It's a remarkable career that Storm Reid, not even 20 years old, can already look back on: Films and series with Ava DuVernay and Zendaya, a role in the hyped game adaptation "The Last of Us" and now the thriller "Missing", in which she takes the lead role.
You don't know Storm Reid? Impossible! The 19-year-old actress from the USA was Zendaya's little sister in "Euphoria." As Georgia, she emulated her big sister on the one hand, but on the other, she couldn't wait to see Rue (Zendaya) move out or finally get off drugs. Reid is convincing in roles that are marked by conflict: the loving sister on the one hand and the angry teenager who finally wants to be the center of attention (instead of her drug-addicted sister). In the acclaimed game adaptation "The Last of Us," Storm Reid plays Riley, a teenager who is infected by a zombie and may want to save the world rather than herself.
And finally, in the feature film "Missing," Storm Reid also plays a teenager who can't wait to organize a storm-free party as soon as her mother leaves the house. But when she doesn't return as agreed, Reid's character June quickly and understandably reaches her breaking point, as her mother disappears without a trace. Without the police, but with the help of technical gadgets and social media, June wants to find her mother.
How this thriller is told is new, different: Instead of talking into a camera, Storm Reid talks into messenger tools, into webcams and onto screens. Often, multiple programs and apps open up; instead of an orderly screen, the viewer:in looks at the cluttered computer desktop of a typical teenager; the app-cluttered screen of a Gen-Z person becomes the screen.
Storm Reid in GLAMOUR interview on "Missing," "Euphoria" and Zendaya
"Shooting 'Missing' was really demanding," the actress explains during our Zoom call. She joined us from Los Angeles, where the world premiere of "The Last of Us" took place the night before. "But once I got over the technical hurdles, it was all a lot of fun." The fact that the way the thriller is made is so different soon didn't cause the 19-year-old actress any problems: "After all, I had to shoot on a computer and smartphone, which was especially exhausting at the beginning," Reid recalls back to the start of filming "Missing."
The thriller is about a teenager who finally wants to become a fledgling, but whose mother prevents this with her compulsion to control. When June says goodbye to her mother, once again bored to terse, and the mother then disappears without a trace, her life is naturally upside down. She didn't say goodbye properly, and the two almost broke up in a mundane argument. Has "Missing" changed Storm Reid's goodbye rituals, does she think twice since then about how she says goodbye to family and friend:s? Storm Reid waves it off, "I've always said goodbye to loved ones with tight hugs, an 'I love You' and an 'I'll miss you.'" Model. A trait she very believably does not reveal about herself in "Missing."
When asked how she herself, as a 19-year-old, feels about social media, Storm Reid has a quick answer: tech gadgets, apps and social media and our dependence on them, which viewers:inside are painfully made aware of in "Missing," are "all double-edged swords," Reid believes. "Social media can be an empowering and empowering place, one that makes you feel good. A lot depends on how you present yourself there and use technology more generally." And how does she feel about apps and social media herself? "I use TikTok and Instagram really a lot," Reid reveals. And favorite emoji? "The dancing woman in the purple suit," she laughs. 🕺🏾
Storm Reid on Gen Z and "Euphoria"
In the unusual thriller "Missing," Storm Reid plays a Gen-Z teenager who is always on. So far, however, the actress is best known from "Euphoria," the coming-of-age series with Zendaya, in which likes and comments under an Instagram post can destroy entire youthful existences. Storm Reid plays the little sister in the series about drug addict Rue (Zendaya). The one who has to witness everything, but is too young to really act. Here, too, the two seasons so far (a third is planned) are very much about the relationships between parents and their children, about coming-of-age, about growing up. How can that work out harmoniously for everyone in 2023? "Parents should be there for their kids, listening, but also letting them run free so they can have their own experiences and figure out who they are," Storm Reid thinks.
"In 'Missing,' the audience sees June and her mother Grace both being stubborn and clashing – a typical mother-daughter situation. It's only from the time Grace goes missing that the two grow close."
"Zendaya is my big sister in real life, too."
In "Euphoria," Rue (Zendaya) and Georgia (Storm Reid) often clash brutally, which is more than mere sibling fights. In real life, however, the two are intimate friends. So intimate, in fact, that Storm Reid says of her series sister, "She's my big sister in real life, too. When Zendaya wins an award, it feels like I win it too. That we have such a close bond, an intimate relationship, I see as a great gift." And when that close, almost sisterly relationship is challenged? "No, I won't let that stand," she rejects firmly. Just as clearly, she waves off the question about the third season of "Euphoria" and its content: "Nope, I can't say anything about that, unfortunately." Of course.
Storm Reid on her role as a young Black actress in Hollywood
Like Zendaya, Storm Reid leads the ranks of Hollywood's young empowered actresses in 2023: Gen Z Women of Color who speak a clear mind. Is that a special responsibility for her?
"I know that people look up to me – if only for that reason, I want to make holistic, correct choices and inspire young people, young women, young African-Americans, young Women of Color. I want to represent those people and make them proud. I see that as my responsibility."