Alexandra Daddario Wants You To Know She’s Not a Bad Actress

I’ve got no beef with Alexandra Daddario. She’s very pretty and I don’t believe she’s guilty of any serious offenses— although your mileage may vary depending on how you feel about San Andreas.

She got her start at the age of 16 on All My Children, the same soap that gave us Sarah Michelle Gellar about a decade earlier. She followed that with small roles in film and on television (yes, she’s been on Law & Order) before landing her breakout role of Annabeth in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

Percy Jackson was aggressively mediocre. But the kids did a good enough job in it. Not good enough to make a complete five-film series but it was fine. She was fine. Then she kicked around Hollywood for a while, appearing in a multi-episode arc of True Detective S1, New Girl, American Horror Story, and Baywatch among other projects.

Daddario was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series for her role in the 2021 season of The White Lotus. And that’s her argument against anyone who says she’s a bad actress. She got feisty during an Elle Magazine interview when asked what the most outrageous rumor she’d heard about herself was.

It’s good that Daddario is able to recognize that not all of her choices have been the best ones. Although I suspect there are some directors, writers, and lighting designers out there asking if they’re the ones she just threw under the bus of her middling career.

Currently, she’s starring in AMC’s Mayfair Witches series. I’m not a fan. I believe this one falls under the category of writers making a difference because the script does not live up to the utter insanity of the books. And I feel bad because they probably thought they had another Interview With The Vampire on their hands. Sadly, despite her efforts, Alexandra’s Rowan Fielding is just not it. But neither is their Lasher, so it’s obviously not completely Daddario’s fault. But maybe just a little bit.

Is she a bad actor? No. There are definitely worse actors out there working right now. Someone has to make all of these terrible slasher movies based on IPs that are hitting the public domain. But she’s not a great actress either.

Eventually, she may find The Project that challenges her and allows her abilities to shine through. Daddario needs her own Dead To Me. That show made everyone think twice about Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. The trick there was that Applegate and Cardellini are great actresses who were criminally overlooked for most of their careers. Right now, I’m not sure the same can be said about Daddario.