When Chloe Cherry got an email from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson telling her he wanted to cast her in his hit HBO show, she couldn’t believe it. “I thought it was someone trying to scam me or get money out of me somehow,” she tells me over FaceTime from Los Angeles. “Any person would think it was a little odd that a TV show’s reaching out and you haven’t been on any other TV shows,” she laughs. “You’re like, ‘why me? It feels too good to be true.’” But in this case, it wasn’t too good to be true, and when she finally answered their emails, it led to her first TV role—that of the careless, quirky, teenage drug addict Faye— and one that catapulted her to mainstream fame.
The former adult film star, with piercing doe eyes, bright blond locks and full lips, initially caught Levinson’s attention with her witty, out-there Instagram posts—some of which were inspired by the glittery, rave-inspired fashion of his show. “I was the person recreating the makeup looks and posting on my Instagram Story,” she says. Despite never having acted on television before, Cherry held her own on Euphoria’s second season. Critics remarked on the natural ability she brought to the breakout role—especially her improvised, deadpan one-liners that turned a one-note drug dealer’s girlfriend into a multi-dimensional, scene-stealing character across multiple seasons.
Embodying the foul-mouthed, drug-addicted Faye required Cherry to tap into a different world she wasn’t quite used to—especially considering the “conservative and boring” upbringing she had in the small town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “I think the biggest difference between the character Faye and me is that she does things I’d never do,” Cherry says. “She goes to places I wouldn’t go with a gun.” So, to bridge the gap between herself and Faye, Cherry created a whole past for her from scratch.“[I built] a whole backstory for her in my mind—who she is as a person to find the reason behind why she’s doing all these things and that helps me get into character,” she says.
Thus, Faye became a kid from a broken home with a mother who passed away early on, and the type of instability that would explain why she decided to stay at Fezco’s—the drug dealer character portrayed by the late Angus Cloud—house instead of going home. She also adopted Faye’s mannerisms. “I remember telling my brain not to think of the normal social things that Chloe would do,” she says. One example is a scene where Faye takes a Coca-Cola out of the fridge, puts her feet up on the table and starts chugging it. “I would never be at somebody else’s house and put my feet on the dining room table while they’re eating breakfast,” she laughs. “I had to really just turn off that part of my brain that has social cues that tell you what’s right or wrong and just be somebody who doesn’t care and really make it look like I truly don’t care.”
After her pivotal role in the season two finale, it’s no surprise that Cherry was asked back for season three—although she’s been sworn to secrecy when it comes to the antics she’ll be up to when the mega-hit comes back next year. “I don’t even know what to say without revealing anything,” she says. “But she’s still really fun to play, I’ll say that. It’s interesting how well Sam knows that character.”
When Cherry isn’t busy keeping Euphoria fans entertained on Sunday nights, she’s diving into other creative projects. One of her most intriguing recent roles is in Peter Vack’s technosatire feature, www.RachelOrmont.com, where she plays the titular character in a surreal, hyper-online fever dream of a film. The movie, which premiered to buzz on the festival circuit, explores internet addiction, digital identity, and the chaos of modern celebrity with a gonzo, absurdist lens—and Cherry is at the center of it all. As Rachel, Cherry leans into the performance-art-meets-cyberspace weirdness with total commitment, further proving that she’s not afraid to take creative risks, especially when it comes to roles that exist outside traditional Hollywood formulas.
Beyond acting, she also recently rapped on Blaketheman1000’s track “I Want More Money” and collaborated with the fashion line doublesoul. Though her creativity pulls her in multiple directions, she’s clear that acting remains the core of what she wants to do, with fashion as a side hustle. “I definitely want to keep acting for the rest of my life,” she says. “I absolutely love being an actor. Also, I love fashion. I love collecting clothing and putting together outfits and working with brands and seeing fashion shows and paying attention to up-and-coming designers.”
Though Cherry clearly goes her own way when it comes to style, embracing a sometimes simple, other times coquettish aesthetic, she’s still inspired by her contemporaries. “I really like Bella Hadid’s style,” she says. “I think she dresses perfectly and I feel like nobody on the planet can ever emulate it. So many people are trying, and I’m included.” She also names Addison Rae, Sabrina Carpenter and even her own boyfriend as style inspirations. “He has a very specific style—he [only wears] neutrals, black or white, and everything’s perfectly fitted to him,” she says.
One of the ways she’s evolving her personal style is by seeking inspiration from the streets of her hometown of Los Angeles. “When I walk around Silver Lake, I’m just like, oh man. I love [it here],” she says. “But the styles are different throughout LA. West Hollywood people wear cool workout gear; in Silver Lake, it’s more alternative.” Though her personal clothing choices diverge from her Euphoria character, she still appreciates Faye’s specific taste. “I think she loves cute things, in the way that old ladies love cute things,” she says. “Like, how 90-year-old women love crochet or a bow and a little bunny—something that’s so cute, so sweet.”
With another season of Euphoria, more acting roles, and collaborations on the horizon, Cherry isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Though her creativity and career pursuits may shift from industry to industry, she has one central goal in mind. “I want people to be entertained by it in any way at all,” she says. “Something that I love about everything I’ve ever done for work, even the last industry I was in, was making people feel something—whether it’s happiness or anything else. I like to give people a feeling, because that’s why I like to watch movies and TV … to feel something from them.” As for what she’s feeling right now? “I feel so grateful for my career and I just want to keep doing everything I’m doing and watch myself evolve,” she says. “I just want to keep evolving.”
Credits:
Photographer: Claire Arnold
Stylist: Lucy Isobel-Bonner
Hair & Makeup: Laura Dudley
