Evening Standard - ES Magazine
Eye of the Storm
Storm Reid is on a mission. With her Emmy in hand, Zendaya on speed dial and a degree in her back pocket, she’s being intentional in the roles she chooses as she segues from child star to Hollywood big-hitter. Kemi Alemoru meets her
Storm Reid is beaming from her Paris hotel room. Neatly waved edges frame her face and her hair cascades past her shoulders. Although there isn’t a pimple in sight or a hair out of place, she tells me, enviably, that she just woke up like this. ‘I literally just rolled out the bed,’ she laughs. It’s leftover glam from the day before for her ES Magazine cover shoot, our annual watches and jewellery special. Embellished by Pomellato, she says it was a joy to model as the collection is ‘playful and not too serious’ — which rings true of the 20-year-old in front of me: contagiously warm and refreshingly humble despite being one of the biggest ones to watch right now.
Reid is one of those rare child stars whose artistic maturation is a delight to witness. It’s no easy feat navigating the awkward transition between cutesy characters in starry films like A Wrinkle in Time and serious acting with a capital ‘A’. Her resumé is bolstered by her knack for picking roles with depth, like Gia in Euphoria (addict Rue’s long-suffering younger sibling) and Lisa in Ava DuVernay’s devastating drama, Where They See Us (about a historical case of racial injustice), having made her name in the critically acclaimed 12 Years a Slave, not to mention Beyoncé and Jay Z’s video for ‘Family Feud. And all by the age of 14.
Not that she doesn’t have her feet firmly planted on the ground. Two days after her speech clasping a Primetime Emmy for her portrayal of the fiercely independent and autistic heroine Riley in The Last of Us, her final-year classes researching African American studies and dramatic arts at the University of Southern California began. ‘Even though it sounds challenging, it gives me a sense of balance, some normalcy,’ she says. ‘One day I’m picking outfits for a basketball game and the next I could be on a plane to France.’
On the Emmy itself, she is modest: ‘I didn’t think that I was gonna win the award for The Last of Us. That nomination really surprised me,’ she says. ‘But to be recognised by the Television Academy is very surreal. I don’t even really think I’ve processed it.’ Another episode in the series, titled ‘Long, long time’, takes a detour from the main narrative to show a love story between two men as a zombie virus takes hold of society. Some viewers reviewbombed Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and Metacritic as a backlash towards the show’s queer representation. As Reid’s brief, scene-stealing role as Ellie’s best friend also includes a lesbian kiss, she told Entertainment Weekly that homophobic critics needed to get their ‘priorities straight’ and called the controversy ‘nonsense’.
“I didn’t think I was going to win the Emmy. To be recognised is very surreal”
“Somebody took a chance on me, so to be able to return the favour is so cool”
“At the end of the day I’m not just an actress, acting doesn’t define me”
“I read my bible and I mind my business”
“I already have two big sisters but consider Zendaya the third”
Allyship and advocacy are non-negotiable for the rising actress. ‘My mom always raised us to remember “to whom much is given, much is required and expected”,’ she says. It also doubles up as a productive way of channelling her anxieties around the state of the world. That’s why she devotes a lot of time to her ‘philanthropic endeavours’. She has worked with Maybelline on the beauty brand’s ‘Brave Together’ campaign, which focuses on mental health; Boys & Girls Clubs of America delivering after-school programmes; and volunteers for food banks in Atlanta, Georgia. ‘I know that I won’t be able to fix or change everything, but if I can contribute to the conversation with my platform then I should.’
Rather than chasing plaudits, the secret to her success is her search for hard-hitting scripts. ‘I like to be as intentional and purposeful as possible [when picking roles]. I’m just one of those people, especially in the world that we’re living in today,’ she says. Her ethos is that she’d rather produce work that makes people think, without being ‘preachy’. ‘Creatives have the opportunity to say things so we’re kind of doing ourselves and audiences a disservice if we’re not.’
Despite being famous for the ultimate high school drama, Euphoria, she has been home-schooled for the majority of her education. Reid and her family, including her three older siblings, moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles so she could pursue acting, which is why she devoted part of her Emmy acceptance speech to her mother’s ‘sacrifices’. But as Covid-19 locked the world down, the then 16-year-old began to be haunted by the idea that there were experiences she had missed out on, leading her to enrol in college. Which is how she came to spend her time now oscillating between basketball games, parties, and studying alongside her career of international travel, high-fashion shoots, filming days and business strategy. ‘I’m just trying not to get overwhelmed,’ she adds.
Her freshman year coalesced with the feverish reception to HBO’s Euphoria. ‘The hype was very real. People would come up to me a lot.’ Now she thinks it’s been long enough that the novelty has worn off and students are probably ‘tired’ of seeing her on campus. The frenzy may have also subsided as there’s been a longer-than-expected wait for the third season. The cast was rocked by a shock death when rising star Angus Cloud suffered a fatal accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs in July 2023. Co-star Nika King, 44, who plays Reid’s mother in the show, recently ignited conversation when she said she needed to return to the set soon due to her being ‘broke’. Then rumours have swirled that HBO was unhappy with a script that sees the protagonist, Rue, fade into the background as she takes up work as a private investigator. Reid’s view is that while people are ‘biting their nails’ and gossiping about the show the hold-up is far more mundane. ‘It’s just logistics,’ she says. ‘Everybody is busy. And we have to find the time to come together.’
At the moment Reid is spinning many plates. She is currently gearing up for the release of Nun 2, a hammy horror about a demonic nun, but when I ask if she’s worried that it could fuel more satanic panic conspiracies à la Balenciaga, or the recent suggestion by Boyzone’s Shane Lynch that Taylor Swift’s concerts are ‘satanic’ rituals she shakes her head. ‘I read my bible and I mind my business,’ she quips.
A clear self-starter, Reid has recently decided to head up her own production company, A Seed and Wings. ‘Somebody took a chance on me, so to be able to return the favour and employ people who have amazing ideas that just haven’t gotten the opportunity to share those ideas is so cool.’ It’s also a great contingency plan if she ever gets burnt out from being in the spotlight. ‘I might not always want to act, so to be able to have something where I could still be in love with storytelling but I don’t have to be in front of the camera is a great option.’
A Seed and Wings will co-produce Teyana Taylor’s directorial debut, Get Lite, in which Reid portrays a beat-maker who recruits the male lead into her dance crew. There’s no doubt that the R&B singer can hold a dance film when she shot to prominence for her choreography in Kanye West’s ‘Fade’ music video from his album The Life of Pablo (it eventually won an MTV award). ‘Teyana eats, sleeps and breathes dance,’ Reid says. But a dance film for a self-described ‘competent bedroom dancer’ is quite the challenge, even if Reid is trying to not to be intimidated. She describes it as a classic New York dance movie ‘with a lot of heart’: for those of you who loved Save the Last Dance and Honey but with a focus on Litefeet or Getting Lite, the street dance style that developed in Harlem where Taylor is from. ‘I’m willing to put in the hard work and I’ll just try not to break any bones. It’ll be fine. Movie magic.’
Another world Reid has become immersed in is fashion — both as an ambassador for Pomellato and since being dressed by major designers, such as Prada for her Emmys big moment. Also known for her red-carpet brilliance is her close friend and co-star Zendaya, who has become known for her daring red carpet ensembles. ‘Z is a style icon for sure,’ she says. ‘I already have two big sisters but consider her the third,’ she says.
Having started young, the mononymic actress has had a similar career trajectory and is Reid’s guiding light. ‘I’m glad to have her in my corner — she’s been an inspiration for me since I was young. I always wanted to do what she does, so now having an actual relationship with her is really cool to me.
‘The entertainment industry forces you to grow up a little faster than other kids because you’re working and you’re at dinners with adults all the time. That can be a little confusing because you’re like, “Where are all the other kids, like where are my friends?”’ she says. The key to remaining sane has been to curate a support system around her — her family are heavily involved in her businesses. ‘They want you to get the jobs but they care about you as a human.’
It all sounds... quite exhausting. I ask if she ever finds time to just scroll on her phone and disassociate, like other Gen Zs. ‘I learn so much on TikTok. It taught me to make sourdough bread and I love scrolling on Instagram,’ she says. But she knows it’s a double-edged sword. ‘Some people are not always gonna say the nicest things,’ she says. However, she imposes limits to curb how much toxicity or anxiety-inducing messaging she might see throughout the day. ‘My phone is on Do Not Disturb 24/7,’ she says. ‘I just think I would lose my mind otherwise with all the emails and texts. It’s not good for my mental health. People will have to wait for a response.’
Throughout the conversation, it’s clear Reid has her priorities straight, half the battle in making the transition from child-to-adult film star. ‘I am normal. I am not any different than any other of my peers, I just get to do some cool things. At the end of the day I’m not just an actress, acting doesn’t define me,’ she says. ‘I’m a growing young girl that is learning and making mistakes. I cry over boys, too. We’re all the same.’