Amanda Seyfried has come a long way since playing one of the mean girls in the 2004 movie Mean Girls. — Photos: AFP
There is something delightful about Amanda Seyfried, 37, even when she appears in just a tiny square among many tiny squares within a Zoom connection.
During a 15-minute interview session with international media about her role in the Apple TV+’s limited series The Crowded Room, the friendly star talks animatedly and thoughtfully when answering questions posed to her.
Although it’s just a simple comment StarLifestyle makes about loving her character’s outfits in the psychological thriller, Seyfried draws us in with a personable quote.
“Oh, me too! So fun! Even like the little vest, oh my god, it was so good.
“The makeup, the blue eye shadow was so freakin’ fun. And my shoes, sorry, I could go on and on,” says Seyfried with a big smile that deepens her dimple.
“I’m an actor. I like to play dress up... the watch that I wore, and the wool I was wearing and, my hair – it was so fun, because it really does help you come into character so easily,” she adds.
In separate online interviews with her Crowded Room co-stars, Tom Holland and Emmy Rossum agree that the Mean Girls actress is someone they absolutely loved spending time with on set.
Rossum, 36, considers Seyfried “to be one of my closest friends, in real-life way not even just a work friend, now”.
In the psychological thriller, the two women appear in a couple of scenes together, one of which is heart-wrenching to watch.
Rossum says: “Amanda is incredibly emotionally available... She has a huge openness of heart and face, and it’s easy to feel kind of embraced and broken in front of her.”
Emmy Rossum (right) says she consider Amanda Seyfried as more than just a colleague after working with her in 'The Crowded Room'. Photo: AFPLikewise, actor Holland, 27, is grateful that it was Seyfried with whom he shared a large portion of his scenes with.
In the series set in the year 1979, Seyfried plays an investigator who talks to a prisoner (Holland) in a room lit with natural light about a shooting incident in New York that the young man is involved in.
There are many close-ups in these dialogue-driven scenes and throughout them Seyfried lets various emotions play out across her face, making what she’s feeling accessible to both Holland’s character and to the viewers.
Holland says: “Working with Amanda, it was honestly a dream, you know. Those scenes that we had were emotional, they were very technical, and they were very long.
“I think in total, we must have had well over 100 pages of dialogue that took place in that room. And with the wrong person, that could have been a very, very difficult experience.
“But working with Amanda was so fun. She brought levity to set every day while also bringing a great deal of professionalism.
“And she did a great job bringing (her character) to life. So, for me to get to share that with her and to build this partnership was a real honour.
“I’m delighted that we got that time together.”
Thomas Sadoski and Amanda Seyfried, who are married in real life, got to act together in 'The Crowded Room'. Photo: Handout
Seyfried started in the industry as a model and actress in her teens.
In the 2000s, she had recurring roles in TV series Veronica Mars and Big Love, as well as playing one of the good-hearted mean girls in the 2004 film, which was her first movie role.
In 2008, she was cast in the Meryl Streep-starring musical Mamma Mia!, which Seyfried credits as the film that changed her life where she went from guest-starring and supporting roles to a central character in a big-budget movie.
From there she starred in a variety of films including Les Miserables, Red Riding Hood, Jennifer’s Body, In Time, Letters To Juliet and of course, the Mamma Mia! sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
As her career progressed, Seyfried’s selection of roles became more bold.
No longer just playing young women questioning about love, she proceeded to take on complex female characters, which also included portraying real people.
In David Fincher’s 2020 movie Mank, Seyfried embodied the role of American actress Marion Davies so well that she nabbed her first Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category.
Last year, she turned in an astounding performance as Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced biotechnology entrepreneur, in the limited series The Dropout. Her effort earned her a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
Amanda Seyfriend in the series The Dropout. Photo: Handout
Now with The Crowded Room, she delivers yet another layered performance as a woman in the 1970s who has her share of problems at home and work, and yet has a wealth of compassion for others.
During our group interview, Seyfried says she is now less scared about the choices she makes.
“There’s just so much less fear behind the choices I make in my (personal) life, and as an actor.
“I think that I’m lucky my career has gone the way it’s gone. I’ve made great choices. I’m proud of them. And I’m going to continue to make good choices based on the opportunities that come up. I know how lucky I am.”
This newfound calmness that she has adapted maybe comes from discovering the right balance between work and life.
Seyfried got married in 2017 to actor Thomas Sadoski and is now mum to two children.
The family has also settled into a farm in upstate New York – something Seyfried has said she’s always wanted.
Rossum acknowledges her friend’s levelheadedness: “Amanda can somehow know all of her lines and also bring you fresh eggs from her farm. So, she’s always winning.”
Amanda Seyfried at the 2023 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2023, in New York. Photo: AFP
When Seyfried is asked how she got the work-life formula right, she answers: “I don’t think it’s difficult to learn if you find yourself a refuge. And I think that’s what I found when I found my farm. I finally felt at home in the world.
“Because I’m always travelling, like Emmy, we’re all over the place. Like we just both recently had kids. So, it wasn’t long ago that we were single, moving from job to job to job to job.
“But when you find your even truer purpose like... My purpose is to be an actor. I love it. It’s my passion, I would hopefully do it until I’m dead.
“But I also know that the refuge gives you the balancing that you need in order to feel fully fulfilled when you’re at work.
“Because when you’re always working, you’re missing something in your personal life, right?
“There’s a balance that we’re all trying to find in our lives whether we know it or not. And I’ve found that in spades.
“So, it’s like, I shovel duck s***, and then the next morning I’m on Good Morning America. I’ll go back on Friday, and I’ll be there for my kid’s friends’ birthday parties and we’ll visit the owls and I’ll shovel duck s*** again and then I’ll be back maybe, you know, next week to do something else for The Crowded Room.
“I’m just like, I’m totally Zen here talking to you guys in a way that I wasn’t before. And then the kids I mean, that’s just a miracle in itself.”
The Crowded Room is streaming on Apple TV+
