Hailee Steinfeld reflects on forming personal connection with ‘Sinners’

Hailee Steinfeld took upon her role for Sinners because of a deep connection she found with her character, Mary, which brought her strangely closer to her own roots.

The 28-year-old actress and singer shared that had never fully thought about her African American ancestry until she started working on the film.

For Steinfeld, it seems, the movie proved to be life-changing, as she admitted to Refinery29 in an interview.

“It's not often necessarily about yourself all the time. It's about the character. But with Sinners, I was constantly thinking about my situation, my family, my ancestors, my grandfather in each [scene] we were in and talking about,” said Steinfeld, whose father is Jewish, mother Filipino and grandfather half Filipino and half African American.

“This role has brought me closer to myself, to my family, and my family history,” she says.

Steinfeld went on to share that she found a lot of support in her environment for her personal expoloration, “A lot of [my portrayal of Mary] had to do with Coogler,” she said, referring to the film’s director, Ryan Coogler.

“The way that he wrote her and the conversations he had [helped] guide me to play this character that lived in both worlds.”

In the movie that was released on April 18th, Steinfeld’s character, Mary, is a grieving child who is dealing with her mother’s death, and the complexities of her mixed-race identity.