‘The Dropout’ Star Amanda Seyfried Says Acting is ‘so F****** Fun’
Currently one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors for her role in Hulu’s The Dropout, Amanda Seyfried is having a lot of fun doing what she loves. In The Dropout, Seyfried plays Elizabeth Holmes, the U.S.’s youngest self-made woman billionaire in 2014 until her biomedical start-up, Theranos, was revealed as a scam and shuttered in 2018. Holmes was recently convicted on several counts of fraud and now faces up to 20 years in prison. And Seyfriend enjoyed chronicling her meteoric rise and catastrophic fall in Hulu’s hit series The Dropout.
Amanda Seyfried is known for roles from ‘Mean Girls’ to ‘The Dropout’
From her breakout role as ditzy high school Plastic Karen in 2004’s Mean Girls to her most recent role as the Stanford University dropout in Hulu’s The Dropout, Seyfried has had a long and successful career. After Mean Girls, Seyfried played Sophie in Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, then spent several years playing Sarah Henrickson on Big Love. In 2010, Seyfried appeared in two romantic films, Dear John and Letters to Juliet, before starring opposite Justin Timberlake in the action thriller In Time in 2011.
The following year she played the legendary role of Cosette in Les Misérable before appearing as porn star Linda Lovelace in Lovelace. Her portrayal of Marion Davies in 2020’s Mank brought Seyfried her first Academy Award nomination. Now, her role as Elizabeth Holmes has rumors flying that Seyfried will be a major contender in this year’s Emmy Awards. And with an upcoming role starring opposite Spider-Man’s Tom Holland in Crowded Room, it doesn’t look like Seyfried has any plans to slow down.
Amanda Seyfried on acting and her role as Elizabeth Holmes
Despite the numerous challenging roles she has taken on over her long career, Seyfried remains eager and passionate about her profession. “It’s just so f****** fun,” she told Variety in 2022. “Pretending to be somebody else with a different way of speaking, and expressing themselves, and even walking, is so thrilling,” she elaborated.
Her passion for transformation shines through in her latest role as Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout. For the part, Seyfried did far more than don Holmes’ trademark black turtleneck. In becoming the character, Seyfried adjusted her voice to emulate Holmes’ crafted alto tone and mirrored her wide-eyed expressions. She even reimagined the way she walked and danced to put herself away and truly transform into the perfectionistic, uber-ambitious CEO.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Seyfried talks more about her role as Holmes. “I’m Amanda,” she clarified. “I’m never not being Amanda, but hopefully, you have to work harder to uncover the Amanda, depending on the role I’m playing. In this, I hope that I disappear.”
Seyfried was not the original Elizabeth Holmes
Surprisingly, Seyfried was not the first choice to play Holmes in Hulu’s The Dropout. Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon was initially cast. While it is impossible to tell how McKinnon would have portrayed Holmes had she remained the show’s star, Seyfried’s utter conquering of the role has been a monumental success. Undoubtedly, Elizabeth Holmes joins Karen, Sophie, and Marion among her past memorable characters.
