Madelyn is featured on the January cover of WhoWhatWear! She looks absolutely amazing! Check out the new photos in the gallery!
I feel a flutter of anxiety rising in my chest as I prepare to Zoom with the magnetic Madelyn Cline. It’s hard not to be awed by the actress—do a quick Google search and you’ll understand why. Whether she’s sharing how she spends 24 hours with Vogue or gracing our screens as charismatic Sarah Cameron on the hit Netflix series Outer Banks, there’s something undeniably powerful and alluring about the 25-year-old. As the video call begins, Cline shoots me a wide grin and starts off with an energetic “Hey, buddy!” Immediately, I’m put at ease. Cline sits perched in a cozy bouclé chair in her L.A. home, exuding a friendly and calm demeanor. She’s completely present despite needing to catch an 18-hour flight to Thailand immediately after our chat. Bare-faced wearing a simple white tank, leggings, and the casual shoes of the moment (platform Uggs), she fusses with her mic, and I’m struck by her strong features and confident yet serene presence.
Cline is not a face one easily forgets, and it seems the media has no desire to do so. After catching everyone’s eye in Outer Banks, she kept the attention going with a strong American Eagle partnership and a noteworthy cameo in Kygo’s sultry music video for his remix of Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff.” Not to mention her repertoire of viral looks put together with the help of stylist Mimi Cuttrell, including her custom Versace look for the premiere of her latest buzzy project, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. At only 25, Cline has been thrust into a level of stardom that I predict will soar to unimaginable heights from here on out.
Glamour and fame aside, Cline takes it back to the beginning with me. When she tells me the story of her venture into acting, it feels like I’m hearing the intro of a classic coming-of-age film. Despite enrolling at Coastal Carolina University and moving into her dorm, she says the experience never felt right. The South Carolina native was jamming the wrong puzzle piece, trying desperately to make it fit. Eventually, Cline put the whole puzzle away, dropped out of college, and made a beeline to Los Angeles. She paints a picture of a prototypical teenage move to L.A.—living in apartments filled with bedbugs, couch surfing, and, amid all that, pursuing acting. “It was like throwing the noodle against the wall to see if it’ll stick,” she says. For Cline, there was no longer a plan B. Acting was the only plan. People might perceive her rather speedy climb to success as dreamlike, but like most Hollywood stories, there’s always more to it. “I remember thinking, ‘My life is in shambles. Why did I leave? Why did I leave college? Why did I leave my home? Why did I leave my family?’ But it all ended up being very serendipitous,” she reflects.
As a writer, serendipitous is exactly how I’d describe Cline’s uphill journey. After minor parts in Boy Erased and Stranger Things, she landed the role of Sarah in Outer Banks. She may have quickly fled from her old life, but filming the show brought her right back to her home base in South Carolina. “When I saw where Outer Banks was shooting, I was like, ‘Shit, I don’t want to go home,’” she says. “When I left, I kind of ran for the hills and was so excited to build a new life and make new routes. I was a little reluctant. But at the same time, I couldn’t pass it up. I knew from the first time I read the scripts that this is just amazing.” In the end, the actress was able to reestablish her relationships on her own terms—rewriting home for herself completely. The puzzle pieces may not have fit quite right before, but they finally clicked together when Outer Banks came into her life.
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