Storm Reid Knows Her Range
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Storm Reid sees no reason why she can’t straddle two realities: one where she’s a Prada-adorned leading actress gunning to produce her own films, and one where she’s the sweatshirt-clad host of The Last of Us watch parties at her on-campus apartment. (Re: the latter, she’s enjoyed watching the series as much as acting in it: “I’m literally sitting on my couch eating kava watching and on the verge of tears,” she says. “What is happening here?”)
Having pursued acting since the tender age of 3—so the story goes, she toddled up to her mother and proclaimed that “I wanted to be on TV and I wanted to be a superstar,” Reid says—the now-19-year-old Euphoria and Missing multi-hyphenate luxuriates in the normalcy of her life at the University of Southern California. As a homeschooled high schooler and actress, “I was feeling very fulfilled as a young person working, but not really as a young person that does young people things.” Born in Atlanta, she moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was 9; ever since, her life has revolved largely around the silver screen. A degree in dramatic arts with a minor in African American studies—and, yes, the football games and late-night parties that accompany it—is finally giving her the chance to prepare for the “the big leagues for real adults.”
It’s also allowed her to be a human being instead of a character. One of her frustrations with growing up in Hollywood is that “people automatically associate you with your character and they don’t really get to know you,” she says. The evidence of this phenomenon is all over Reid’s TikTok, where she posts playful dances for her more than 1.9 million followers, only to receive comments like, “Rueee come get Gia she keep acting up.” (This in reference, of course, to Reid’s role as little sister Gia to Zendaya’s Rue in the HBO hit Euphoria.)
At the mention of this, Reid rolls her eyes and shrugs. “I am actively showing you Storm,” she says. “And if you are continuing to comment about Gia and June and all the other projects that I’ve been a part of, that’s up to you. I’m presenting myself in the most authentic Storm way.” She’ll admit that, every so often, a particularly creative comment will induce a chuckle, “but at this point, that’s all they comment on TikTok. So it’s just—I’ve become desensitized.”
Still, even in the relative bubble of normalcy that is USC, fellow Trojans will occasionally probe Reid for details on Euphoria’s upcoming third season or Reid’s “bonus big sister” Zendaya. When it comes to Euphoria, she knows better than to wish for a lighter chapter of director Sam Levinson’s series: “From personal experience, dealing with people who have dealt with addiction, it’s really hard to navigate. I would love for the Bennett family to be happy-go-lucky and be eating ice cream in the opening of season 3. I know it just doesn’t work like that.” As for Zendaya, whom Reid says she’s looked up to for “basically my entire childhood,” the Emmy-winning actress has emulated for Reid a particular manner of navigating fame. “She’s consistent, and she’s a good person, and she takes up space in the most beautiful, gentle way,” Reid says.
Regardless of whether Reid’s studying amongst her Hollywood or her USC peers, her goal remains the same: she wants to learn how to create purposeful art, the kind that shifts an industry from the inside. That’s why she went into business with her mother, Robyn Simpson Reid, launching the production company A Seed & Wings in 2013. There, “I’m able to cultivate my own ideas and find stories that haven’t been told or haven’t been told in the correct way.” No corner of Hollywood escapes Reid’s vision; she wants to do an action film and a rom-com, but “no matter what the genre is, I want to continue to be intentional,” she says. Several times throughout our interview—and numerous interviews she’s given in the past—she mentions her blessings, and the importance of “accepting all that the universe and God has to offer.” She wants to make careful steps, sure, but she won’t set forth a five-year path to follow. She’s having too much fun being young.
“I don’t like setting goals or putting unrealistic expectations on myself,” she says, adding with a smile, “And, you know, the awards will come.”
Hair by Vernon François for Redken; makeup by Karo Kangas for Westman Atelier; produced by Rhianna Rule.
A version of this story appears in the May 2023 issue of ELLE.
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