Hailee Steinfeld

Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is an American actress who was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress as a 14-year-old for her commanding debut performance as the fast-talking Mattie Ross in the Coen brothers’ western True Grit (2010). She has since appeared in a diverse array of movies and television series, including the coming-of-age teen drama The Edge of Seventeen (2016), the Emily Dickinson biographical series Dickinson (2019–21), and the period horror film Sinners (2025). In addition to acting, Steinfeld has recorded and performed live as a pop musician.

Early years

Steinfeld was raised primarily in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sherman Oaks. Her mother, Cheri Steinfeld, is an interior designer, and her father, Peter Steinfeld, is a fitness trainer who has occasionally acted on television. Her elder brother is race car driver Griffin Steinfeld. When Hailee Steinfeld was eight years old, she was inspired to pursue acting after seeing her elder cousin appear in a commercial. She wanted to start auditioning for parts immediately, but, at her mother’s insistence, she began taking acting classes to learn skills and prove the seriousness of her desire for a career in show business. After a year of training, Steinfeld began booking gigs on student films and advertisements. During that time she also worked as a model; her first gig was for the clothing company Gap Inc. She had her first television credit in a 2007 episode of the Fox sitcom Back to You.

Breakout in True Grit and subsequent roles

After beating out thousands of other hopeful young actresses, Steinfeld landed her first feature film role, in True Grit, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Charles Portis. (The work had previously been adapted by director Henry Hathaway in a 1969 movie starring John Wayne.) She played a teenager searching for her father’s killer in post-Civil War Arkansas and Indian Territory. Sharing scenes with industry veterans Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, and Matt Damon, Steinfeld was praised by critics for her charismatic poise and mastery of the script’s arcane 19th-century diction.

Steinfeld’s next big role was the female lead in Romeo & Juliet (2013), a film version of William Shakespeare’s play, adapted by screenwriter Julian Fellowes. She then appeared in supporting roles in the science-fiction epic Ender’s Game (2013); the romantic drama Hateship Loveship (2013); the western The Homesman (2014), directed by Tommy Lee Jones; and the thriller 3 Days to Kill (2014).

In 2015 Steinfeld joined the cast of Pitch Perfect 2, a sequel to a popular 2012 musical comedy about a competitive all-female college a cappella group. She played an earnest freshman trying to establish herself in the singing group, led by Beca (played by Anna Kendrick). She then starred as an assassin who tries to live a normal life as a high schooler in the action comedy Barely Lethal (2015) and the daughter of a hit man in Term Life (2016). Steinfeld received her best reviews since True Grit for her lead performance in The Edge of Seventeen (2016). Her nuanced portrayal of the misanthropic teenager Nadine was lauded for its true-to-life complexity. Indeed, a review on RogerEbert.com stated that she “doesn’t seem interested in making us like this girl who’s perched on the edge of womanhood. She just tries to make her feel true—and that’s what makes us love her.”

In 2017 Steinfeld appeared in Pitch Perfect 3, reprising her role in the previous installment. The following year she starred in the big-budget action film Bumblebee, part of the Transformers franchise. She voiced the part of Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman in the innovative animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). Beginning in 2019, Steinfeld played 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson in the Apple TV+ series Dickinson; it ran for three seasons, until 2021. She then played Kate Bishop, an archer superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021), which also featured Jeremy Renner and Florence Pugh.

In 2025 Steinfeld starred opposite Michael B. Jordan in writer and director Ryan Coogler’s supernatural thriller Sinners, set in the segregated American South in the 1930s. For Steinfeld, it was an intensely personal experience. While preparing to play her multiracial character, Mary, the actress explored her own genealogy, which includes a Jewish father and a maternal grandfather who was Filipino and African American. “Part of my research included understanding my own family history a little bit better, which I am so grateful for,” Steinfeld said in an appearance on the TV news program Good Morning America. She added that the experience made her feel closer to her ancestors: “This movie started a big conversation for me, and I hope that’s one of the many things it does for viewers.”

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Singing career

Shortly after establishing her bona fides as a singer with her role in Pitch Perfect 2, Steinfeld launched her music career by signing with Republic Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. In August 2015 she released the single “Love Myself”, followed three months later by the EP Haiz. Over the next several years, Steinfeld recorded a series of singles, including “Starving” (2016), a collaboration with electronic music duo Grey and producer Zedd that reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She also occasionally performed in concert, including as the opening act for Katy Perry on a 2018 tour.

In a 2018 interview with Marie Claire, Steinfeld contrasted her singing and acting careers: “As an actor, I’m masked by characters, protected by them. But as a musician, it’s my story, my voice, my face.…It’s such a different kind of vulnerable.” In 2020 she released her second EP, Half Written Story. In addition, she has contributed songs to the soundtracks of several of her movies, including “Back to Life” (2018) for Bumblebee and “Dangerous” (2025) for Sinners.

Personal life

In May 2025 Steinfeld and Josh Allen, the star quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, were married.