NEW YORK — The New York Times profiled former adult performer and rising mainstream starlet Chloe Cherry in the paper's Oct. 8 Style section under its "Up Next" banner, which highlights up-and-coming figures in arts and entertainment.
In addition to noting Cherry's age (25), hometown (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) and current living arrangements (a two-bedroom apartment in Hollywood with a roommate), the Times’ Alex Hawgood describes her as “an acting novice who made her TV debut in Season 2 of ‘Euphoria,’” where Cherry played Faye, “a wide-eyed, pouty-lipped girlfriend of a drug dealer who can’t seem to escape heroin and violence.”
“When I got the part, I still wasn’t sure if I had that great of an acting ability,” Cherry told the Times, adding that “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson “kept rewriting things,” to give her character more screen time.
Cherry declared herself “still so shocked by how big the response has been.”
The piece then describes her beginnings and career in the adult industry in terms unusually non-stigmatizing, given the paper’s record of platforming staunchly anti-sex-work voices.
Cherry’s life story, Hagwood writes, “is as heretical as any ‘Euphoria’ plotline. In 2015, days after turning 18, she fled small-town Pennsylvania for Miami to become a porn star. ‘I was obsessed with the adult industry,’ she said. ‘I looked up how to properly run away and learned that if you’re legally an adult and you leave a note, they can’t report you missing.’ After signing with a talent agency, she moved to Los Angeles, where she stood out in the pornography industry for making wacky Instagram stories.”
The Times also notes of the multitalented Cherry, “Her breakout role in ‘Euphoria’ has opened other creative outlets. This spring, she modeled in a campy ad campaign for Versace and Ssense in which she wrestled with a purse-snatching robot, and will appear in Steve Madden ads this fall. She is also creating art (her collages were featured in a Los Angeles art show in March) and hip-hop (she has posted three tracks on SoundCloud).”
Asked about the difference between mainstream and porn, Cherry offered, “For some reason, people will pay for Hollywood stuff, but they won’t pay for porn.”
To read “Up and Coming: How Chloe Cherry Got Cast in Euphoria,” visit The New York Times.