Sadie Sink is undoubtedly one of the biggest and freshest faces to come out of the Stranger Things universe. She has already been making waves over the past few years, starring in bold films, demanding Broadway plays, and even being the face of a music video for one of the world’s biggest pop stars,Taylor Swift. However, Sink isn’t new when it comes to acting — she’s known this is her life’s calling since she was nine years old.
Sink has most recently starred in the final season of Stranger Things and a Broadway play titled John Proctor Is the Villain, for which she garnered high praise; she continues her Broadway stint in 2026, too, as she’s slated to star as Juliet in Robert Icke‘s second production of Romeo and Juliet. For now, if you can’t go and watch her on Broadway, here are the eight best film and TV Sadie Sink performances, ranked.
8
‘O’Dessa’ (2025)
Sink’s most experimental career decision is without a doubt the film O’Dessa, a post-apocalyptic musical created by Geremy Jasper as his own rendition of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. This rock opera is fully centered on Sink, who plays a farm girl who uses the power of music to navigate the wasteland in which she lives. The movie is a choice, to say the least, but if it achieves something, it is, without a doubt, helping us all see the magnitude of Sink’s talent. The role of O’Dessa requires musicality, dramatic expression, and physical transformation, and Sink embodies it beautifully.
O’Dessa follows the titular character, O’Dessa (Sink), as she travels across a post-apocalyptic land to reclaim a stolen family heirloom. During her journey, she crosses paths with Euri (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), whom she falls in love with, and the brutal overlords Neon Dion (Regina Hall) and Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett). O’Dessa polarized audiences and critics, but Sink was widely praised for her commitment and vocal performance. This bold career move helped Sink turn into an actress willing to gamble creatively, which gives her artistic maturity and integrity.
7
‘Eli’ (2019)
Eli is a horror film that came during Sink’s transition from a child performer to a teen actress. This fairly unknown movie helped those who’ve watched it to see Sink’s willingness to engage with darker, more psychologically complex material. Though Stranger Things was a horror series, Eli is much darker, and it allowed Sink to stay within the genre but expand away from being a part of an ensemble. Eli shows Sink’s comfort with morally ambiguous characters and stories, which laid some serious groundwork for her roles over the years.
Eli follows a young boy, Eli (Charlie Shotwell), who gets subjected to experimental medical treatments in an old house that was renovated into a clinic by Dr. Isabella Horn (Lili Taylor). While there, Eli meets Haley (Sink), a girl who, like him, believes the house is haunted. The film blends medical horror with supernatural elements, gradually revealing that nothing about the setting is what it seems; even Haley holds a mystery, and Sink does a great job of maintaining it throughout. While Eli received mixed reviews overall, critics highlighted Sink as one of its strongest elements, praising her ability to lean into the tension and ambiguity of a story like this.
6
The ‘Fear Street’ Trilogy (Notable: ‘Fear Street Part Two: 1978’)
The Fear Street trilogy marked Sink’s first major foray into becoming a horror lead; in 2021, she was actively working on projects other than Stranger Things, and Fear Street and All Too Well helped her prove herself across genres through intriguing acting choices. In the Fear Street trilogy, Sink stars in Part Two: 1978as the lead girl, Ziggy Berman, but she also appears in the trilogy’s interwoven timelines (she portrays Ziggy’s younger version, while Gillian Jacobs portrays her older version). Sink’s performance in 1978 is quite physical, and she embodies the endurance and emotional ferocity of a horror final girl.
The Fear Street trilogy is set across three different eras, but in the same town called Shadyside — a cursed place plagued by violence that repeats in cycles. In 1978, Ziggy becomes the target of a ghastly pursuit, and she becomes integral to saving the town from murderous ghosts. The supernatural slasher has interesting lore, and it’s one of Netflix’s most original franchises; its style is an homage to classic horror slashers, but the addition of the supernatural sets it apart. Despite 1978 getting mixed reviews, Sink was praised for her role, earning her recognition among horror fans and critics alike.
5
‘Dear Zoe’ (2022)
Dear Zoeis a drama from 2022, and it came out during a pivotal stage in Sink’s career; she starred in some heavy-hitting films that year, showcasing serious dramatic chops. Though Dear Zoe received little attention and fairly mediocre reviews, critics found Sink to be its emotional anchor. The movie is a practice in subdued, character-driven storytelling, and Sink proved she can carry emotional stories like this one. This is when we began seeing Sadie Sink as a strong presence in drama, something she undoubtedly picked up from her time in theater.
Dear Zoe is a drama that is all about handling grief, loss, and guilt. Sink plays Tess, a teenager coping with the accidental death of her younger sister Zoe, for which she feels responsible. She exists within a fractured family structure and can’t seem to find her sense of self until she meets and falls in love with Jimmy (Kweku Collins). Dear Zoe is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Philip Beard, and it’s set in 2002, revolving around the 9/11 events that happened in 2001.
4
‘All Too Well: The Short Film’ (2021)
By 2021, Sink was already widely recognized as Max from Stranger Things, and she needed something to get away from that world. In comes Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film, whichmarked a pivotal turning point — her arrival as a serious dramatic actress outside franchise television. Cast opposite Dylan O’Brien and directed by Swift herself, she carries the emotional weight of a tightly compressed breakup story spanning years of emotional decay and loss of self. Her performance is full of subtle expressions and physical restraint, and we see the emotional toll of the world as she’s going through it.
All Too Well follows a young woman going through a passionate but uneven relationship with an older man, from its hopeful beginnings to its slow realizations and psychological impact. Sink was praised by critics for transforming what could have been a stylized music project into the closest thing to short-form cinema, and All Too Well debuted to massive online attention, speculation, and discourse. Starring in this short film helped Sink become known as a performer capable of mature work and broadened her audience beyond the Stranger Things fandom.
3
‘The Glass Castle’ (2017)
The Glass Castlewas one of Sink’s first high-profile film projects, released in 2017, just before her breakout performance on Stranger Things. Sink plays the younger version of Sarah Snook‘s Lori in the film, and though her role is somewhat limited in screen time, she successfully shows maturity beyond her years, introducing herself to prestige drama audiences. The Glass Castle was based on the life of American columnist Jeannette Walls, who wrote a memoir of the same name; the movie was adapted for the screen by Destin Daniel Cretton.
The Glass Castle depicts Jeannette Walls’ childhood and upbringing, shaped by her family’s unpredictable and nomadic lifestyle that brought its own set of challenges and traumas over the years. Walls is portrayed by Brie Larson, while her older sister, Lori, is portrayed by Snook and Sink in her childhood flashbacks. The Glass Castle feels foundational for Sink, allowing her to form into a dramatic actor who will later embody greater range and seriousness. The movie itself is a beautiful and touching story about family, riddled with awesome performances all around.
2
‘The Whale’ (2022)
Sink delivered one of her most polarizing yet fearless performances in Darren Aronofsky‘s The Whale. While the movie itself received mixed reviews, Sink’s performance was frequently praised for its ruggedness and her own refusal to soften the character. Starring alongside Brendan Fraser, Sink manages to find a footing within their dysfunctional family dynamic; she arguably plays a very unlikable, abrasive character, which seems like a big step toward avoiding typecasting. Much like showing us a side of Sink we didn’t expect, The Whale also revived Fraser’s career and landed him an Oscar win for Best Actor.
The Whale is almost entirely set in a single apartment and follows a reclusive, morbidly obese English writing professor, Charlie, who became estranged from his entire family some eight years ago after a traumatic incident. Sink plays Ellie, Charlie’s estranged teenage daughter, with whom he tries to rekindle things. However, Ellie is confrontational and emotionally volatile, refusing to feel sympathy for her father and embodying anger, trauma, and abandonment issues. She functions as an opposing force to Charlie, who is soft and emotionally vulnerable; he embodies guilt, remorse, and grief. It’s not easy to watch The Whale, but it’s a powerful movie that represents layers of buried emotions. In the same way, its actors deliver difficult characters that feel effortless from them, showing great discipline and dedication in their craft.
1
‘Stranger Things’ (2016–2025)
Sink joined Stranger Things in Season 2 in 2017, and her role as Max Mayfield quickly became one of the show’s most emotionally charged arcs. Max, who was introduced as a confident outsider, grew into a deeply layered character dealing with abuse, grief, and survivor’s guilt. She’s an excellent example of a character who was introduced outside the core group but became integral to the plot — in the final season, Max is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. The show’s mix of sci-fi, horror, and drama allowed Sink to develop alongside Max, culminating in Season 4’s widely acclaimed exploration of trauma and depression.
Stranger Things is set in Hawkins, Indiana, and follows a group of friends as they try to keep a vicious creature from a parallel dimension from taking over their world. There’s a lot more to the lore that, if we start going into it, we’ll look like Charlie Day in that one scene. With Stranger Things, Sink successfully nailed several memorable performances. The most notable one is in Season 4, Episode 4, “Dear Billy,” which drew widespread praise, earning her industry-wide recognition. Stranger Things elevated Sink from a child actor to a global star, but it also provided her with material that allowed her to showcase emotional depth rarely seen in teen characters.
Stranger Things
- Release Date
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2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Directors
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz
