Fast Facts About Actor Chloe Sevigny

Chloë Sevigny was the It Girl of the '90s. She was cool, stylish, mysterious, and friends with all the right people in the art, music, and fashion worlds. Throughout the years there have always been It Girls: think Andy Warhol's muse Edie Sedgwick in the '60s or socialite Paris Hilton in the early '00s. But something about Sevigny transcended the typical It Girl je ne sais quoi, and she became a bona fide actor, with decades worth of sought-after roles and stellar performances on her resume. 

Still, Sevigny wonders what people think of her. She told Vogue in a 2022 interview, "It's always been: 'Oh, she's the fashion girl, she's the New York girl,' instead of, 'Oh, she's the actress who's done a string of very different, diverse, odd characters.'" The latter is how Sevigny would prefer to be defined, as she always had aspirations to be the talented character actor she has become. Let's look at some facts about Chloë Sevigny.

Chloë Sevigny grew up in Darien, Connecticut, one of the most affluent suburbs in the country. A Connecticut Post article named it the snobbiest town in Connecticut. But Sevigny claims her home life was a little more bohemian than that of her neighbors. Her father worked in insurance before retiring to become a painter and her mother was a preschool teacher. "It sounds really entitled to say, because obviously it is such a beautiful community, but we didn't grow up as privileged as our surroundings," Sevigny told The New York Times. She always had a job, from babysitting to retail, and on weekends she liked to make the hour-long trek into New York City with her friends. It was there that her entire life would change.

At age 17, Sevigny was spotted at a newsstand in the city by an editor at Sassy magazine who asked if she'd like to model. Sevigny took the gig, and later became an intern for the magazine. Through her connections there, she met Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, who cast her in the band's "Sugar Kane" video. Sevigny also met Harmony Korine in the city, who was working on the movie "Kids" with Larry Clark, and suggested Sevigny be cast as Jennie. But it is not all as random as it sounds. "I knew I wanted to be an actress since I was really young, like kindergarten," Sevigny revealed.

In a 1994 profile for The New Yorker, author Jay McInerney praised Chloë Sevigny's cool girl prowess. During the time that the article was written, Sevigny was filming "Kids," crashing at different friends' apartments, hanging out with skaters in Washington Square Park by day and going to parties and raves at night. McInerney, along with the tastemakers he interviewed in his article, was struck by Sevigny's poise, her unconventional beauty, and her uncanny eye for fashion. Sevigny, who was 19 years old at the time, had a vast knowledge of designers, and preferred to shop at thrift stores rather than be wearing the same thing as all the other girls.

Sevigny's coolness is something she has yet to outgrow, even all these years later. She continues to be a fashion icon and inspiration, and recently appeared in the 2022 Spring/Summer Thierry Mugler featurette alongside veteran models Amber Valetta and Shalom Harlow and current fashion darlings Lourdes Leon, Megan Thee Stallion, and Bella Hadid. When asked by Rolling Stone in 2015 to reflect on her '90s icon status, Sevigny replied, "Oh God, I don't really sit around and ponder that very much. I don't know if I'm just not that analytical or just not that narcissistic." Exactly what a cool girl would say.

In 2019, Chloë Sevigny debuted her own perfume, Little Flower. According to Régime des Fleurs, Little Flower is a rose scent with notes of black tea, bleeding heart, blackcurrant bud, peony, honeysuckle, and others. It turns out scent is very important to Sevigny, as she explained to Paper magazine, "I feel like fragrance is really emotional and to me, it transcends beauty, or anything else. It's our strongest sense of memory and it's like wearable art. It's almost like fashion to me, more than beauty."

The name Little Flower sounds cute and apt for a celebrity scent, but since this is Chloë Sevigny's perfume, the name has a deeper meaning. The inspiration was a 19^th century French nun who became the Catholic patron saint of flowers. "She was also called 'The Little Flower,' and she died quite young and was very humble," Sevigny said. 

Sevigny didn't just put her name on the bottle, she was very involved in the process of creating the fragrance. The perfume went through over thirty iterations before Sevigny was satisfied with it. "I've always worn rose perfumes, but I think of this as a city rose," Sevigny told Vogue.

Chloë Sevigny spent years playing a strict Mormon on HBO's "Big Love," but she knew very little about the religion before the role. Sevigny was raised Catholic, and recalls, "I remember very much the iconography and the images and the statues in church were very emotional for me. Just the power of that, and even still — just seeing prayer card, what that image can evoke," in an interview with The Talks.

Yet Sevigny's personal beliefs and artistic portrayals are often not aligned with the religion's strict conservatism. Sevigny is pro-choice and an LGBTQIA advocate, for example. She has played queer characters many times, even portraying a trans woman in the 2012 British series "Hit & Miss." Sevigny has misgivings about having taken the role, but all in the name of inclusion. She told The Advocate, "The trans community — they should be hired," when speaking about Hollywood's tendency to cast cisgender actors in trans roles.

Still, Sevigny seems to have an affinity for the religion in which she was raised. In an interview with News Corp Australia, Sevigny said, "I'm a nice Catholic girl. For some reason that's what makes it interesting and fun — kind of pushing the form and trying new things and shocking people in some moments." In 2014 she mentioned being a fan of Pope Francis. She told model Lily McMenamy, "I'm really into Pope Francis right now. I just bought a T-shirt that says 'I Heart Pope Francis' beside a heart."

Chloë Sevigny has performed in some controversial projects. Her very first foray into acting, the 1995 movie "Kids," is still thought of as one the most controversial films of the '90s. In it, Sevigny plays Jennie, a New York City teenager who contracts HIV the first time she has sex. Sex and drugs pervade the movie, which was written by Harmony Korine (who went on to direct "Gummo" and "Spring Breakers") and directed by Larry Clark. Many of the actors were underaged, and while the film accurately portrayed a specific subset of youth culture, it was shocking for many to see children on screen smoking pot, making out, and speaking frankly about sex.

In 2003 Sevigny appeared in another film that was the subject of much debate, Vincent Gallo's "The Brown Bunny." Gallo also stars in the film, and there is a very divisive scene in which Sevigny's character is shown performing unsimulated oral sex on Gallo's character. There were rumors that Sevigny's agents had dropped her over her participation in the film, but they were untrue. In fact, Sevigny's career actually saw a bit of a boost after the attention "The Brown Bunny" received. "I got my first studio film after that. I'd never been offered a studio film. It was 'Zodiac.' I don't think it really hurt me, necessarily. I mean, it hurt me, in a lot of ways ... Some relationships have had trouble with it. Of course, my mom and I don't talk about it," Sevigny told W.

Although Chloë Sevigny is often thought of as an indie darling, her career has taken many interesting turns. One foray into more mainstream material was her role as Nicki on HBO's "Big Love." The show, about Mormon polygamy in modern day America, ran from 2006 until 2011. In 2010, Sevigny won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series for her portrayal.

While it seemed Sevigny enjoyed her time on the show, she had some harsh words about its fourth season. In an interview with the A.V. Club, Sevigny said, "It was awful this season, as far as I'm concerned ... It was very telenovela. I feel like it kind of got away from itself." Later, when the interviewer mentioned one of the season's dubious plotlines, Sevigny reacted by saying, "Oh, God. It's too much ... But I hope the fans will stick with us and tune in next year ... God, I'm going to get in so much trouble."

It is unclear whether Sevigny actually got into trouble for her comments, but she was moved to apologize for them in an exclusive interview shortly thereafter with Entertainment Weekly. Sevigny blamed exhaustion and claimed her comments were taken out of context. She stated, "the [reporter] I was speaking to was provoking me. I was in Austin [at the SXSW festival] and really exhausted ... You know, after a day of junkets sometimes things slip out that you don't mean, and I obviously didn't mean what I said in any way, shape, or form."

While Chloë Sevigny lights up the screen in both TV and film, she has taken on roles behind the scenes as well. In 2016, Sevigny made her directorial debut with her short film "Kitty" at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is based on a short story by Paul Bowles, and is about a young girl who dreams of turning into a cat. The film stars Ione Skye, Lee Merriweather, and Edie Yvonne in the titular role. Sevigny shared with People, "There's just a lot that I identified with in this little girl, you know? She's looking at herself in the mirror and hoping to be or wishing to be something that she isn't."

Sevigny went on to direct two more short films, 2017's "Carmen" and 2019's "White Echo." She spoke to Deadline about directing, saying, "It's something I'd been thinking about for a really long time. People had been asking me to do it over the years in video or for a fashion brand. But for my first foray, I wanted to do a pure gesture."

As her career has spanned nearly three decades, Chloë Sevigny has undoubtedly inspired many people over the years. Between her versatility as an actor, her talent as a director, and her amazing personal style, there is a lot to admire. But who does Chloë Sevigny look up to? She told Town & Country, "Marianne Faithfull and Debbie Harry—those were the first images I ever saw of women that I thought were beautiful." She also admires iconic star Jean Harlow. "She was one of the greatest faces in Hollywood history: an odd beauty with more sex appeal than anyone I've ever seen onscreen," Sevigny told W.

Sevigny regularly gives props to her fellow actors on her Instagram page. She routinely posts pics and stories with the caption "I [love] actresses." Some of her posts feature Elsa Lanchester, Sonia Manzano, Irene Cara, Carrie Fisher, and Sandra Bernhard. Definitely an eclectic group. Sevigny has also posted a photo of Mickey Rourke, captioned, "Sometimes I [love] actors too!"

One of Chloë Sevigny's earliest influences was her older brother, Paul. According to a 2011 interview with The Daily News, Sevigny didn't merely look up to Paul, she adored him. "I hero-worshipped him," Sevigny said. "I didn't look up to singers or anything, I didn't have that many icons, but I was really into my brother. He was like the coolest thing on the planet. He was really into skateboarding. He was a hard-core kid."

She also mentions that one of her biggest style inspirations was Paul's high-school girlfriend, a girl with dyed-blue hair and a punk style which was an anomaly in 1990's Darien, Connecticut. "I'd never seen anyone in this town that looked like her before," Sevigny told The New York Times. "I just wanted to be her."

The Sevigny siblings are still close, as their careers tend to run somewhat parallel at times. Paul Sevigny is a DJ, a club owner, and an artist. The afterparty of Chloë Sevigny's May 2022 wedding was held at Paul's Casablanca, which is owned by Paul Sevigny.

Clearly, Chloë Sevigny is a fashion icon, from her early '90s thrift store looks, to the trendsetting pieces she was, of course, the first to rock. This is a girl who was bold enough to declare in 1994, " [Karl] Lagerfeld ruined the house of Chanel; Coco would never have done miniskirts." With such strong opinions and an innate sensibility, it stands to reason that Sevigny would dip her toes into the fashion world as a designer herself.

In 2009, Sevigny first collaborated with high fashion brand Opening Ceremony, and in 2019 returned to take part in launching the brand's denim capsule line. "Each time I have worked on a collection, it is always pieces that I want to wear personally and I want to see my friends in," Sevigny told I-D. She also joined pal Tara Subkoff as creative director for Subkoff's Imitation of Christ line, and has been part of many collaborations over the years.

Most recently, Sevigny partnered with Warby Parker on a glasses line. She told Interview in September 2022, "Warby is affordable and there's no labels on the side. I am so frustrated every time I see a good pair of sunglasses, and you open the arm, and there's some big chunky brand name on the arm."

Chloë Sevigny and her cool girl persona might seem intimidating at first, but then there is the fact that she has so many friends. It's obvious she likes to support her fellow female artists, and all the better if they're her buddies. In addition to working with Tara Subkoff on her fashion line, Sevigny and Subkoff have worked together on films as well. Sevigny starred in "#Horror," Subkoff's 2015 full-length directorial debut. Sevigny spoke to I-D about the collaboration, saying, "Tara has been a friend for almost 20 years now and we have worked on projects from Imitation of Christ to other short films. I've always believed in her as an artist because she's always wanted to say something more or something bigger; she always has a new perspective or point of view."

In 2022, Sevigny got the opportunity to work with one of her best friends, Natasha Lyonne, on Lyonne's Netflix hit series "Russian Doll." Sevigny played a young version of Lyonne's character's mother in Season 2 of the series. The two women have a 25-year friendship, and that came in handy while working together in such an intimate capacity. "We have this unspoken thing, where if we're just sort of sitting on camera together, there's so much information between us," Lyonne told Entertainment Weekly. She added, "Chloë will touch my hair without me noticing, or just these little things, the way Chloë knows that I need to ash [when smoking], because I'm always ashing on myself. We have a lot of detail between us."

Chloë Sevigny may have been raised in one of the wealthiest communities on the East Coast, but she has grown up earning her own money. With nearly thirty years of acting jobs, modeling gigs, and fashion collabs, Chloë Sevigny has amassed an impressive net worth. She claims to have always been thrifty but living in New York City comes with a hefty price tag. In 2017, Sevigny sold her chic Park Slope apartment for just under $3 million. She now shares a larger space with her husband and her son in another New York City neighborhood.

Still, Sevigny's career has been lucrative. While she has starred in many indie hits and cult classics, she has also taken roles with more stability, such as series like "Big Love," "Bloodline," "American Horror Story," and HBO's "We Are Who We Are." She has also recently starred in "Russian Doll" and Hulu's "The Girl From Plainville." According to Celebrity Net Worth, Sevigny is worth a cool $10 million.

In May of 2020, Chloë Sevigny gave birth to her first child, a son, Vanja Sevigny Mačković. Being pregnant and having a baby during the Covid-19 pandemic was stressful, to say the least, and Sevigny admitted to W, "I would say that my neuroses ... have really amped up because of the small child ... I guess it's not even neuroses at this point, it's just what everybody is doing. It's common."

Another milestone that occurred in 2020 was Sevigny's marriage to gallerist Siniša Mačković. The couple tied the knot in a city hall ceremony in March of that year, but really celebrated their nuptials in May 2022. Sevigny shared a sweet pic on Instagram of her and Mačković on their big day, with the caption, "Yesterday was undoubtedly the greatest day of my life. So blessed to finally share our love and commitment with friends and family. So many people put so much work into making it just perfect, so from the bottom of my bursting heart, thank you."

In 2022 Sevigny, Mačković, and their son were featured on the cover of Cultured Magazine. Sevigny is wearing a casual dress with wooden soled sandals and black socks. She is flanked by her dark-haired husband (who is donning a sheer black dress over his shirt and slacks) and her blonde, curly-haired little boy in a mix of plaids. One might say they look like the coolest little family in the world.