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Sarah Margaret Qualley ( ; born October 23, 1994) is an American actress. A daughter of actress Andie MacDowell, she trained as a ballet dancer in her youth. She made her acting debut in the 2013 drama film Palo Alto and gained recognition for her supporting role in the HBO drama series The Leftovers (2014–2017).
Qualley was featured in the films The Nice Guys (2016), Death Note (2017), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), as well as the video game Death Stranding (2019). She received praise and nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards for playing Ann Reinking in the FX biographical miniseries Fosse/Verdon (2019) and for playing the title role in the Netflix drama miniseries Maid (2021); she also received a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for the latter. Qualley has since featured in Yorgos Lanthimos' films Poor Things (2023) and Kinds of Kindness (2024), and earned a second Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the body horror film The Substance (2024).
As a teenager growing up in Asheville, Margaret and her sister were both ; they made their debuts at the Bal des débutantes in Paris. Qualley left home at 14 to board at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied dance. She trained as a ballet dancer, earning an apprenticeship at the American Ballet Theatre and studying at New York's Professional Children's School.
At the age of 16, after receiving an offer to become an apprentice with the North Carolina Dance Theater company, Qualley decided to quit dance. In order to stay in New York, she began working as a model. She says of that time, "I wrote to my mom saying 'Look, I don't think I want to be a dancer any more so I'm going to quit ballet and stay here. I will have this and this income next week.' I laid it out in a way that she couldn't say no because I was so organised." The modelling agency she signed with forced her to shorten her full name, and similar to her mother, Qualley went by her middle name. She regretted the decision but has no plans to change it. Qualley later changed her focus to acting and attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art summer program. She attended New York University but left after a semester for acting roles.
Qualley first appeared on screen in 2013 playing a small part in Gia Coppola's film Palo Alto. Qualley received the part because she happened to be on set visiting her then-boyfriend, Nat Wolff. In June 2013, she was cast as a series regular in the HBO television series The Leftovers and reprised her role as Jill Garvey for the second and third seasons of the drama series in 2015 and 2017, respectively. In 2015, Qualley appeared in the short promotional film L'Américaine for American fashion label Tory Burch. In 2016, Qualley appeared as the central character in a Spike Jonze-directed commercial for KENZO World; choreographed by Ryan Heffington, Qualley improvised much of the dance routine using her training in classical ballet. She next appeared in Shane Black's 2016 comedy The Nice Guys starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.
In April 2016, Qualley was announced to have joined the cast of Shawn Christensen's The Vanishing of Sidney Hall. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, alongside another film of hers, Novitiate. In Novitiate, Qualley starred as Sister Cathleen, a young woman who begins to question her faith as she trains to be a nun. The film was released on October 27, 2017. In the same year, Qualley starred in Death Note, directed by Adam Wingard. She also appeared in the music video for Soko's 2017 single "Sweet Sound of Ignorance" alongside her sister Rainey. In 2018, Qualley appeared in Donnybrook, directed by Tim Sutton and co-starring Jamie Bell and Frank Grillo. The film had its premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
She also starred in Seberg (2019) opposite Kristen Stewart and Jack O'Connell. directed by Benedict Andrews. On May 29, 2019, it was revealed that Qualley would be playing Mama in Hideo Kojima's PlayStation 4 game Death Stranding. She also played the character of Lockne, Mama's twin sister, in the game. In 2020, Qualley starred in Wake Up, a short film directed by Olivia Wilde, and in the feature My Salinger Year, opposite Sigourney Weaver and directed by Philippe Falardeau, which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020. In 2021, Qualley starred in the miniseries Maid based upon Stephanie Land's memoir for Netflix. For her performance she received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie. In 2022, she starred in Claire Denis's Stars at Noon, opposite Joe Alwyn.
In 2023, Qualley executive produced and starred in the erotic thriller Sanctuary opposite Christopher Abbott. In the same year, she appeared in director Yorgos Lanthimos's surrealist fantasy film Poor Things, along with Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo. In 2024, Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan starred in director Ethan Coen's comedy road film Drive-Away Dolls. She reunited with Lanthimos and Stone in Kinds of Kindness, playing four different characters in three separate storylines. The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. She starred in the body horror film The Substance with Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid, which also premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
In 2025, Qualley co-starred in Richard Linklater's Blue Moon which premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February. She next starred in Ethan Coen's detective comedy film Honey Don't! that had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and had a small part in Happy Gilmore 2. She is set to co-star in John Patton Ford's upcoming black comedy thriller Huntington with Glen Powell and Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars with Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin.
Qualley was briefly romantically linked to Pete Davidson in 2019. She began dating actor Shia LaBeouf in 2020 after they were co-stars in Rainey's music video "Love Me Like You Hate Me". Qualley and LaBeouf's relationship ended in January 2021 after he became the subject of several controversies, including a lawsuit for sexual battery and assault brought by his ex-girlfriend, singer FKA Twigs. In September 2021, Qualley told Harper's Bazaar that she believed FKA Twigs's allegations.
Qualley married musician Jack Antonoff on August 19, 2023. She is the subject of the 2023 song "Margaret", a song by Lana Del Rey from her album Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
| 2013 ! scope=row | Palo Alto | Raquel | ||
| 2016 ! scope=row | The Nice Guys | Amelia Kuttner | ||
| 2017 ! scope=row | Novitiate | Cathleen Harris | ||
| 2018 ! scope=row | Donnybrook | Delia Angus | ||
| 2019 ! scope=row | Io | Samantha "Sam" Walden | ||
| 2020 ! scope=row | My Salinger Year | Joanna Rakoff | ||
| 2022 ! scope=row | Stars at Noon | Trish Johnson | ||
| 2023 ! scope=row | Poor Things | Felicity | ||
| 2024 ! scope=row | Drive-Away Dolls | Jamie Dobbs | ||
| 2025 ! scope=row | Blue Moon | Elizabeth Weiland | ||
| 2026 | Cima | Filming | ||
| Post-production | ||||
| Filming |
| 2014–2017 ! scope=row | The Leftovers | Jill Garvey | Main role (22 episodes) |
| 2018 ! scope=row | El Hormiguero | Herself | Television special |
| 2019 ! scope=row | Fosse/Verdon | Ann Reinking | Miniseries (5 episodes) |
| 2020 ! scope=row | Acting for a Cause | Juliet | Episode: “Romeo and Juliet” |
| 2021 ! scope=row | Maid | Alexandra "Alex" Russell | Main role (10 episodes) |
| 2019 ! scope=row | Death Stranding | Mama/Lockne | Also provided the 3D model and motion capture for both characters |
| 2025 ! scope=row | Likeness only |
| 2017 ! scope=row | "Sweet Sound of Ignorance" | Soko | As the mascot dancer with sister, Rainey Qualley | |
| 2019 ! scope=row | "For Your Eyes Only" | Cashmere Cat | Danced as Princess Catgirl using motion capture | |
| 2020 ! scope=row | "Love Me Like You Hate Me" | Rainey Qualley | Danced with Shia LaBeouf | |
| 2023 ! scope=row | "Alma Mater" | Bleachers | Cameo, as Jack Antonoff's wife | |
| 2025 ! scope=row | "ODDWAD" | Lace Manhattan | Singer/performer, video directed by co-star Talia Ryder as Dixie Normus for Honey Don't! soundtrack | |
| Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller | ||||
| 2021 | Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries | Maid | ||
| 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | The Substance | ||
| 2024 | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | The Substance | ||
| Best Choreography | ||||
| 2022 | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Maid | ||
| 2021 | Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries/Television Movie | Maid | ||
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