Hailee Steinfeld is looking beyond the Oscars toward pop stardom
Actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld can hardly contain her excitement as she looks onto the parking lot that will be home to the iHeart Radio Much Music Video Awards.
“So, this is it? This is where the stage is?” the 19-year-old asked with childlike wonderment.
You can almost see Steinfeld imagining herself on Sunday, when she’ll don her pop star persona and join a troupe of the entertainment industry’s freshest faces for one of TV’s most energetic awards shows.
This year’s spectacle, to be hosted by model Gigi Hadid, will also include performances by Alessia Cara, Shawn Mendes, Tegan and Sara, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, James Bay, Hedley, Desiigner and July Talk.
Big events like these remind Stein- feld why she finally made a wholehearted leap into music after years of starring in Hollywood films.
“My mom will tell you there was never a moment I was not singing or screaming in my house with a microphone — or a hairbrush,” she said.
“Music has always been part of my plan.”
But she knows plans can change rather quickly.
Steinfeld’s career started with the kind of bang most young actresses would only dream of: Her cinematic debut in the Coen Brothers’ remake of True Grit garnered her an Oscar nomination when she was only 14 years old.
Within a short period of time, Steinfeld was lining up movie projects left and right. She starred in four films released in 2013, including the latest incarnation of Shake- speare’s Romeo & Juliet, and racked up another four roles the following year.
“It kind of came along, swept me up and took all my time,” she said.
When she wasn’t on movie sets, Steinfeld often snuck into the studio with her friend, producer Chase Duddy, to record covers. Gradually, it gave her enough confidence to stand before a microphone and sing her own songs.
Telling the rest of the world about her side project was an entirely different challenge.
Hints of Steinfeld’s musical aspirations began to peek through in her roles even as she was still experimenting herself.
As the daughter of Mark Ruffalo’s record label executive in Begin Again, she had a scene playing guitar alongside Keira Knightley and also appeared on the film’s soundtrack.
But it was an opportunity to star in a sequel to the sleeper hit Pitch Perfect which Steinfeld said truly marked her foray into music.
“I remember calling my agent, not even knowing if there was a part for me,” she said.
“I said, ‘I would literally do anything I can to be part of this.’ ”
Her performance as a shy freshman helped Steinfeld attract the interest of Republic Records, which signed her and released the EP Haiz last November.
“I’m the type who really wants to fully immerse every single part of me into that single thing,” she says.
“It’s a little hard to do that when you’re working two jobs.”
She’ll have a bit of time to focus on music, as filming for Pitch Perfect 3 has been pushed from next summer to late 2017, because the script wasn’t ready.
Somewhere in that space, Steinfeld wants to put the finishing touches on her debut album.
“With film, what I’m used to, you sign on the project, you do the job and (then) it’s out of your hands . . . I’ve been working on this album since I did the EP,” she says. “With the music it just never stops.” The awards show will air Sunday on CTV, Much Music, Much.com and French-language channel VRAK.