WOMEN WE LOVE: Margaret Qualley

Margaret Qualley has made a career out of being delightfully unpredictable. In just over a decade, she has risen from a supporting player in prestige television to a fixture in the strange world of auteur-driven cinema, winning over directors, critics, and audiences alike with her eccentric charm and daring physicality. She is the rare Hollywood "nepo baby" who has not only lived up to her family’s legacy but also carved out her own unique, wonderful corner in the industry. She used her easy ways to create characters who are complex, booking demanding work, depicting diverse women. 

Born in 1994 in Montana to acclaimed actress Andie MacDowell and former model Paul Qualley, a young Margaret grew up far from the spotlight and Hollywood glamour her parents were used to. However, she was drawn to it, training first as a ballerina and soon transitioning to modeling. 

After an upbringing between Montana and North Carolina alongside her siblings Justin and Rainey, she learned early on the value of discipline through ballet. At just 14, she left home to study at the North Carolina School of the Arts and later in the Big Apple. Modeling paid the New York rent, but her ambitions quickly shifted to acting, leading her to London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and eventually NYU (which she left after only a semester to start booking her first roles).

Her ballet background gave her an acute physical awareness and hard-working discipline she now carries into every performance. “Ballet can be grueling, for sure, but it gives you a certain discipline,” she toldThe Wall Street Journal. That control of body and emotion is evident in projects like the Spike Jonze-directed Kenzo World perfume ad you've probably seen floating around social media lately, and would become her on-screen trademark. 

Qualley made her screen debut in Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto (2013) alongside Emma Roberts, but her first major break came as Jill Garvey on HBO’s underrated psychological thriller "The Leftovers" (2014-2017). Across 3 seasons, Qualley brought nuance to a character caught between teenage rebellion and existential grief, holding her own alongside seasoned actors like Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon in one of TV’s most thematically ambitious dramas. 

Rather than chase teen rom-coms or empty bombshell roles, she gravitated toward unconventional, eerie characters: she is the quiet, strange foil to Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe’s comedy in The Nice Guys (2016); a barefoot, hitchhiking Manson Family member in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019); and legendary, enigmatic dancer Ann Reinking in FX’s "Fosse/Verdon", a part that merged her dance background with her commanding acting chops and earned her her first Emmy and Critics’ Choice nominations. 

Her 2021 turn in Netflix’s miniseries "Maid" was a career-defining moment for Qualley and a peak of her acting abilities. Playing Alex, a single mother escaping emotional abuse, Qualley delivered a raw, empathetic, steadfast performance, sharing the screen with her real-life mother Andie MacDowell in a dynamic that made their on-screen relationship feel unshakably real. “When you walk into a room and your mom is there, that does something to you,” she said to Harper’s Bazaar. “Rolling your eyes is built-in, the same way tearing up from a hug is.” The role brought her Golden Globe and SAG nominations and cemented her as a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. What Qualley does in "Maid" is announce herself as a worthwhile lead, grounding a harrowing series in a dry affect and moments of emotional breakdown that make Alex feel lived in and true-to-life. 

If there is a unifying thread in Qualley’s career, it’s her magnetism in offbeat, even unsettling or unlikable roles. She has a long list of impressive collaborations, including auteurs like Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness) and French visionary Claire Denis (Stars at Noon). She has starred in erotic, ballsy thrillers like Sanctuary alongside Christopher Abbott and pushed into body horror and pure, selfish unlikability with 2024's The Substance – a role that earned her a second Golden Globe nod and made her a bona fide household name. 

What makes her the “queen of weird” is not just the projects she picks and the directors she returns to, but her willingness to embrace characters that are flawed, physical, and sometimes deeply unlikable or scary (think "Monstro Elisasue"). She is not interested in polished archetypes or easy wins but instead in humanity’s sharp edges. That artistic curiosity has made her one of the most interesting actors of her generation, and a go-to for directors who value her risky sex appeal and magnetic qualities. 

A great thing about Qualley is that she has always been candid about her privilege, acknowledging the access and stability her mother’s iconic career afforded her. But she is also clear-eyed and dedicated to sustaining her career and building an interesting filmography. “I grew up privileged… playing a part like Alex [in 'Maid'] only highlights that more,” she toldElle. By consistently working with visionary filmmakers, choosing roles with social resonance, and committing fully to each project, she’s built a resume that stands on its own merit. 

The Montana upbringing, she admits, helped keep her grounded. Far from red carpets, she learned to value authenticity and her natural beauty, qualities she’s maintained in an industry obsessed with perfection. And with each role, she proves that, yes, she has acquired Andie MacDowell’s charm and girl-next-door subversion, but she is also someone entirely her own. 

Her momentum is not slowing after the bombastic success of The Substance last year; it might even be speeding up. In 2024, she co-starred in Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls and is starring in Richard Linklater’s upcoming (October 24) musical drama Blue Moon. Next up: Coen’s sapphic detective comedy Honey Don’t! opposite Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, and Charlie Day, which opens in theatres today (August 22), as well as John Patton Ford’s black comedy thriller Huntington alongside Glen Powell (date TBA).

In 2023, she married musician-producer Jack Antonoff and became the subject of Lana Del Rey‘s dreamy track “Margaret”, but her real love affair seems to lie in work that always surprises and challenges her. “I’ve been really lucky to work with people who are interested in making something that feels honest,” she toldPark Magazine NY. 

Margaret Qualley embodies the best kind of Hollywood star, one unafraid to be strange, get messy, and play a diverse range of characters. She blends the discipline of a seasoned dancer with the instincts of a niche character actor and also has the charisma of a leading lady. Whether she is dancing, scrubbing floors, or staring down the camera with her off-kilter grin, she is impossible to look away from.