She went on to become an EGOT winner, making her only the 18th person in history to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. He told the Guardian, “I was looking for something. I was looking to mess around, to joke. And get paid! But on a deeper level, it was very therapeutic for me. I could be someone else. I think you get to release a few of your problems there through being another person.” He’s nominated for an Academy Award this year. She told the New York Times, “My friends know me so well, and they know how terrified I am of being broke, and they think it is hilarious and humorous. … In the case of the entertainment industry, actresses have this window, and the window closes every day a little bit more. The earnings potential falls and the window is closed, and I am really cognizant of that. I have no illusions of who I am or what I look like or what I have to offer.” Later that year, she made her acting debut in Living Dolls. Sydney told the Hollywood Reporter, “I thought that if I made enough money, I’d be able to buy my parents’ house back and that I’d be able to put my parents back together. But when I turned 18, I only had $800 to my name. My parents weren’t back together, and there was nothing I could do to help.” She didn’t have a truly successful audition until she booked Sharp Objects in 2018. She said, “I had no idea getting into this industry how many people have connections. I started from ground zero, and I know how fucking hard it is. Now I see how someone can just walk in a door, and I’m like, ‘I worked my fucking ass off for 10 years for this.’” She told Fashion Magazine, “I realized that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel; you just don’t quite know when you’ll be bathed in it.” He’s also the cofounder and board president of Random Acts, a charity organization that was created to inspire random acts of kindness. It supports multiple causes across the globe. Her breakout role was, of course, Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. She continued booking roles both on screen and on stage. Playing the titular character, she costarred in the play Salome with Al Pacino, who advised director Terrence Malick to cast her in The Tree of Life. Terrence brought her to the attention of Steven Spielberg, who cast her in The Help, as well as Jeff Nichols, who cast her in Take Shelter. All three of those movies came out the same year, cementing Jessica’s status as a silver screen star. Though that show wasn’t picked up, she played guest roles on Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody until she booked the lead in the hit series Wizards of Waverly Place. A few years later, she got her big break when Kimberly Peirce cast her as the lead in Boys Don’t Cry. She won an Oscar for the role. She told Interview Magazine, “I didn’t want to be home-schooled. For my parents, I wanted to graduate on a stage with everyone else. So I was like, ‘Look, I can’t go to class when I’m working. It’s impossible. But on my hiatuses, I will come to school. I have three teachers and I have other tutors.’ And the school was very supportive. The only class that I had to attend every day was biology when we were doing dissections. I would take an 8 a.m. bio class, dissect my animal, and then run to work.” Afterward, she decided to pursue acting more seriously, which led to her breakout role as Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in the biopic Selena.
