legal namesloane olive sedlerage & dob26 & april 16, 1988occupationactressbirthplacegrand isle, vtraised incambridge, ukcurrent residencelos angeles, ca
It all started with a no.
"You bloody well will not," said Arthur Sedler, a man who didn't often say no, and a man of many hats. A native Londoner, a widower, a mathematician turned economist turned Cambridge maths professor, and (as he'd tell you without any sort of prodding whatsoever) a father of two - the world's most thankless and underrated profession. Having children was always something that he'd wanted, coming from a family of eight and appreciating the bond he'd had with his siblings, but raising two blonde hellions on his own had never been part of the plan. Then again, settling down with an American and moving to her home state of Vermont where there was no need for London-educated economists and a much greater need for a man who could properly thaw a snowed-in vehicle, that hadn't exactly been part of the plan either. But Arthur Sedler had fallen in love with Rebecca, a quiet poet with long blonde hair and the kindest heart he'd ever known. A nice home on a nice island where they could live a quiet life with their daughter Sloane seemed like a lovely future, even if it hadn't been what he'd imagined for himself as a boy. Everything was normal, almost painfully so, until Rebecca got pregnant for the second time. Leo, they called him, even before he was born; it wasn't short for anything, and it had been Sloane's suggestion. Everything was alright until the birth. There were some unforeseen complications that led to a tragic end: five-year-old Sloane and thirty-nine-year-old Arthur said their final goodbye to Rebecca and their first hello to Leo on the same day. It was a bit of a miracle that Leo had been alright, everybody at the hospital in Burlington had said so, but to the elder Sedlers, it hadn't felt like a miracle, not at all. It might've seemed cold to some of the American friends he'd made, but it was easy for Arthur to sell their Vermont family home and move back to England. It was easy for him to take his children and run away from his grief.
While raising his children, he admittedly made some mistakes: he watched them much too closely, he probably didn't talk about their mother enough, and he often treated them like adults rather than children. But most of all... Arthur Sedler didn't often say no. When your children didn't have a mother, and they were living on a university campus in which their father was considered to be quite important, and you certainly had the financial means to provide for them, there didn't seem to be much of a good reason to say no. Sloane had always been described as "thirteen going on thirty" in a teasing sort of way, but in 2001 at age thirteen, it seemed truer than ever. The phrases "wise beyond her years" and "too smart for her own good" were thrown around far too often, but those who knew her were rarely surprised by her precociousness. (Growing up at the Cambridge with only a father and a younger brother will do that to a girl.) She'd been shopping, long blonde hair that she refused to cut trailing close to her bum while she tried on hats and scarves as her father looked on with a fond smile, when his daughter was approached by a man who introduced himself as a casting agent. It turned out Sloane had the look and the smile (and as the casting agent later discovered, the personality) for show business. Arthur let her go along with it, because it made her happy; having her photo taken and getting attention, learning lines for auditions and getting to play pretend, it was something she'd never really done as a child, and seeing his daughter having a bit of a youth as a teenager had been refreshing. Plus, he never really thought she'd actually get picked for anything - she was the daughter of a maths professor who lived at Cambridge, for Christ's sake.
But then she did. It was a European miniseries based on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, and it would go on to be the most expensive production of its kind, costing approximately forty-six million dollars. Sloane's part wasn't a big part, but it was an important part: the young girl hearing all of Napoleon's life stories, firsthand from Napoleon himself. For the first time in a very long time, her father said no. Well, no, actually, she'd said she was going to be going to France to film a miniseries, and she said she was going to have the best time, and her father said, you bloody well will not. Needless to say, Sloane Sedler bloody well did, as her story wouldn't be worth hearing nearly as much had she not.
Though Sloane had hit minor blips of success (most notably being part of British institution St. Trinian's, something her aunt still raves about, and not just because of Colin Firth) it wasn't until An Education that anyone knew her name. Initially, she couldn't believe she was twenty-years-old and reading for the part of a sixteen-year-old, but after reading the entirety of Nick Hornby's screenplay, she fell in love with Jenny Mellor. Prior to that point, Sloane hadn't ever really connected with a character or a story or the idea of communication through film: it'd always just been fun. But Jenny felt real, and felt like a part of her, and the truth of it was that working on An Education was her education, as cheesy as it always sounded. It changed her life. And that was before it got her nominated for an Oscar, and won her a BAFTA, where she cried a bit on stage, and thanked her mother, and genuinely believed that she'd somehow heard her.
It was hard to follow winning a BAFTA and a BIFA, and being nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe and a SAG. It really was hard. Everyone had all sorts of expectations, and all Sloane really wanted to do was have some more fun. She didn't want to end up on Actresses to Watch or Hollywood's Next Big Thing lists. She wanted to do fun films like The Brass Teapot (her first American accent film!) and That Awkward Moment (her first romcom!) without receiving criticism that her career had "slumped" or that she'd "peaked" a few years prior. The criticism didn't keep her up at night, but it was occasionally frustrating to feel like she wasn't allowed to cross genres. Why couldn't she do a film with Tim Burton before going on to do a film with Terrence Malick? Why did she have to choose one or the other? It felt like such a trivial sort of thing to have on her radar, because she'd finally gotten to the point where she could work steadily, and that was really all she'd wanted to do. Offers were consistently coming in, and she got to work for directors (ie, Tim freaking Burton and Terrence freaking Malick) that, while working in England as a teenager, she never would've thought she'd get to meet let alone learn from. But with the new year rolling in, the concepts of identity and brand are certainly on her mind. Will she fold to the pressure and concerns of a Los Angeles-centric business, wanting her to "pick a genre"? Or will she stay true to her roots, and explore what's most interesting (and, in true Sloane form, fun) for her? Only time will tell, but one thing's for sure...
A lot can happen when you tell Sloane Sedler no.
(201?) i walk with the dead... carey mulligan's role(2015) crimson peak... edith cushing(2015) untitled cameron crowe project... allison ng(2015) suffragette... maud(2014) knight of cups... imogen poots' role(2014) laggies... megan(2014) she's funny that way... izzy patterson(2014) that awkward moment... ellie andrews(2013) the double... hannah(2013) horns... merrin williams(2013) filth... amanda drummond(2013) "shot at the night" (music video)... maid(2012) dark shadows... victoria winters / josette dupres(2012) the brass teapot... alice(2011) "call me back" (music video)... girl(2011) jane eyre... jane eyre(2011) "brick by brick" (music video)... girl(2010) never let me go... kathy(2010) chatroom... eva(2009) an education... jenny mellor(2009) st. trinian's 2: the legend of fritton's gold... chelsea parker(2008) bedtime stories... violet nottingham(2007) st. trinian's... chelsea parker(2007) december boys... lucy(2007) doctor who (television, 1 episode)... sally sparrow(2006) notes on a scandal... polly hart(2006) driving lessons... sarah(2005) keeping mum... holly goodfellow(2005) v for vendetta... young valerie(2002) napoleon (tv mini-series, 4 episodes)... betzy
Due to being born in the United States, both Sloane and her younger brother Leo possess dual citizenship. She considers herself staunchly British, but the citizenship often comes in handy for work. In the summer of 2014, Sloane and Leo relocated to Los Angeles, where Sloane now lives with Chuck Walken, and where Leo attends university at UCLA.
In addition to dying it brown, Sloane cut her hair for the first time in her life prior to shooting An Education. Her mother had waist-length blonde hair, and she always kept hers long as it made her feel connected to her. In the fall of 2013, Sloane cut almost all of her hair off as a therapeutic exercise, but she quickly found herself regretting it and missing her mother often.
Sloane unabashedly loves romantic comedies and will vehemently defend them as more than just "chick flicks" to the death. Whether it's something classic like When Harry Met Sally or something absurd like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, she loves them all. If forced to choose, she'll laud Nora Ephron and say that You've Got Mail is probably her favorite.
A huge fan of seeing live music, Sloane often finds herself arranging her schedule around festivals or shows and flying to random locations in order to get to see bands she wouldn't see otherwise. Her favorite part of being in America (specifically New York) is how easy it is to see a great band every night just by wandering into a bar, regardless of their level of fame. The passion that most actors have for acting is the passion that Sloane has for music.
Her favorite role to date is Sally Sparrow in Doctor Who, only because her father and brother were so over the moon about her being on their favorite show. During production, she brought them both to set and they got to take a photo in the TARDIS, and she's pretty sure that was the moment her dad let go of any lingering resentment over her not attending university.
Most everybody who knows Sloane knows that she famously doesn't talk about her mother, either in the press or with friends, or even with her family very much. It wasn't until her BAFTA acceptance speech in 2010 for An Education that the public became aware of the truth regarding her passing. Despite the reveal, she's still not spoken about her publicly since.
In 2013, she used money she earned from signing on to her big Tim Burton studio movie Dark Shadows to purchase her old family home in Vermont - and she still hasn't told her father about it. Though she knows it's both ridiculous and fiscally irresponsible for someone in her position to own a home and not live in it or rent it out, she has no plans to do either.
Sloane's little brother Leo is easily the most important person in her life. Due to a disconnect between Leo and their father, Sloane took on a lot of parental responsibilities once she was old enough to take care of Leo, and has acted as a quasi mother-sister ever since. Now that Leo's older, cuter, and more visible on the internet, he's developed a bit of a secondary internet following thanks to his connection to his big sister.
Being an English girl in her twenties, it's only natural that Sloane has been a huge fan of Harry Potter since childhood. Being an English actress for over ten years, it's only natural that Sloane has worked with a sizable number of the Harry Potter film series' actors. She may or may not keep a physical list documenting this, and may or may not be aware that it's ridiculous.
Sloane tends to think of herself as an okay actress with a great personality, and believes that she's gotten the majority of her work because people enjoy being around her, rather than people being particularly affected by her acting ability. She's unfazed by it, and uses her personality and social skills to her advantage, preferring having fun and charming people to pouring every ounce of her into a read through that probably wouldn't blow anybody away to begin with. She enjoys acting, but would never refer to herself as talented.
Despite initially getting into acting because it was fun, Sloane's interest has evolved as her career has progressed. Though she still claims that she'd be fine without it ("If I had to walk away from acting right now, it wouldn't be the end of the world") she's grown to love it and appreciate it in such a way that's afforded her more opportunities in the industry. She appreciates when she's taken seriously, and is incredibly proud of the fact that she's managed to earn respect from people whose work she admires. Despite being part of a demographic that mostly consists of characters who are "the love interest" or "the bitch" Sloane considers herself lucky to have been able to represent all kinds of women.
Though Sloane claims to want to keep her actual self as far away from her characters as she can, she's been unusually involved in the behind-the-scenes development process of several of her most recent characters. In The Double, her character Hannah fancies herself an artist, and Sloane (who also fancies herself a bit of an artist, having been painting seriously since age twelve) volunteered to create all of her character's artwork herself. In That Awkward Moment and Horns, both small indie films with indie budgets, Sloane purchased and styled the majority of her characters' eclectic wardrobes on her own.
As a result of her honesty, personality, and personal style, Sloane has developed a sizable internet fan following despite her status as someone relatively unknown outside of the actual industry. She appreciates the privacy and lack of obligations that her under the radar status affords her; this is mostly due to the fact that she's still permanently learning how to "play the PR game" and probably needs at least six months of intensive media training. For now, she's content to send her publicist a lot of apology gift baskets.
