Rising star Hailee Steinfeld is creating plenty of buzz with the coming-of-age dramedy The Edge of Seventeen, out November 18, and the highly anticipated third installment of the Pitch Perfect film franchise. Since bursting onto the scene as a child actress in 2010’s True Grit, she’s become one of the most sought after young talents around. Having grown into a critically acclaimed, beautiful, enigmatic performer/model who’s gifted at acting in a wide range of genres, the world is now her oyster.
Here’s what you need to know about Hailee.
She’s into hardcore punk: Research for a film role in Ten Thousand Saints led her to hardcore punk music. She uses playlists as tools to help her get into character when preparing for a movie. She explained: “Music is a very big part of my preparation as an actor.” While learning about the music of New York City’s hardcore punk scene in the 1980s, she became a fan of Black Flag and the Misfits.
She was a child model for Gap: With her unique beauty and expressive face, Steinfeld is a natural model, representing high profile fashion lines like Miu Miu. She actually started modeling as a child for major apparel brands like GAP and Guess Kids. She told Vanity Fair in 2010: “I signed with a print agent before I signed with a theatrical agent, so I had been [modeling] for about a year before the acting really started to pick up for me.”
Her brother is a NASCAR driver: Her older brother Griffin is also in a high profile line of work. He’s a NASCAR driver. He started out in desert races with his father before getting into stock car racing in 2013. He is extremely popular on social media, whee he refers to himself as a “professional brother.” Obviously, Griffin has kept his sense of humor about having such a famous sister.
She recently became a recording artist: Last year, the Pitch Perfect star released her first album, Haiz, after signing with Republic Records. She said: “I started recording a couple years ago with a close friend of mine. It’s always been a passion of mine that really only recently I had the opportunity to do something with 110 percent.”
Facebook is her life: Like her big brother, Hailee is really into social media, and Facebook is her life! She shares tons of videos on her Facebook page, which currently focuses heavily on her music career.
She’s good friends with Taylor Swift: Someone who can teach her plenty about the music business is her good friend Taylor Swift. Last year, Steinfeld appeared in Swift’s Bad Blood music video.
She was home-schooled: In a USA Today interview a few years ago, Steinfeld talked to Andrea Mandell about being home-schooled, which she started in 2008. The home-schooling decision wasn’t prompted by her acting career, but because she was bullied in the sixth grade.
She was nominated for an Oscar: Steinfeld hit a home run with her first part in a feature film, 2010’s True Grit, giving a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
She wants to be behind the camera: She isn’t satisfied just being a movie star and model. Like a lot of other performers, she has a real interest in working “on the other side of the camera,” saying that she eventually wants to produce and direct.