{"id":2673,"date":"2026-05-31T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/31\/alexa-demie-euphorias-most-elusive-it-girl-is-finally-ready-to-talk\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T16:00:00","slug":"alexa-demie-euphorias-most-elusive-it-girl-is-finally-ready-to-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/31\/alexa-demie-euphorias-most-elusive-it-girl-is-finally-ready-to-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexa Demie, Euphoria\u2019s Most Elusive \u2018It\u2019 Girl, Is Finally Ready to Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\tAlexa Demie<\/a> is not retiring from acting.<\/p>\n

\tIf you are wondering why this even needs to be said of a 35-year-old actress coming off the final season of TV\u2019s buzziest show and the most high-profile gig of her career, then you have clearly not been paying attention to the more Euphoria<\/a><\/em>-obsessed corners of the internet. <\/p>\n

\tSince the start of this third season, a theory has circulated that Demie intends to stop acting entirely after the series wraps. The source, it turns out, was an unknown keyboard warrior who recirculated, without context, a 2020 episode of The A24 Podcast <\/em>on which Demie complained to The Curse<\/em> star Nathan Fielder about a period early in her career when it felt like all the good parts were going to white girls; she questioned whether there was space for Latina actresses in Hollywood, and whether she wanted to keep putting up with auditioning at all. Unbeknownst to Demie, who says she assiduously avoids her own headlines, rumors of her imminent industry exit started to gain traction. When I ask her about it, her first instinct is to mess with the fans who have expressed potential heartbreak. \u201cShould we just ride with it?\u201d she suggests with a grin. \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tAlexa Demie THR Cover<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEmman Montalvan<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tShe then elaborates a bit on that erstwhile discontent. During her early 20s, she says, years before she got the role on Euphoria<\/em>, she was in a casting office just up the street from where we\u2019re sitting now, at Max & Helen\u2019s diner, in the Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles. She read the character description for a lead role that had a paragraph-length list of acceptable ethnicities \u2014 all Hispanic backgrounds were omitted. \u201cI was reading it, and it really hit me \u2014 and I kept having that experience,\u201d says Demie, who is half white but connects strongly with the Mexican side of her heritage. \u201cI was sick of going into those rooms, and this was during that time when you\u2019re young and every few months you\u2019re just like, \u2018I\u2019m quitting, I\u2019m quitting.\u2019 But knowing me, I never would have quit. I\u2019m more of the energy of like, \u2018No, I\u2019m going to show you I can do it.\u2019\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tThe whispers of retirement are no doubt abetted by the unorthodox career moves that have made Demie Hollywood\u2019s most elusive \u201cIt\u201d girl. Though she has been a breakout star of Euphoria <\/em>since its premiere in 2019 \u2014 thanks largely to the bad bitch energy she brings to the role of Maddy Perez \u2014 she\u2019s done few interviews, and most were during season one, when she was contractually obligated. In fact, when she appeared on the red carpet of HBO\u2019s long-awaited season three premiere, it was the first time most fans had seen her in years, largely due to a self-imposed exile.<\/p>\n

\tEuphoria<\/em> creator Sam Levinson says, \u201cThere\u2019s an air of mystery to her, and you never feel like she\u2019s playing a game with it. It\u2019s just natural, and she also has a great sense of humor about it.\u201d The pop star Rosal\u00eda, a close friend and season three co-star, says Demie has a unique kind of purity: \u201cShe has the cleanest, brightest aura in all of Hollywood.\u201d (And to ensure it stays pristine, the actress brought her own energy healer to her THR <\/em>cover shoot, who was on hand to cleanse the space before her video interview.)<\/p>\n

\tDemie traces her insider\u2019s outsider relationship with the industry to growing up just on its periphery. Raised in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, she thought of Hollywood itself as elusive. \u201cI saw the sign right there,\u201d she gestures north from our booth at the diner. \u201cAnd I knew that was the place where shit went down, and it felt close, but nobody in my family had any idea about it.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tShe was raised by her mother, a makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics stores who would occasionally use Demie as a subject for her master classes. She went to John Marshall High School in Los Feliz, where she was in drama and dance, but says nobody ever discussed the industry or what a real career in Hollywood might look like. She did, she says, always have a drive for money and the freedom it could offer, and was always hustling. She worked as a receptionist at her aunt\u2019s dental practice when she was 12, wearing a headset (which she loved) and filing paperwork (which she hated). After high school, she spent two weeks in New York visiting colleges \u2014 \u201cI had the best two weeks of my life, but I realized, \u2018I\u2019m going to party too much in New York, so I need to stay [in L.A.].\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAround 2015, after a few years of working odd jobs \u2014 at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and American Apparel, a stint as a stylist\u2019s assistant and a sunglasses designer \u2014 a friend asked her to be in his short film. After its release, he told her that people were asking about \u201cthe girl in the movie\u201d and that she should really think about a career as an actress. \u201cHe was like, \u2018There are people in the business who want to meet you,\u2019\u201d she remembers. \u201cSomething started spinning and I was like, \u2018Maybe there\u2019s something here.\u2019\u201d She started reading books about the craft and watching vintage YouTube videos of Marlon Brando with his acting coach. She can\u2019t remember how she got her first manager \u2014 \u201cShe actually just messaged me a month ago, to say congrats on everything\u201d \u2014 but does know that she paid for her to take a lesson with acting guru Lesly Kahn, who coached Demie for her first potential movie role. \u201cIt was a biopic about Griselda Blanco, and I was going to play a younger Griselda, but it wound up falling apart,\u201d she says. \t<\/p>\n

\tNext came the indie Brigsby Bear<\/em>, a comedy from Saturday Night Live <\/em>alum Dave McCary (now married to Emma Stone) and guest roles on a few TV shows (Ray Donovan, The OA<\/em>). She got most noticed, in certain circles, thanks to a small part in Jonah Hill\u2019s 2018 directorial debut, Mid 90s<\/em>. \u201cBut I still felt like I hadn\u2019t done it yet,\u201d she says. \u201cHave I done it now? I don\u2019t know. But Euphoria <\/em>came next and everything felt different.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tInes di Santo dress.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Emman Montalvan (2)<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\t***<\/p>\n

\tEuphoria <\/em>was the first project that she really, desperately wanted.<\/p>\n

\tAugustine Frizzell, who was directing the pilot, had remembered Demie from a previous audition for a film role that eventually went to someone else, and sent the actress the script. Demie, a music obsessive, recalls being extremely impressed by the needle drops that Levinson wrote in.<\/p>\n

\tDemie actually read for the Rue part first, in front of Levinson and Frizzell, who were friendly but offered no feedback. She left dejected and met up with a friend she was making music with at the time. \u201cI was being so dramatic, like, \u2018This is the end of everything<\/em>, my life\u2019s over<\/em>,\u2019\u201d she recalls with a laugh. \u201cHe was like, \u2018Let\u2019s let that out [on the track].\u2019 We started recording, and halfway through I got a call saying, \u2018They want you back for Maddy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLevinson says he knew immediately that he wanted Demie to play Maddy, the resident queen bee of the fictional East Highland High, the longtime best friend to Sydney Sweeney\u2019s Cassie and the on-again, off-again girlfriend of the star quarterback Nate (played by Jacob Elordi). \u201cBut HBO didn\u2019t think she was right for the part, because they had imagined a blond cheerleader,\u201d says Levinson. \u201cI remember pulling her aside and giving her some tips. I think she was wearing something red, and I knew that the execs would immediately think, \u2018Oh, she\u2019s too Latin.\u2019 So I told her, \u2018Don\u2019t wear anything red,\u2019 to soften up what I knew would be their initial perception.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tThe network brought Demie back in to read alongside the blond girl they were also considering for the part; Levinson says it was as much of a test for HBO as it was the other way around. \u201cThere have been a couple of moments in my career where I know an actor is right for something, and I think to myself, \u2018If we can\u2019t get on the same page about this, then we\u2019re not making the same show and maybe I\u2019m not interested in making whatever it is you\u2019re making.\u2019\u201d The final callback was a showcase for HBO, with all of the eventual cast reading in front of producers and execs, but only Demie going up against one final contender.<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tVintage Paco Rabanne top from Aralda Vintage.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Emman Montalvan<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\t\u201cI was like Joan of Arc,\u201d she says. \u201cAt that point it wasn\u2019t about getting the show anymore, it was about going into that room and being seen.\u201d The network had her read from a now-infamous scene in episode four, which takes place entirely at the local carnival. Nate\u2019s family just won the chili cook-off, shortly after he chastises Maddy for wearing a revealing outfit when his (white) parents are already skeptical of her values; Maddy responds by calling her boyfriend\u2019s mother a cunt and then tipping over the winning vat of chili. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t have picked a better scene. I was in my fire. The last line is like, \u2018I know none of you like me and I\u2019m not supposed to be here.\u2019 I looked every single person in their eyes. And then I was driving off the lot and I got the call that I got the part.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tDemie never spoke about the audition process with anyone at HBO. \u201cBut they called me in for a general the next day, to tell me how much they love me,\u201d she says with a grin. She doesn\u2019t blame any individual. \u201cThe system is telling you what it needs to be, and what things need to look like. It\u2019s been operating this way for so long, and people are going off of what they were taught. I feel no resentment, and there was closure in them saying, \u2018OK, girl, it\u2019s you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\t***<\/p>\n

\tAt the end of production of Euphoria<\/em>\u2019s second season, Demie was struggling. She\u2019d spent nine months filming brutal material (a gun held to her head) at a grueling pace (it wasn\u2019t unusual to shoot from 3 p.m. until 6 a.m.), and she hadn\u2019t yet learned how to separate herself from Maddy. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize how method I was, and how seriously I was taking everything,\u201d she says. Her personal life was starting to fray, too, but she declines to get into it. \u201cGirl, a lot went down, and things were changing within and around me, and it was a lot of purging,\u201d is all she\u2019ll say.<\/p>\n

\tSo she rented a new place in the Hollywood Hills and went there every day to swim and journal and meditate \u2014 no movies, no television, no music (save for the occasional classical or frequency sounds). She tried EMDR therapy and falconry (\u201cI found this incredible woman who genuinely cares about her birds, and she would also let me go on journeys with her to fly her hawks\u201d). She says her friends called her \u201cthe nun in the hills.\u201d \u201cShe always knows where to take you to lie in the grass,\u201d says Rosal\u00eda (but also, she adds, \u201cwhere to find the best omakase\u201d). \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tSchiaparelli gown.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Emman Montalvan (2)<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tThen HBO sent the first three scripts for the third and final season of Euphoria<\/em>, and when she read about the plot\u2019s heavily religious themes \u2014 Levinson uses biblical allegories to follow the now-grown former students of East Highland on their descents into drug trafficking and sex work \u2014 she saw her final way out of her funk. \u201cWhen I read it, I sobbed, and I really felt like Teresa de \u00c1vila,\u201d she says, referencing the 16th century Spanish nun who was known for her mysticism and spiritual reform. \u201cI was like, \u2018Girl, God is in everything. God is in the darkness [of this season]. You can bring light to these shadow areas.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMost of Maddy\u2019s storyline in season three has been in those shadow areas; she reunites with Cassie to help (some would say push) her deep into the world of OnlyFans, eventually taking on more clients and acting as what could best be described as a madam. It\u2019s a big leap from the things that counted as troublemaking during the high school seasons, and discourse around the show this year has often centered around whether it\u2019s too broad a shift. \u201cI mean, Maddy\u2019s never been a morally pure character. She\u2019s done some bad things in the past and has always been driven by a really strong hustle,\u201d says Levinson. Demie sees her storyline as one of naivete. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t have the street smarts that she thinks she does, like I don\u2019t think she even knows sex trafficking is a thing,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd also, when has this show ever been realistic? It\u2019s fantastical.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tSince its inception, Euphoria <\/em>has been embroiled in low-level scandal. Some of it was sought-after \u2014 Levinson is a provocateur, and his courting of controversy has earned the series nine Emmy wins and far more nominations. Plenty of gossip also leaked out from behind the scenes \u2014 rumors that the actors were overworked, and that Levinson\u2019s constant and last-minute script changes cost time and money and drove some of them to the verge of quitting<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\tDemie does not deny that the work is emotionally and physically taxing, but her experience doesn\u2019t match the headlines. She says the hours were long, but the time on set was enjoyable. The scripts did change constantly, but she always liked the final result, and if there were elements that she was uncomfortable with, Levinson listened.<\/p>\n

\tDuring season one, Maddy\u2019s part called for a lot of nudity and sex scenes. \u201cI thought that if I said no to doing them, then I wouldn\u2019t have the part,\u201d says Demie. \u201cNot because anyone ever said that to me, but because I was so young and I didn\u2019t know.\u201d At one point, she filmed a montage of Maddy\u2019s cheating on Nate, and realized she was uncomfortable. \u201cI\u2019m not saying I don\u2019t love sex, and I think it can be portrayed beautifully and I know the show is portraying the life of teenage girls. But once I did it, I realized, \u2018OK, I don\u2019t love how this feels.\u2019 So I said something, and everyone was empathetic, and I never did that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAnd even in her lowest points with the show, Demie says she personally never blamed Levinson or production. Looking back on season two, she says that she hadn\u2019t learned how to separate herself from Maddy and that she should have asked for support. She can laugh about a lot of it, too, like when she thinks about the fact that she conducted the entirety of the second season press junket dressed in a hoodie pulled completely taut around her face, sunglasses on, while her co-stars showed up in full glam. \u201cFirst of all, I was working with Balenciaga at the time, so [that outfit] was fulfilling my contract. But I was also really over it, and I think I was reflecting that.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tVintage Balenciaga suit.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Emman Montalvan<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tProduction on the third season was delayed by several years, a period of time that allowed for all sorts of speculation: Did the cast hate each other? Did the cast hate the show? Did HBO hate the scripts? \u201cIt was important that everyone felt season 3 was moving the story forward in a meaningful and ambitious way,\u201d says Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, Head of HBO Drama Series and Films. \u201cWhen Sam began sharing how much more expansive the world of the show would feel this season, there was genuine excitement about returning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBarbie Ferreira, who played Kat and became a close friend of Demie\u2019s, quit the series, later telling the Armchair Expert<\/em> podcast that she felt she wasn\u2019t getting good storylines. \u201cI was bummed, but I really respected her decision, she has to take care of herself,\u201d says Demie. \u201cIt\u2019s a brave move.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHBO kept Demie in the loop throughout all of the delays and dramas \u2014 Angus Cloud\u2019s death, Levinson\u2019s work on The Idol <\/em>\u2014 so she never felt any true uncertainty. \u201cI was doing my best to surrender,\u201d she says. She doesn\u2019t know what went down with everyone else\u2019s contract negotiations, but she never truly considered that they wouldn\u2019t all return. \u201cWe don\u2019t speak about business,\u201d she says of the cast. \u201cZendaya\u2019s great, she\u2019ll give me advice if I ask. But what works for one person is not going to work for me and vice versa. We all chose a very interesting path. But it doesn\u2019t feel like an elephant in the room, it feels natural. Who wants to talk about business?\u201d \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tLeft: Vintage Givenchy dress from Aralda Vintage. Right: Ines di Santo dress.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Emman Montalvan (2)<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tFans of Euphoria<\/em> often wonder why Demie didn\u2019t follow the career trajectory of her co-stars. Traditional Hollywood logic reasons that, since Maddy Perez has been the critical and cultural favorite, she should have popped like Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney, who have become movie stars \u2014 or, to a lesser degree, Hunter Schafer and Maude Apatow, who may not be A-listers but work regularly outside of the show. \u201cI think there\u2019s a misconception about Alexa, and I\u2019ve always rejected the framework of, \u2018Oh, Alexa should have what Sydney or someone else has,\u2019 because that\u2019s a very high school mentality to bring to the craft,\u201d says Levinson. \u201cI think Alexa is doing everything that she wants, and if she doesn\u2019t have something, it\u2019s because she doesn\u2019t want it. I see her as completely fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tJulio Torres, who managed to convince Demie to act in an episode of his HBO limited series Fantasmas<\/em>, believes her restraint comes from a deep level of confidence. \u201cHer hunger is for interesting and fun projects that she can contribute significantly to, not fame or fortune or a follower count or the approval of anyone else,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople are left wanting more. I have friends who\u2019ve been her for Halloween, which I think is one of the highest compliments for any performer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tSometimes Demie\u2019s friends will send her takes from the internet about her relative lack of fame. \u201cIt\u2019s like, did you ever think that I don\u2019t want it?\u201d she says. \u201cPeople really take the authority out of your hands. What happened to my ability to choose? I like my life like this, and I wouldn\u2019t change it.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tWhen the credits roll on the series finale, Levinson says he wants fans of Maddy to \u201cfeel like she is finally free.\u201d What the actress behind her will do with her own freedom remains a mystery. \u201cThere are goals, and things that I want, but I\u2019m choosing to keep that private,\u201d says Demie. When I tell her that Levinson told me he\u2019s interested in writing more for her \u2014 \u201cI could literally write 10 seasons\u2019 worth of her character in this show, I could imagine her in 10 different other iterations of ideas that I have and I\u2019d be hard-pressed to think of any project I would work on where Alexa\u2019s name wouldn\u2019t pop in my head\u201d \u2014 she just smiles. (Orsi reiterated Levinson\u2019s sentiment, saying \u201cWe\u2019ll always want to continue collaborating with her in the future.\u201d) She says that Euphoria <\/em>felt like a master class not only in acting, but in putting herself out there, against her strongest and most hermit-like inclinations. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t have that experience, I\u2019d be hiding up there like Enya,\u201d she says, pointing again in the direction of the hills. \u201cBut that life is always there for me, and what I\u2019m learning is that I can have both.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tVintage Issey Miyake bustier, vintage Alexander Mcqueen skirt, both from Aralda Vintage.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexa Demie is not retiring from acting. If you are wondering why this even needs to be said of a 35-year-old actress coming off the final season of TV\u2019s buzziest show and the most high-profile gig of her career, then you have clearly not been paying attention to the more Euphoria-obsessed corners of the internet. Since the start of this third season, a theory has circulated that Demie intends to stop acting entirely after the series wraps. The source, it turns out, was an unknown keyboard warrior who recirculated, without context, a 2020 episode of The A24 Podcast on which Demie complained to The Curse star Nathan Fielder about a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1616,202,2,735,85,335],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alexa-demie","category-euphoria","category-hollywood","category-thr-cover-story","category-tv","category-tv-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}