Actor Spotlights are features examining the careers and impacts of talented performers working in film and television. 

The latest looks at Sadie Sink, who recently starred as *spoiler* Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Be sure to check out our earlier Actor Spotlight features. They cover stars like Jensen Ackles, Jack Quaid, Titus Welliver and more.

Who is Sadie Sink?

Over the past decade, Sadie Sink has made the jump from Broadway child actress to bonafide on-screen star.

Whether it’s a smash-hit TV show or blockbuster movie, Sink has had the opportunity to make her mark in a variety of projects.

In just under a decade in mainstream spotlight, Sink has an impressive run of credits under her belt – and this will surely continue for years to come.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Most recently, Sink has played a major role in the latest Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day.

She joined returning cast members Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, alongside fellow Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman and Mark Ruffalo.

Sink portrayed Jean Grey, whom comic book and superhero movie fans will recognise as a key member of the X-Men.

Consequently, she is set to reprise the character in an upcoming X-Men film set for release in 2028.

In Brand New Day, Jean starts out as an unidentified villain who is able to jump into people’s minds and control them.

Both Peter Parker/Spider-Man and the audience discover there’s more to Jean’s story — including a heartbreaking twist.

Prior to the film’s premiere, the identity of Sink’s character was a closely guarded secret.

Ardent fans, however, deduced it was Jean Grey, though the cast avoided confirming this to be true.

Following Brand New Day’s release, Sink said to Variety about Jean: “Giving [Jean] a backstory is really important — especially given her actions in the film. She’s very flawed.

“You’re meeting her at a strange point, because I don’t think she is someone who wants to harm, but she herself has been harmed, so that’s all she knows.

“So, giving her that backstory and a motive behind her actions is really powerful.”

Sink went on to explain she’d been told Jean was “the villain, but that you’re not actually the villain”.

This influenced how she played the role, given Jean sees her actions as “totally justified”.

Brand New Day also reunited Sink with director Destin Daniel Cretton, after they previously worked together on 2017 film The Glass Castle.

Stranger Things

In 2017, Sink was announced to be joining season two of smash-hit Netflix show Stranger Things.

The series debuted the summer prior to worldwide success – making stars out of its young cast members – as well as boosting the profile of adult leads Winona Ryder and David Harbour.

Sink took up the role of Max Mayfield, who moved to the central town of Hawkins, Indiana alongside her stepbrother Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery).

Across multiple seasons, Sink demonstrated her range—navigating an initially contentious dynamic with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) before developing a romance with Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin).

At the end of season four, fans worried for Max’s fate after she wound up in a coma.

This offered Sink a different challenge for some of the fifth and final season with Max’s mind trapped inside Vecna’s psychic realm.

It took the form of a 1950s dreamscape version of Hawkins – all while her body remained unresponsive in the real world.

Discussing letting the character of Max go, Sink told Nylon: “It was just completely bittersweet.

“It’s been 10 years. It’s seen us through so many different phases of our lives.

“All good things must end.”

The Whale

In this psychological drama, Sink starred opposite Brendan Fraser – in a performance that won him an Academy Award.

It was directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.

Sink played Ellie, the estranged daughter of Fraser’s Charlie, a reclusive, morbidly obese English teacher.

The premise followed Charlie as he tried to reconnect with Ellie, after abandoning her almost a decade prior.

Speaking with Rooney Mara for Interview Magazine, Sink said: “It really helped me because I’d never done a project like The Whale or worked with someone like Darren.

“Working on that gave me this level of confidence in front of the camera that I did not have before.

“So going back to Stranger Things after that, I felt really different and I think everyone could tell the difference, too. There was a shift.”

The cast also included Samantha Morton, Hong Chau and Ty Simpkins.

Fear Street

In 2021, Sink ventured into the horror film world with her performances in the Fear Street films.

Appearing in Fear Street Part Two: 1978, followed by Fear Street Part Three: 1666, Sink played two different characters.

First – a younger version of Christine “Ziggy” Berman – the older counterpart being played by Gillian Jacobs.

In the latter film, Sink returned as Constance Berman, Ziggy’s ancestor in the 1600s.

She worked with director and screenwriter Leigh Janiak across both movies.

Based on R.L. Stine’s books, Fear Street follows a group of high schoolers over a trilogy: first taking place in 1994, then 1978 and lastly 1666.

They attempt to solve a murder mystery as well as a 351 year long curse on the middle American town of Shadyside.

Discussing her experience making Fear Street, Sink told Glamour Magazine: “The biggest moment was one of those final scenes where, ‘bad things are happening.’ I was all bloody, I was laying in the grass, it was like 3:00 AM, and I just thought, ‘these are not good circumstances!

“I feel very physically uncomfortable, but I am having the best time ever! I feel gross and disgusting, but I could not be having more fun.”

Broadway

Prior to Stranger Things, Sink was working on Broadway, where she first met future co-stars Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo.

She made her Broadway debut in 2012, playing the title role in Annie until 2014.

Sink subsequently played Young Elizabeth in Peter Morgan’s play The Audience.

After Stranger Things, she returned to the stage with the role of Shelby Holcomb in John Proctor is the Villain.

In 2026, she starred as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet on the West End, opposite Noah Jupe.