Sydney Sweeney isn’t feeling euphoric (sorry) over what television actors are earning these days.
The “Euphoria” star lamented her finances in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, saying that if she “wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that.”
“I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help,” said Sweeney, who also has had roles in critically acclaimed shows like “The White Lotus” and “Handmaid’s Tale.”
“They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals,” she added, referring to fees TV actors earn when shows go into reruns or syndication.
“The established stars still get paid, but I have to give 5 percent to my lawyer, 10 percent to my agents, 3 percent or something like that to my business manager,” she continued. “I have to pay my publicist every month, and that’s more than my mortgage.”
To supplement her income, Sweeney said she’s made side deals with advertisers.
“If I just acted, I wouldn’t be able to afford my life in L.A. I take deals because I have to,” she said.
“It’s not that she wants people to feel badly for her,” the interviewer wrote, “but she is adamant that the luxuries of the job not gloss over the realities of the business.”
Sweeney always planned to make it in Hollywood, and said earlier this year that she presented her parents with a PowerPoint business plan presentation at age 11 to coax them into letting her pursue acting.
And just over a decade later, Sweeney is right where she wanted to be.
“It really feels like I’m now able to start the life that I wanted to give to my family,” the actor said in an interview with Cosmopolitan earlier this year.
“Sometimes I feel really guilty talking about it because I remember myself just three, four years ago not wanting to park in my school lot because I didn’t have a nice car,” she said. “But then at the same time, I’m beyond proud of myself. I get teary thinking that I’m actually working and achieving my dreams.”