Pastures New

This seems to sum up the actor’s modus operandi to keep herself grounded. She’s close with her family and to a circle of friends outside of the industry, and she centers her life in an idyllic, pastoral setting far from the Hollywood crowds: home is a farm in upstate New York, which she shares with her husband, actor Thomas Sadoski, their two children, and a crew of rescue animals. They’ve got an apartment in the city, too, but that’s really just a crash pad for when the couple are here for work. Case in point: they’re both currently shooting The Crowded Room, an Apple TV+ drama anthology from Akiva Goldsman.

“I want to be at home; I don’t [always] want to be at work,” Seyfried says. “When I am at work, I’m having a great time – and then really fucking great shit happens [when] people see your work and they want to give you an award for it, or a nomination for it.”

It’s only been a couple of days since Seyfried landed an Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy nod (her first) for her portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes – the now-infamous founder of health-tech company Theranos, who was recently convicted of criminal fraud – in Hulu’s The Dropout. The series debuted earlier this year to wide acclaim, with critics hailing Seyfried’s performance as a career best. Viewers vaulted the show into viral status, particularly a so-awkward-you-can’t-look-away dance set to Lil Wayne’s How to Love. “So proud to [go] viral with something that was so incredibly fun to shoot,” she says with a grin.

As rewarding as the reaction has been, the potential for personal acclaim isn’t what attracted her to the role in the first place. She went for it because telling interesting, captivating stories is important to her, and because it gave her a chance to work with the series creator, Elizabeth Meriwether, who she calls a “genius.”

“With the help of an incredible group of writers, she wrote the perfect series,” Seyfried enthuses. “There’s not one beat in there that feels like it doesn’t fit. It’s a miracle, that script, and the direction and the tone of it really worked. I think it was really important, the tone, to make it feel real.”

Even after all the praise for the show, Seyfried is still surprised by the nomination, especially for her big return to the world of television. She spent most of her twenties “just hating everything that came out of my mouth” and worrying she might not have anything to offer when it came to acting. Her goal was always good, steady work, rather than recognition.

“It’s kind of surreal that we’re here now, that we got nominated, and I got nominated; I got singled out. I didn’t spend any part of my career singled out, ever. [I had] no expectation of being singled out, and that’s partly my self-deprecating nature. Never expecting anything great, preparing for the worst, but just continuing to walk on my path.”

Combined with her 2021 Oscar nomination for black-and-white biopic Mank (“That was career-changing; absolutely threw a grenade [into] what was my career and it became something else – in a good way, obviously”), Seyfried’s Emmy acknowledgment is part of a one-two punch that she feels is taking her craft to a new place. Both roles were departures from her existing body of work. So far in her career, she says, she’s mostly played characters who were versions of herself; people with similar backgrounds or personalities to her.

It’s a good time for innovation: in her mid-thirties, it’s easy to forget that Seyfried’s been in the business for nearly two decades now. “There’s a respect level that I have never felt so fully around me,” she considers. “It has nothing to do with any level of fame or recognition or critical acclaim. Whatever it is, it’s not because of Mank, it’s not because of The Dropout, it’s not about having seen my movies. I’m respected because I’m 36 years old and I know who the fuck I am.”

Of course, a lot has changed since Seyfried first started out. In some ways, she wishes she could be coming up now, in an era where intimacy coordinators are an on-set requirement and actors are in a better position to speak up. She came out of the pre-#MeToo era “pretty unscathed,” she says, but still, she was put in uncomfortable positions.

“Being 19, walking around without my underwear on – like, are you kidding me? How did I let that happen?” She pauses in mock consideration. “Oh, I know why: I was 19 and I didn’t want to upset anybody, and I wanted to keep my job. That’s why.”

In recent years, Seyfried has spoken openly about her mental health, and she is a huge advocate for therapy. Between regular sessions and keeping her life grounded outside of the industry, she’s discovered ways to largely shield herself from some of the professional pressures she felt early on.

“When I meet somebody who’s younger, like in their twenties, and they get rejected… by a job or something like that, it crushes them completely for a minute,” she says. “Nothing can crush me completely, when it comes to work. I’m uncrushable! Not one thing can crush my life, unless it has to do with my family.

“[That’s] not to say that I don’t get hurt in my job. I lost out on a big role that I really wanted – [well], I thought I wanted,” she adds. (The role was Glinda in the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked, which ultimately went to Ariana Grande.) “It was devastating, and it wasn’t for any other reason than I really felt like it was right. But that doesn’t take away from my confidence at all.

“Obviously, being a parent changes your perspective on things, but it’s not just that. It’s finally coming to the point of, it’s OK to be proud of your work. It’s OK to be proud, it’s OK to have confidence – it’s actually really important,” she insists.

Alongside her growing self-assuredness, Seyfried’s desire to explore her style on the red carpet has evolved, too. She has worked with stylist Elizabeth Stewart, who takes her personal preferences into account while still pushing her to experiment, for years. But her current off-duty uniform is easy-going for the heatwave weather, consisting of denim shorts paired with tees, in a minimalistic color palette of black, white and gray. They provide the backdrop for her latest sartorial pride and joy: an enormous tote bag she crocheted herself in a mix of rich jewel tones.

Crocheting is one of the relaxing pursuits that she enjoys at home. When she’s done in the city, she’s excited to get back to the two newest additions to her household: a pool that they’ve just built and a donkey named Gus – her dream animal, she says.

“I’ve always wanted a donkey, and I finally got my donkey. A lot of animals have respect for them – you can see it,” she explains. “He’s un-fuck-with-able.” Which sounds rather like Seyfried herself.

From leaving home at 17 to the moment she felt like she’d finally made it in Hollywood, PORTER cover star Amanda Seyfried talks through some of the most memorable firsts in her career and personal life

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