Alexandra Daddario | It’s always up there and never that far away

Alexandra Daddario has a message for you. “Go look at the moon!” For Daddario, the moon is a satellite. She enjoys looking at the night sky and smelling the roses. When life seems chaotic, especially in show business, the moon is a constant reminder that we are just a tiny part of a much larger story.

“I think in those moments when I was laying on the ground, looking at the stars, looking at the moon, you get lost in how small you are, obviously, but it really grounds you,” the 37-year-old says. She answers the call EXHIBITION from her car while visiting the Ohio family of her husband, film producer Andrew Form. For her home in Los Angeles, this setting is quite absurd. Daddario reflects on his recent exploration of the Southern California deserts with his friends. They ran their hands across the earth’s sand and rested their heads on its grains, filming it all with Polaroid cameras. “Joshua Tree is truly a magical place to look at the moon and stars,” says Daddario. “This is truly a spiritual place. I think it grounds you and brings you into the present moment and makes you kind of stop and look at how beautiful the world is. And—I don’t know if everyone thinks this way—but I think sometimes we have a tendency to always be looking toward the next thing rather than living in the moment.”

Dreaming about the future or constantly anticipating the next chapter of your life is inevitable, especially if you are a young actor waiting for your big break. The beginning of Daddario’s professional journey had its ups and downs. As she grew older, she felt pressure from her family, environment, and herself to attend college and pursue a more traditional career. “When I was growing up,” she shares, “I wasn’t an emotional child, but I did feel something. “I don’t want to say that I grew up in a tough environment, but there was a lot of pressure on me to go to an Ivy League school and get excellent grades and really high SAT scores.” At age 11, she enrolled in acting classes with a classmate. The classes gave her the opportunity to explore her emotional side, which was waiting to be nurtured. “I thought acting classes were about really feeling. They wanted you to cry, they wanted you to get angry, and they wanted you to express yourself. You have been taught to tense these muscles. And I felt like that was a very true way of life, whereas in life and in the environment that I was in, I was really taught to be very studious and unemotional.” Daddario and his classmates mastered a technique called sense memory. Each student stood in front of the class and had to tell an emotional memory that might make them cry. “I remember it was so hard for me to do it,” she recalls. “I didn’t want to cry in front of all these people. How awkward! And I didn’t want to divulge one of my saddest moments. It’s so personal.” While she was trying to think of a moment that wasn’t too sad or personal, another classmate stood up and confessed that she accidentally drowned her hamster while trying to teach him to swim in the bathtub. All the younger children started crying over the death of their furry friend. “It was such a real moment,” Daddario recalls.

The vulnerability of her peers resonated with her. “You see the difference when you can make someone feel something,” she shares. “I love the idea of ​​all the work I had to do to finally be able to express myself, where you can have that freedom. “I can tell people about my sad moments and I can express my emotions in front of people.”

Daddario’s second season of the horror series is on the horizon Mayfair Witches. She plays the title role of an intuitive young neurosurgeon who unexpectedly discovers that she is the heir to a family of witches. She will also star in the film alongside Cole Sprouse. I wish you all the best, a coming-of-age story about a non-binary teenager who moves in with his ex-sister after being kicked out of his home.

Daddario has been praised for the life she gives to her characters. Whether tackling the complexities of drama or bringing charm to light-hearted comedy, she demonstrates depth and sincerity. Perhaps it is her years of experience or the lasting impression of this defenseless hamster that enhances her authenticity. Either way, becoming a character is therapeutic for Daddario. “It’s almost like meditation,” she explains. “When you do a great scene, you get lost. It really is kind of a magical experience. I just love this feeling. I think a lot about what acting is – you don’t even think, you just feel. And I think that’s a really beautiful thing, especially in a world where (we often) don’t even realize how unpresent we are.”

Daddario says that for years she was hesitant to tell people about her Hollywood dreams. “There were so many years when I was embarrassed to tell people that I was an actress because they would say, ‘Oh, yeah. Like, what are you wearing? I always felt judged because people thought, “What are you?” Really does?’ At age 16, she made her first appearance on a soap opera. All my children. The drama series gave her the opportunity to break out of her traditional school education and allow her to attend classes on set. Starting with this project, she knew that acting was the only path for her. “I just couldn’t imagine not doing it.”

She applied, as her family wanted, but was rejected from the college’s acting program. These admissions officers are now putting their feet in their mouths. After that she tried the connection. “I thought about things in such a strangely practical way,” she says. She realized that pursuing higher education in a field that didn’t interest her was a waste of time and money. While waiting for her next gig, she instead began working as a bartender in New York City, where she was born and raised. “I worked in a bar for a while and there were so many times that I was actually in debt or broke. And I always thought, well, all I have to do is book one job and I can pay off my debt. I’ll just take the job that pays me enough. And that’s a dangerous way of thinking because you end up getting deeper and deeper into debt, thinking that somehow a miracle will happen and you’ll get out. And, fortunately for me, the miracle did happen.”

This miracle was the 2010 film. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, opposite Logan Lerman. She moved to Los Angeles. Since then, Daddario has starred in many projects. She notes her roles in True Detective (2014) with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey and Baywatch (2017), sailing alongside Zac Efron for her rising fame.

In 2021, Daddario starred alongside an all-star cast in the first season of the HBO series. White Lotus from writer and director Mike White. Daddario played Rachel Patton, a young journalist who struggles to find her role in the world after marrying a man from a wealthy family, subsequently unwittingly becoming something of his trophy wife. The role earned Daddario her first Emmy nomination.

She hit the red carpet in an asymmetrical nude Dior dress with beading. “The Dior dress I wore to the Emmys was stunningly gorgeous,” she recalls. It was the kind of dress you dream of wearing as a child when you grow up. There was all this beading. And it was just amazing. So I was very lucky to get on stage and wear that dress. “It was like a fairy tale.”

In April 2023, Dior announced that Daddario had become their women’s fashion and fragrance ambassador for La Collection Privée. Going from bartending in New York, living paycheck to paycheck, and collaborating with a fashion house was like a dream come true. “Every time I wore a Dior dress, I wanted to wear it on the red carpet,” Daddario says. “I never dreamed that I would continue to do this and still be a sophisticated woman wearing Dior. You feel like the best version of yourself. And I think that’s what fashion and clothing do. It’s an expression of yourself. And that’s very similar to me, and it feels very, very special. And wearing a Dior dress is something special.” She compares putting on a nice dress to falling in love, although less exciting.

In 2023, the actress also joined the family of representatives of the Swiss luxury watch company TAG Heuer. In keeping with the brand’s sporty spirit, Daddario talks about his adventurous spirit and love of travel. She reflects on the impact of social media and how it has changed the dynamics between brands and artists. She says this digital landscape has not only catalyzed her professional growth and allowed her to collaborate with brands such as Dior and TAG Heuer, but has also become a powerful platform for philanthropic work. The actor collaborates with non-profit organizations such as Feeding America, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and On Our Sleeves. Using her online presence, she was able to raise awareness and involve her young fans in charitable work. “I wanted to make a difference,” she concludes.

As for what’s ahead, Daddario reveals that when she’s not busy fulfilling her brand obligations, promoting social causes, or pursuing her hard-earned dream of becoming an actress, she’ll be enjoying the odd late night, enjoying a glass of wine and writing and persuading her friends to admire the shining moon.

Photographer Adam Franzino.

Styled by Katie Mossman.

By Audra McClain

Hair: Marty Harper of The Wall Group

Makeup: Lottie Stannard of Forward Artists using Forever Foundation and Rouge Dior.

Nails: Merrick Fisher of Opus Beauty

Flaunt Film: Isaac Dector

Cinematographer: Timothy Sheen

Film colorist: Jacob Barajas-Santos

1st Mate: Josh DeAngelis

Technician: Amanda Yanez