Margaret Qualley Bio
Sarah Margaret Qualley, known professionally as Margaret Qualley, is an American actress born on October 23, 1994, in Kalispell, Montana. The daughter of actress and model Andie MacDowell and former model Paul Qualley, she trained as a ballet dancer before turning to acting as a teenager. Qualley first drew attention with her supporting role in the HBO drama series The Leftovers and has since built a wide-ranging career across film and television. Her recent work includes the body horror film The Substance and several collaborations with director Yorgos Lanthimos.
Early Life and Background
Sarah Margaret Qualley was born on October 23, 1994, in Kalispell, Montana, and grew up alongside an older brother, Justin, and an older sister, actress and singer Rainey Qualley. The family lived on a ranch in Missoula, Montana, before relocating to the Asheville suburb of Biltmore Forest, North Carolina, when Margaret was four years old. Her parents separated when she was five, and she split her time equally between them while they continued to live just a few miles apart.
As a teenager in Asheville, Qualley and her sister made their formal debuts at the Bal des débutantes in Paris. She left home at fourteen to board at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied dance and trained seriously as a ballet dancer. Her commitment to the art form led to an apprenticeship with the American Ballet Theatre and studies at New York’s Professional Children’s School.
At sixteen, after being offered an apprenticeship with the North Carolina Dance Theater, Qualley decided to leave dance behind. To remain in New York, she began working as a model, and her agency encouraged her to use her middle name professionally. She later shifted her focus to acting, attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art summer program in London and briefly enrolling at New York University before leaving after a semester to pursue roles.
Path to Acting
Qualley made her modeling debut in 2011 at age sixteen, walking for Alberta Ferretti during New York Fashion Week. She went on to appear in shows for Valentino, Chanel, and other major houses, eventually becoming a Chanel ambassador and appearing in campaigns for Kenzo, Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade, and Celine. Her modeling work placed her on the covers and pages of publications including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Interview.
Her transition to acting began in 2013 with a small part in Gia Coppola’s drama Palo Alto, a role she secured while visiting the set of her then-boyfriend, actor Nat Wolff. Later that year she was cast as a series regular on the HBO drama The Leftovers, where she played Jill Garvey across multiple seasons. She continued taking on film roles, including a part in Shane Black’s 2016 comedy The Nice Guys starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.
Margaret Qualley Career
Early Career (2013-2018)
Qualley’s first screen appearance came in Gia Coppola’s 2013 film Palo Alto, followed by her casting as Jill Garvey on HBO’s The Leftovers, where she returned for the second and third seasons in 2015 and 2017. In 2017, she appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in two projects, Shawn Christensen’s The Vanishing of Sidney Hall and Maggie Betts’s Novitiate, in which she starred as a young novitiate questioning her faith. She also starred in Adam Wingard’s Death Note that year and appeared in Tim Sutton’s Donnybrook, which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
Beyond her film and television work, Qualley starred in the 2016 Spike Jonze-directed commercial for KENZO World, improvising much of the dance routine herself. She also appeared in promotional work for American fashion label Tory Burch and modeled consistently throughout this period, building a reputation as one of the most distinctive faces in fashion before devoting herself primarily to acting.
Breakthrough (2019-Present)
In 2019, Qualley took on a series of high-profile projects that marked her transition to leading roles. She portrayed actress and dancer Ann Reinking in the FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, along with a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination. That same year, she appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Manson Family member Pussycat, and the film’s ensemble cast was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Qualley continued building her résumé with the Netflix science-fiction film IO, the HBO adaptation Native Son, and the Kristen Stewart-led biographical drama Seberg. She also voiced the character Mama in Hideo Kojima’s PlayStation 4 video game Death Stranding. In 2020, she starred in the short film Wake Up, directed by Olivia Wilde, and in the feature My Salinger Year opposite Sigourney Weaver, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Her profile rose further with the 2021 Netflix miniseries Maid, based on Stephanie Land’s memoir. For her performance, Qualley received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie. In 2022, she starred opposite Joe Alwyn in Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon, and in 2023 she executive produced and starred in the erotic thriller Sanctuary with Christopher Abbott.
Qualley joined forces with Yorgos Lanthimos in 2023 for the surrealist fantasy Poor Things, starring alongside Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo. In 2024, she and Geraldine Viswanathan starred in Ethan Coen’s comedy Drive-Away Dolls, and she reunited with Lanthimos and Stone for Kinds of Kindness, playing four characters across three storylines. Her performance in the body horror film The Substance, co-starring Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid, earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
In 2025, Qualley co-starred in Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, which premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. She also starred in Ethan Coen’s detective comedy Honey Don’t!, which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and had a small part in Happy Gilmore 2. She is set to co-star in John Patton Ford’s black comedy thriller How to Make a Killing with Glen Powell and in Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars with Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin.
Notable Works and Milestones
Qualley’s signature projects include her acclaimed portrayal of Ann Reinking in Fosse/Verdon, her Golden Globe-nominated lead role in Maid, and her Golden Globe-nominated performance in The Substance. Her collaborations with Yorgos Lanthimos across Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, and other projects have helped establish her as a leading figure in contemporary independent cinema, while her work with Quentin Tarantino, Claire Denis, and Richard Linklater reflects her range across major auteur-driven productions.
Margaret Qualley Award Nominations
Margaret Qualley has earned multiple award nominations across television and film throughout her career. Her early recognition came with a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination for her portrayal of Ann Reinking in Fosse/Verdon. She later received Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for her leading role in the Netflix miniseries Maid, and a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Substance.
Margaret Qualley Awards Won
Margaret Qualley has not been confirmed as a winner of major industry awards based on the verified sources available.
Margaret Qualley Family
Margaret Qualley is the daughter of actress and model Andie MacDowell and former model Paul Qualley. Her parents separated when she was five years old, after which she divided her time between their homes in North Carolina. She has an older brother, Justin, and an older sister, actress and singer Rainey Qualley, with whom she has collaborated professionally.
Personal Life
Qualley was briefly linked romantically to actor Pete Davidson in 2019 and later dated actor Shia LaBeouf from 2020 until January 2021. She married musician Jack Antonoff on August 19, 2023, and later appeared in the music videos for his band Bleachers’ songs “Tiny Moves” and “you and forever.” She is also the subject of Lana Del Rey’s 2023 song “Margaret” from the album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Qualley resides in New York.
