“Think the worst…”: Margaret Qualley’s Response to Her “nepo baby” Label Makes Her the Most Relatable 2nd Generation Actress
- Margaret Qualley does not mind if people call her a 'nepo baby.'
- Her performance in The Substance has been praised by critics and audience.
- Qualley dealt with severe acne post The Substance due to extreme use of prosthetics.
Actress Margaret Qualley, who recently appeared in The Substance as a younger version of Demi Moore, gained recognition for her work in HBO’s drama series The Leftovers from 2014 to 2017. The actress went on to appear in movies including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Death Note, Poor Things, and more.
Qualley’s performance in Netflix’s miniseries Maid which premiered in 2021 has been highly praised by the audience and critics. She is regarded as one of the most talented actresses in the industry, and she recently shared her response to being called a ‘nepo baby.’
Margaret Qualley does not mind being called a ‘nepo baby’
Actress Margaret Qualley, daughter of actress Andie MacDowell, is one of the most talented actresses in the industry and is a part of the new generation of Hollywood stars who have one or more parents in the entertainment world. Qualley recently garnered praise and attention for starring alongside Demi Moore in the critically acclaimed movie The Substance.
In her recent interview with Happy Sad Confused with host Josh Horowitz, the actress was referred to as a ‘second-generation actor.’ To which she said,
That’s a nice way of putting it! You can call me a nepo baby.
The host mentioned that the actress is part of a group of artists who are aware of the expectations people have of them because their parents have worked in the industry and set a bar high for them. Margaret Qualley was asked if she has been able to shake off that feeling and find her own path as a star, to which she said,
I am not sure. I think I just so desperately want to be good and want to deserve to be in the room that I’m in. I want to work my a** off; I love the feeling of working really hard; I love the feeling of exhaustion from good, hard work.
Qualley added that there is something so pure about being able to put your heart, mind, and body into something you really want to and just go for it. The actress added that she has always had a big drive to be able to do that while admitting that she is really hard on herself.
I am really hard on myself, that I always feels like I am harder on myself than anyone else in the room. And so it kind of doesn’t matter. Like think the worst, me too.
Qualley mentioned that her being called a nepo baby does not matter to her.
Margaret Qualley revealed the effects of extensive prosthetics in The Substance
Actress Margaret Qualley shared with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast the effects of the extensive prosthetics used in her recent release, The Substance. She mentioned that because of the prosthetics used, her face broke out with extensive acne, which eventually led to the team cutting around her face in scenes. She told Horowitz,
Did you see Kinds of Kindness? Okay, so you know the character that has all that acne? That was just my acne from the prosthetics, and I was like, Oh, this is kind of perfect; I’m playing all these different characters, and for one of them we’ll use all my crazy prosthetic acne.
Qualley added that it took her almost a year to recover from it. The actress had talked about how she struggled with prosthetics in her interview with USA Today. She explained that it was ‘torture’ but added that she had an awesome team of prosthetic artists that put it on her and took it off of her got her through the day and made her laugh a couple of times while she was on the verge of having a panic attack.
The Maid actress recalled that her character only had one eye, couldn’t hear a thing, couldn’t move, and got retainers that were huge, and they just kind of cut everything. The actress admits that it was grueling to embody. Apart from the torture of prosthetics, the actresses had to learn all the aerobics routines, and Qualley described it as ‘brutal.’
Golden Globe nominee added that a combination of tequila and weed helped her get through her dance sequence day. Qualley and Moore’s hard work had paid off well as Demi Moore won her first Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy.
The Substance is available to stream on MUBI.
