Margaret Qualley
Birthdate: Oct 23, 1994
Birthplace: Kalispell, Montana, USA
While Margaret Qualley (birthname: Sarah Margaret Qualley) has gained most visibility in lead or co-lead roles in a handful of impactful cable and streaming series, including HBO’s The Leftovers (2014-2017), Fosse/Verdon (2019), and Netflix’s Maid (2021), she has spent most of her acting energy during her nine-year career on feature films, collaborating with such world-class directors as Claire Denis (Stars at Noon) and Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things).
Qualley’s screen debut was accidental, as she was cast by director Gia Coppola on the spur of the moment when she was visiting a friend on the set of Coppola’s Palo Alto (2013), with James Franco and Emma Roberts. Her first intentional screen role supported in Shane Black’s crime comedy, The Nice Guys (2016), with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, and then her first co-starring role happened with Maggie Betts’ impressive nun drama, Novitiate (2017), with Melissa Leo and Julianne Nicholson. Qualley’s first feature to go straight to Netflix was in 2017, with the supernatural Death Note, with Lakeith Stanfield and Nat Wolff, proceeded by IFC’s release of Tim Hutton’s Donnybrook, with Frank Grillo, Jamie Bell, and James Badge Dale.
Displaying her genre breadth, Qualley starred in a busy 2019 in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama, Io, with Anthony Mackie and Danny Huston; Rashid Johnson’s and Suzan Lori-Parks’ adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son, with Ashton Sanders; as a member of the Manson family in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; the thriller Strange but True, with Amy Ryan, Brian Cox, and Blythe Danner; and the biopic Seberg, opposite Kristen Stewart and Jack O’Connell. Qualley portrayed author Joanna Rakoff in Phillippe Falardeau’s Canadian production, My Salinger Year (2020), with Sigourney Weaver and Colm Feore, and received a Best Actress Canadian Film (Iris) award nomination.
With writer-director Claire Denis, Margaret Qualley co-starred in the Nicaraguan revolution drama, Stars at Noon (2022) with John C. Reilly and Joe Alwyn, premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. She followed with director Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things (2023) (based on Tony McNamara’s adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel), with Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, and Christopher Abbott—with whom Qualley co-starred in the erotic drama, Sanctuary (2022).
Qualley was cast by co-writer/director Ethan Coen in the co-starring role, with co-star Geraldine Viswanathan, in the crime comedy, Drive-Away Dolls (2024), with Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, Matt Damon, Miley Cyrus, and released by Focus Features/Universal Pictures.
Qualley then reunited with filmmaker Lanthimos for his three-story anthology film, Kinds of Kindness (date to be announced), co-written by Efthimis Filippou, and co-starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer, and released by Searchlight Pictures.
Margaret Qualley joined the cast of Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid as director/writer/producer for Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (2024), which won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Screenplay Palme prize and was released by Mubi.
Qualley continued her pattern of working regularly with major filmmakers by rejoining director/co-writer/producer Coen for the second film in his so-called “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” Honey Don’t! (date to be announced), co-starring Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, and Charlie Day co-written by Tricia Cooke, and released by Focus Features.
Margaret Qualley co-starred with lead Glen Powell, Ed Harris, Jessica Henwick, Topher Grace, and Bill Camp in the black comedy, Huntington (date to be announced), director/writer John Patton Ford’s loose adaptation of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) for StudioCanal and released in the US by A24.
Qualley co-starred with Ethan Hawke (as songwriter Lorenz Hart) in the musical biopic from director/producer Richard Linklater for Sony Pictures Classics, Blue Moon (date to be announced), with a supporting cast including Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott.
Gallery
Personal Details
Montana-born Margaret Qualley is the daughter of actor Andie MacDowell and rancher and ex-model Paul Qualley. Her siblings are singer-actor Rainey Qualley and Justin Qualley. Her parents separated when Qualley was five. She grew up in Asheville, N.C., and trained early in ballet, studying at the North Carolina Dance Theater. Qualley moved to New York to study at the Professional Children’s School, with an apprenticeship at the American Ballet Theatre.
At the same time, she modeled for various major labels at New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week, as well as major photo campaigns. Qualley switched her focus to acting, taking summer sessions at Britain’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, then one semester at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, dropping out when she started getting acting jobs. Qualley has been in relationships with comic actor Pete Davidson, Shia LaBeouf, and singer-songwriter Jack Antonoff. Her height is 5’ 8”.
Awards
Nominee, Best Supporting Actress in Limited Series/Movie, Emmy Awards (2019); Nominee, Best Actress in Limited Series, Golden Globes Awards (2022); Nominee, Best Actress, Iris (Canadian Film) Awards (2020); Two-time Nominee, Best Director/Best Choreographer, MTV Video Music Awards (2024); Two-time Nominee, Best Motion Picture Cast/Best Actress in Limited Series, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2020, 2022).
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Critics Choice Award
Critics Choice Awards
Actor
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Filmography
actor
Previous (22)
- 2024 | The SubstanceasSue
The Substance
A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
- 2024 | Kinds of KindnessasVivian
Kinds of Kindness
A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife's demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning, and a woman searches for an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual guide.
- 2024 | Drive-Away DollsasJamie
Drive-Away Dolls
Jamie regrets her breakup with her girlfriend, while Marian needs to relax. In search of a fresh start, they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee. Things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals.
- 2023 | Poor Things
Poor Things
An account of the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.
- 2023 |
- 2022 | Stars at Noon
- 2022 | The Substance
- 2022 |
- 2021 | Fred & Ginger
- 2021 | My Salinger Year
My Salinger Year
A college grad takes a clerical job working for the literary agent of the renowned, reclusive writer J.D. Salinger.
- 2020 |
- 2019 | Adam
- 2019 | IO
- 2019 | Native Son
- 2019 | Once Upon a Time... in Hollywoodas Pussycat
- 2019 | Once Upon a Time in HollywoodasPussycat
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
- 2019 | DonnybrookasDelia Angus
Donnybrook
Two men prepare to compete in a legendary bare-knuckle fight where the winner gets a $100,000 prize.
- 2019 • 5 eps | Fosse/Verdonas Ann Reinking
- 2017 | Death Note
- 2017 |
- 2016 | Kenzo Worldas Margaret
- 2016 | The Nice Guys
The Nice Guys
In 1970s Los Angeles, a mismatched pair of private eyes investigate a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star.
Some Facts About Margaret Qualley
Early Show: Before she appeared as an actor on film or TV, Margaret Qualley showed up as a model in season two of the fashion contest show, The Fashion Found.
Song Subject: Qualley is the subject of Lana Del Rey’s song, “Margaret,” and Qualley’s voice is on Del Rey’s song, “Taco Truck x VB,” from her 2023 album Did You That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
