Cailee Spaeny (; born July 24, 1998) is an American actress. Her first major role was in the science fiction film Pacific Rim Uprising (2018), which was followed by appearances in Bad Times at the El Royale, On the Basis of Sex, and Vice in the same year. She had supporting roles in the miniseries Devs (2020) and Mare of Easttown (2021).
Spaeny played the lead in the supernatural horror film The Craft: Legacy (2020) and portrayed Priscilla Presley in the biopic Priscilla (2023). The latter earned her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.
Early life and education
Spaeny was born in Springfield, Missouri. Growing up, she spent a large amount of time in the Springfield Little Theatre group, with which she participated in many plays. In the 2014–2015 season, she landed the lead role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
Career
Her debut film role was as Erica in the 2016 short film Counting to 1000. In 2018, she played several major film roles, starring in Steven S. DeKnight's science fiction monster adventure Pacific Rim Uprising, alongside John Boyega and Scott Eastwood; Drew Goddard's thriller Bad Times at the El Royale; and the biographical dramas On the Basis of Sex and Vice.
She next appeared in the main cast of the FX miniseries Devs and starred in the film The Craft: Legacy, both in 2020. In 2021, she appeared in the HBO limited series Mare of Easttown, a murder mystery, starring Kate Winslet. She then portrayed Anna Roosevelt Halsted in the series The First Lady (2022).
In 2023, Spaeny starred as Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola's biographical drama film Priscilla alongside Jacob Elordi as Elvis Presley. Reviewing the film for Variety, Owen Gleiberman opined, "Spaeny makes Priscilla a figure of strength, but the force of her performance is how she enacts Priscilla’s slow-motion melancholy". Her performance earned her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
Spanney will next star in the science fiction film Alien: Romulus and the action film ''Civil War.