a ranch in Missoula, Montana. When Margaret was four, they moved to Biltmore Forest, a suburb of Asheville, North Carolina. Her parents separated when she was five. She then split her time equally between them, and for several years they lived only about three miles apart.

  As teenagers in Asheville, Margaret and Rainey were both debutantes. Each of them made a debut at the Bal des débutantes in Paris.

  At 14, Qualley left home to board at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied dance. She trained as a ballet dancer and earned an apprenticeship at the American Ballet Theatre. She also studied at the Professional Children's School in New York.

  At 16, the North Carolina Dance Theater offered her an apprenticeship. She decided to quit dance anyway, and that choice sent her toward New York's fashion world.

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• 3. Runway Years

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  Qualley made her modeling debut in 2011, at age 16, walking for Alberta Ferretti during New York Fashion Week. Modeling was how she stayed in New York after leaving dance. The agency she signed with required her to shorten her full name, so, like her mother, she went by her middle name.

  Paris Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2012 brought runway shows for Valentino and Chanel. She walked for Chanel again in its Fall/Winter 2012 show.

  Teen Vogue, Paper, Elle, W, Harper's Bazaar and Vanity Fair all featured her on covers or in editorials. So did the Vogue editions in Australia, China, Russia and Ukraine.

  Her advertising work included campaigns for Kenzo, Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade and Celine. In 2015 she appeared in L'Américaine, a short promotional film for the American label Tory Burch.

  In 2016, Qualley played the central character in a KENZO World commercial directed by Spike Jonze. Ryan Heffington choreographed it, and she improvised much of the dance routine.

  Chanel, which had her on its Paris runway twice in 2012, later used her in numerous campaigns and made her a house ambassador.

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• 4. Early Screen Roles

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  Qualley's formal acting study amounted to a summer program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and one semester at New York University. She left the university to take acting roles.

  In June 2013 she was cast as a series regular on the HBO drama The Leftovers, playing Jill Garvey. She returned for the second and third seasons, in 2015 and 2017. Across 2014 to 2017 she appeared in 22 episodes, and the role brought her first real recognition.

  The Nice Guys, Shane Black's 2016 comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, gave her the part of Amelia Kuttner.

  In April 2016 she was announced as part of the cast of Shawn Christensen's The Vanishing of Sidney Hall. It premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, alongside Novitiate. In Novitiate she plays Sister Cathleen, a young woman who begins to question her faith while training to be a nun. The film was released on the 27th of October 2017.

  Adam Wingard directed Death Note, also from 2017, in which Qualley played Mia Sutton.

  Tim Sutton's Donnybrook, with Jamie Bell and Frank Grillo, premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Qualley played Delia Angus.

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• 5. Awards Season Run

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  In the 2019 FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon, Qualley played Ann Reinking, an actress and dancer. The performance earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. It also earned a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Miniseries. She appeared in five episodes.

  Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, also from 2019, cast her as Pussycat, a member of the Manson Family. The film's cast was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

  Benedict Andrews directed Seberg, in which Qualley played Linette Solomon opposite Kristen Stewart and Jack O'Connell. That same year she starred in IO, a Netflix science-fiction film. She also played Mary Dalton in Rashid Johnson's HBO adaptation of Native Son.

  My Salinger Year premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020. Philippe Falardeau directed it, and Qualley played Joanna Rakoff opposite Sigourney Weaver. She also starred that year in Wake Up, a short film directed by Olivia Wilde.

  Maid, a 2021 Netflix miniseries based on Stephanie Land's memoir, made Qualley its lead. She played Alexandra, called Alex, Russell across ten episodes. The performance brought a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2022 it also brought a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

  In 2022, Claire Denis cast her as Trish Johnson in Stars at Noon, opposite Joe Alwyn.

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• 6. Pixels And Motion

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  It was revealed on the 29th of May 2019 that Qualley would play Mama in Hideo Kojima's PlayStation 4 game Death Stranding. She also played Lockne, Mama's twin sister. For both characters she supplied the 3D model and the motion capture, so the performance was physical as well as vocal. In 2025 she returned for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, where only her likeness was used.

  In 2017, she and her sister Rainey appeared as mascot dancers in the video for Soko's single Sweet Sound of Ignorance.

  In 2019, Qualley danced as Princess Catgirl in the video for Cashmere Cat's For Your Eyes Only, again using motion capture.

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• 7. Festival Circuit

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  In 2023, Qualley executive produced and starred in Sanctuary, an erotic thriller with Christopher Abbott, playing Rebecca.

  Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos's surrealist fantasy from 2023, put her alongside Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in the role of Felicity.

  Drive-Away Dolls, a 2024 comedy road film directed by Ethan Coen, paired her with Geraldine Viswanathan. Qualley played Jamie Dobbs.

  Kinds of Kindness reunited her with Lanthimos and Stone in 2024. She played four characters, Vivian, Martha, Ruth and Rebecca, across three separate storylines. The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

  The Substance, a body horror film with Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid, also premiered at Cannes in 2024. Qualley played Sue and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Critics' groups in places such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle, Vancouver and London also listed her among their supporting actress nominees.

  Blue Moon, directed by Richard Linklater, premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025. Qualley played Elizabeth Weiland. At Cannes that year came Ethan Coen's detective comedy Honey Don't!, in which she played Honey O'Donahue. For its soundtrack she is listed as singer and performer of ODDWAD, as the character Dixie Normus, in a video directed by her co-star Talia Ryder. She also took a small part as Sally in Happy Gilmore 2.

  How to Make a Killing, John Patton Ford's black comedy thriller from 2026, pairs her with Glen Powell as Julia Steinway Cima. She is also set to co-star with Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin in Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars.

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• 8. Marriage And Music

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  In 2019, Qualley was living in New York City, having previously shared a Los Angeles home with her sister Rainey.

  That same year she was briefly linked romantically to Pete Davidson. In 2020 she began dating the actor Shia LaBeouf, after the two co-starred in the music video for Rainey's song Love Me Like You Hate Me. The relationship ended in January 2021, after LaBeouf became the subject of several controversies. These included a lawsuit for sexual battery and assault brought by his ex-girlfriend, the singer FKA Twigs. In September 2021, Qualley told Harper's Bazaar that she believed FKA Twigs's allegations.

  On the 19th of August 2023, Qualley married the musician Jack Antonoff. She has since appeared in videos for his band Bleachers. In Alma Mater, from 2023, she has a cameo as Antonoff's wife. She danced in the same role in Tiny Moves, which appears in the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards listings for Best Direction and Best Choreography. A 2026 video for You and Forever repeats the pairing.

  Lana Del Rey's 2023 song Margaret, from the album Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, is about her.

  In 2026, Qualley moved behind the camera as co-director of Sabrina Carpenter's video for House Tour.

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