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Chloë Stevens Sevigny (born November
18, 1974) is an American film actress, fashion designer, and former model.
Her last name is pronounced say-veen-yee in French origin (Sévigny),
although she herself has stated in interviews that she pronounces it as
seven-knee. Sevigny became known for her highly individual style and broad
fashion career in the mid-1990s, both for modeling and for her work at New
York's Sassy magazine, which labeled her the new "it girl" at the time,
garnering her attention within New York's fashion scene.
Sevigny made her film debut with a leading role in the controversial Larry
Clark film Kids (1995), which was the beginning of a long line of roles in
generally well-received independent and often avant-garde films which she
starred in throughout the decade. It wasn't until 1999 that Sevigny gained
serious critical and commercial recognition for her first mainstream role
in Boys Don't Cry. For her performance, Sevigny received Oscar and Golden
Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy and Golden
Globe Awards that year. Since her breakthrough role, Sevigny has continued
acting in mostly independent, critically-acclaimed roles in art house
films, such as American Psycho, Party Monster, The Brown Bunny, and
Dogville, among others. As of 2006, Sevigny has also enjoyed success on
the American television series Big Love; for her performance in the
series, she received a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a
Series, Miniseries, or Television Film in 2010.
In addition to her work in film and television, Sevigny also has two
off-Broadway theatre credits, and has starred in several music videos. She
is also active in fashion design, having designed several wardrobe
collections, most recently in 2009 when collaborating with Opening
Ceremony, a downtown-Manhattan fashion gallery and retail store.
Born Chloë Stevens Sevigny in Springfield, Massachusetts, Sevigny was
raised in Darien, Connecticut by her mother Janine (née Malinowski) and
father H. David Sevigny, an accountant turned interior painter. Sevigny's
mother is a Polish American who grew up in Roxborough and her father was
of French Canadian heritage; he died from cancer in 1996. She has an older
sibling, Paul, who is now a New York disk jockey. Sevigny often spent
summers attending theater camp, and had always "aspired to be an actress".
She was raised in a strict Roman Catholic household, and attended Darien
High School. While in high school, she babysat Topher Grace on several
occasions. Sevigny would often play dress up as a child with trunks of
clothing her mother would buy for her at local thrift shops, describing it
as "instinctual" for her. Despite Darien's high-class, wealthy reputation,
Sevigny has stated that her parents kept a very "frugal" household, and
that she worked as a teenager sweeping the tennis courts of a country club
her family could not afford to join.
During her teenager years, Sevigny became something of a rebel, referring
to her hometown as "Aryan Darien" and attempting to break free of the high
class, Ivy League-reputation of the community. Sevigny openly admitted to
experimenting with drugs as a teenager, especially hallucinogens, but said
she was never a "good drug user"; despite this, she was sent to Alcoholics
Anonymous meetings by her parents after indulging in marijuana and
hallucinogenic drugs. “I had a great family life — I would never want it
to look as if it reflected on them. I think I was very bored, and I did
just love taking hallucinogens ... But I often feel it’s because I
experimented when I was younger that I have no interest as an adult. I
know a lot of adults who didn’t, and it’s much more dangerous when you
start experimenting with drugs as an adult", she told The Times in 2007.
She often described herself as a "loner" in high school. Her only
extracurricular activity was occasionally skateboarding with her older
brother, and she spent most of her free time in her bedroom: "It was more
interesting than the boys in Darien. Mostly I sewed. I had nothing better
to do, so I made my own clothes."
At age 18, Sevigny made a permanent residence in New York City, and moved
into an apartment in Brooklyn. There, in 1993, she was spotted on an East
Village street by a fashion editor of Sassy magazine, who was so impressed
by Sevigny's style that she asked her to intern at the magazine. When
recounting the event, Sevigny was reluctant about it: "The woman at Sassy
just liked the hat I was wearing", she said. She later modeled in the
magazine as well as for X-girl, the fashion label of Kim Gordon of Sonic
Youth. During that time, author Jay McInerney spotted her around New York
City and wrote a seven-page article about her for The New Yorker in which
he dubbed her the new "it-girl". She subsequently appeared on the album
cover of Gigolo Aunts' 1994 recording Flippin' Out and the EP Full-On
Bloom, as well as having a part in a Lemonheads music video.
Sevigny encountered young screenwriter and aspiring director Harmony
Korine in Washington Square Park in New York City during her senior year
of high school. The two struck up a friendship, which resulted in her
being cast in the low-budget independent film Kids (1995). Directed by
Larry Clark and written by Korine, Sevigny plays a New York teenager who
discovers she is HIV-positive. According to Sevigny, she was originally
cast in a much smaller role in the film, but ended up replacing Canadian
actress Mia Kirshner. Just two days before production began, the leading
role went to the then-19-year-old Sevigny, who had no professional acting
experience; she said of her casting in the role, "Harmony Korine just
thought I was this sweet, cute girl and he liked my blonde hair".
Nonetheless, Kids was hugely controversial; the film was given an NC-17
rating by the Motion Picture Association of America for its graphic
depiction of sexuality and recreational drug use involving teenagers.
Despite its controversy and somewhat negative publicity, Kids was taken
note of critically and commercially: respected film critic Janet Maslin
considered the film a "wake-up call to the modern world" about the nature
of the youth in urban life at the time.
Sevigny followed Kids with actor/director Steve Buscemi's independent film
Trees Lounge (1996), starring in a relatively small role as Buscemi's
object of affection. During this time, director Mary Harron (after having
seen Kids) offered Sevigny a minor part in her film, I Shot Andy Warhol
(1996). Harron tracked Sevigny down to the SoHo clothing store Liquid Sky,
where she was working at the time. Sevigny then gave her first audition
ever, but ultimately decided to turn down the part; she would later work
with Harron on American Psycho (2000).
Instead of taking the part in I Shot Andy, Sevigny starred in and worked
as a fashion designer on Gummo (1997), directed and written by Harmony
Korine, who was romantically involved with Sevigny during filming. The
film details the dysfunctional lives of residents of Xenia, Ohio. Gummo
was as equally controversial as Sevigny's debut; the film depicts an array
of nihilistic, unconventional characters in a poverty-stricken small-town
America, and faces issues such as drug and sexual abuse as well as mental
illness and suicide, among others. The film received a limited release
with an NC-17 rating in the United States on October 17, 1997. In
retrospection of the film, Sevigny cited it as one of her favorite
projects: "Young people love that movie. It's been stolen from every
Blockbuster in America. It's become a cult film". The film was dedicated
to Sevigny's father, who died prior to the film's release.
Following Gummo, Sevigny starred in the 1998 neo-noir thriller Palmetto,
directed by Volker Schlöndorff, playing Florida kidnappee victim Odette
alongside Woody Harrelson and Elisabeth Shue. She then had a leading role
as an Ivy League graduate in the sardonic period piece The Last Days of
Disco (1998), alongside Kate Beckinsale. The film was written and directed
by cult director Whit Stillman and details the rise and fall of the
Manhattan club scene in the "very early 1980s". Stillman said of Sevigny:
"Chloë is a natural phenomenon. You're not directing, she's not performing
— it's just real." Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that Sevigny
"is seductively demure" in her performance as Alice. The film was
generally well-received, however was not a box-office success in the
United States, only grossing $3 million it has since become somewhat of a
success as a cult film.
Sevigny was cast in the independent drama Boys Don't Cry (1999) after
director Kimberly Pierce saw her performance in The Last Days of Disco.
Sevigny's role in Boys Don't Cry- a biopic of transman Brandon Teena, who
was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska in 1993 – was responsible for
her rise to prominence and her mainstream success. Sevigny played Lana
Tisdel, a young woman who fell in love with Teena, initially unknowing to
the fact that he was born female. Boys Don't Cry was extremely
well-received by critics, and was a moderate box office success, grossing
$11 million domestically. Sevigny's performance was particularly embraced:
The Los Angeles Times noted that Sevigny "plays the role with haunting
immediacy", Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun Times stated that "it is
Sevigny who provides our entrance into the story" and Rolling Stone wrote
that Sevigny gives a "performance that burns into the memory". Director
Kimberley Pierce echoed the same feelings of the critics: "Chloë just
surrendered to the part. She watched videos of Lana. She just became her
very naturally. She's not one of those Hollywood actresses who diets and
gets plastic surgery. You never catch her acting". The role earned Sevigny
Best Supporting Actress nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden
Globe Award. Sevigny won an Independent Spirit Award, a Satellite Award,
and a Sierra Award for her performance.
Following Boys Don't Cry, Sevigny had a supporting role in American Psycho
(2000), based on the hugely controversial 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis.
Sevigny plays the office assistant of Patrick Bateman (played by Christian
Bale), a 1980s Manhattan yuppie-turned-serial killer. The film, as was its
source novel, was controversial due to its depiction of graphic violence
and sexuality; it received an unrated release on home video. In additiion,
she reunited with Kids writer and Gummo director Harmony Korine for the
experimental piece Julien Donkey-Boy (1999), playing the pregnant sister
of a schizophrenic man. Though it never saw a major theatrical release, it
garnered some critical praise; Roger Ebert gave the film his signature
thumbs up, referring to it as "Freaks shot by the Blair Witch crew", and
continuing to say, "The odds are good that most people will dislike this
film and be offended by it. For others, it will provoke sympathy rather
than scorn". Sevigny followed Julien with a small part in the drama film A
Map of the World (1999), alongside Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore,
based on the 1994 novel.
Between 1998 and 2000, Sevigny moved back to Connecticut to live with her
mother, and appeared as a butch lesbian in the Emmy Award-winning
television movie If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000), the sequel to the
successful HBO television drama-film If These Walls Could Talk (1996).
Sevigny reportedly took the role in the film in order to help pay her
mother's mortgage payment, and has credited it as the only film she ever
made for financial benefit. Following this appearance, Sevigny was
approached for a supporting role in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde
alongside Reese Witherspoon and offered $500,000; however she declined and
the role was given to Selma Blair. Instead, she starred in Olivier
Assayas' French techno thriller Demonlover (2002) alongside Connie
Nielsen, for which she was required to learn her lines in French. Sevigny
described shooting the film as "strange", in the sense that director
Assayas hardly spoke to her during the filming, which she said was
difficult because of the lack of "input". After spending nearly three
months in France to complete Demonlover, Sevigny returned to the United
States to film a bit part in Death of a Dynasty, which was followed by a
large role in the club kid biopic, Party Monster (2003).
Sevigny then obtained a role in Lars von Trier's parable film Dogville
(2003), playing one of the various residents of a small mountain town,
alongside Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, and Paul Bettany; the film
received mixed reactions, and was criticized by critics Roger Ebert and
Richard Roeper as being "anti-American". She also had a small unrelated
role in the sequel to Dogville, titled Manderlay (2005). Sevigny also had
a large supporting role in the biographical film Shattered Glass,
alongside Hayden Christensen, Melanie Lynskey, and her former Boys Don't
Cry co-star Peter Sarsgaard. Finishing out 2003, Sevigny garnered a major
supporting role as a fellow Manhattanite in Woody Allen's two-sided
tragedy/comedy Melinda and Melinda.
In 2003, Sevigny took on the lead female role in the art house film The
Brown Bunny, after both Kirsten Dunst and Winona Ryder were fired from the
project. The Brown Bunny details a lonely traveling motorcycle racer
reminiscing of his former lover. The film achieved notoriety for its final
scene, which involves Sevigny performing unsimulated fellatio on co-star
and director Vincent Gallo. The film premiered at the Cannes Film
Festival, and opened to significant controversy and criticism from both
audiences and critics alike. Sevigny was reportedly brought to tears after
giving a press conference for the film's Cannes Film Festival screening.
She went on to defend the movie, saying "It's a shame people write so many
things when they haven't seen it. When you see the film, it makes more
sense. It's an art film. It should be playing in museums. It's like an
Andy Warhol movie." After the film's release at the 2003 Cannes Film
Festival, the William Morris Agency dropped Sevigny as a client. The
Agency believed the scene was "one step above pornography", and claimed
that Sevigny's career "may never recover". Sevigny's spokesperson, Amanda
Horton, however, responded by stating that Sevigny had made a personal
choice to resign from the agency, and that she was never "dropped" in the
first place. In an interview with The Telegraph in 2003, Sevigny reflected
on the film, and when asked if she regretted it, responded: "No, I was
always committed to the project on the strength of Vincent alone. I have
faith in his aesthetic everyone's done things they regret, and things they
don't regret. I try to forgive and forget, otherwise I'd just become a
bitter old lady."
Despite the large backlash toward the film, some critics praised Sevigny's
daring decision; Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, when reviewing the
film, ended her article with: "Even in the age of Girls Gone Wild it's
genuinely startling to see a name actress throw caution and perhaps her
career to the wind. But give the woman credit. Actresses have been asked
and even bullied into performing similar acts for filmmakers since the
movies began, usually behind closed doors. Ms. Sevigny isn't hiding behind
anyone's desk. She says her lines with feeling and puts her iconoclasm
right out there where everyone can see it; she may be nuts, but she's also
unforgettable."
Despite the William Morris Agency's disapproval of Sevigny's work in The
Brown Bunny (and fear that the actress may have forever tarnished her
career), she still continued on with various projects. In 2004, Sevigny
guest-starred on the popular television show Will & Grace; a string of
film roles followed for the actress, including a bit part alongside Bill
Murray in Broken Flowers, as well as a role in the HBO television film
Mrs. Harris alongside Annette Bening and Ben Kingsley, which tells the
true story of Jean Harris and her lover Herman Tarnower. Sevigny followed
this by playing a novice nun who makes great sacrifices to ease the spread
of AIDS in an African village in the film 3 Needles (2005), alongside
Olympia Dukakis and Sandra Oh; filming took place in Port St. Johns, South
Africa in 2005. Sevigny's performance in the film was praised: Dennis
Harvey of Variety called her performance in the film "convincing", while
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times also referred to Sevigny as
"ever-daring and shrewd". Sevigny followed 3 Needles as a lead character
in the 2006 experimental art house film Lying with Jena Malone and Leelee
Sobieski, playing a pathological liar who gathers three female
acquaintances for a weekend at her upstate New York country house; the
film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. She also played one of
the lead characters in the 2006 Canadian remake of Brian DePalma's horror
film Sisters.
In 2006, Sevigny attained a starring role in the critically-acclaimed HBO
television series Big Love, about a family of fundemental Mormon
polygamists. She plays Nicolette Grant, the conniving, shopaholic daughter
of a cult leader and second wife to a polygamist husband. As of 2010, she
is still actively working on the television series. She also played Jake
Gyllenhaal's wife in David Fincher's critically-acclaimed true-crime
thriller film Zodiac (2007), which was her first big-budget film. The
controversy surrounding The Brown Bunny followed Sevigny for some time:
while promoting the new HBO television series Big Love in 2006, Joy Behar
of The View brought up the scene from The Brown Bunny in an interview with
Sevigny and Big Love co-star Bill Paxton. Sevigny and Paxton were
described as going "ballistic" off camera, and although Sevigny had openly
talked about the film prior, Paxton didn't want her to "have to relive
it".
In October 2007 the French fashion house Chloé announced that she would be
one of the spokesmodels for their new fragrance. In addition, she has been
in a number of cover photo shoots and interviews, such as in the January
2007 issue of House and Garden titled "Subversive Spirit". Sevigny later
worked on a clothing line in conjunction with downtown New York City
boutique Opening Ceremony, which was released in 2009. In terms of film
roles, Sevigny had a part in The Killing Room (2009), a psychological
horror film about a governmental research study and its human subjects;
the film debuted at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. She followed this
with two comedy films: Barry Munday and Mr. Nice; as well as My Son, My
Son, What Have Ye Done, a true-crime/horror film based on murderer Mark
Yarovsky, produced by David Lynch.
Sevigny also had a voice part in James Rasin's documentary film, Beautiful
Darling, narrating the life of transsexual Andy Warhol superstar Candy
Darling. Though never appearing onscreen, Sevigny narrates the film,
reading excerpts from Darling's personal diary entries and letters. The
film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in mid-February of 2010.
As of 2009, Sevigny is still continuing work on Big Love, with the show's
fourth season airing January 2010. When filming the series, she spends six
months of the year living outside of Los Angeles near Santa Clarita, away
from her home in New York City. As with many other films in Sevigny's
career, the television series has also ignited bits of controversy due to
its dealings with polygamy, Mormon compounds, and alternative lifestyle;
during a table interview by the Los Angeles Times with her cast members,
Sevigny said: "I think the mainstream, perhaps, has a harder time
embracing our show, because of the subject". On January 17, 2010, Sevigny
won a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries
or Television Film for her role on Big Love. The series itself also
received nominations in two other categories. While walking onstage to
accept her award, an usher accidentally stepped on Sevigny's Valentino
gown, ripping the dress at the bottom; Sevigny squealed with astonishment
and made a remark of surprise, but continued on with her acceptance
speech.
Sevigny owns an apartment in East Village, Manhattan, which she purchased
for $1.2 million in 2006. Although her father died when she was in her
early 20s, Sevigny stated in a 2006 interview that she came from a
"close-knit" family, that she speaks to her mother every day, and that her
brother lives three blocks away from her apartment.
Her interest in fashion design has been consistently present throughout
her acting career, particularly because of her fashion model past and the
interest in it that began in her childhood years. Sevigny has since
released several collections designed by herself as well in collaboration
with others, first beginning in 2007. Her most recent collection was a new
line of clothing released in fall 2009 for the Manhattan boutique, Opening
Ceremony. In a 2000 interview, she cited the Australian film Picnic at
Hanging Rock (1975), which features schoolgirls dressed in elaborate
Victorian clothing, as an inspiration for her clothing style; she has also
cited it as one of her favorite films. In terms of musical taste, Sevigny
is a notorious fan of 1980s rock band The Smiths, and particularly the
lead singer, Morrissey; she has also listed Kate Bush, Slint, Brian Eno,
and Nico as musicians whose albums she loved.
Sevigny is a practicing Roman Catholic, although she admits she rebelled
against religion as a teenager. She said she began attending mass again
after playing a Satan-worshipping, Pentecostal teenage murderer in a 1998
off-Broadway production of Hazelwood Junior High: "I had to murder this
girl every night on stage, and you know, sodomize her and light her on
fire and I got really disturbed. I started having nightmares and thinking
horrible things."
Sevigny has pursued various relationships with high-profile men throughout
her life, though in 2006 she stated to the New York Post Gossip column:
"I've questioned issues of gender and sexuality since I was a teenager,
and I did some experimenting." Sevigny has also accumulated a fairly large
gay fanbase due to her appearances in various LGBT-themed films (Boys
Don't Cry, If These Walls Could Talk 2, Party Monster). Following her
relationship with Harmony Korine (which ended in the late 1990s), Sevigny
dated British musician Jarvis Cocker, and later Matt McAuley, a member of
the noise-rock band A.R.E. Weapons. Sevigny and McAuley ended their
relationship in late 2007, after being together for nearly eight years.
In a 2009 interview, Sevigny reflected on her career, and said she was
content with the level of stardom she'd maintained: "When I was in my
early 20s, I went out with a British pop star, Jarvis Cocker; of course,
pop stars have much more celebrity, I think, than actors even. They’re
really hunted by their fans much more. I remember driving around these
remote towns in Wales and kids running after us in the street. I was like,
"This is horrible!" And I saw the effect it had on him, and that’s when I
decided I never wanted to be a celebrity at that level, and I think that’s
why I’ve chosen to do the work that I do and just kind of work with
directors that I love and try and do work that means something to me." |
