Sasha Lane

SASHA LANE

Date of Birth: September 29, 1995

Sasha Lane believes in releasing one's desires into the universe and waiting for them to be actualized.

So far, it's a philosophy that has served the young actress well.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Sasha was a talented athlete in her early years. She played basketball and competed in track and field with great success.

She attended Texas State University to study psychology and social work and took a job waiting tables at a Mexican restaurant to support herself. But her life as a student felt empty and aimless, so she dropped out of school. In an October 2016 interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sasha recalled her college experience. She said, "I felt like something was missing and that was really hard to deal with."

Her life took a drastic turn when she was sunbathing on a Panama City, Florida beach in 2015 during spring break. She was spotted by writer-director Andrea Arnold, who felt Sasha was perfect for the lead role in her film American Honey. Andrea approached Sasha, pitched the idea to her and within a day Sasha was convinced to take the part.

American Honey profiles Sasha's character Star, a disadvantaged teen who abandons her family to join a crew of teenage runaways. Together, they sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door and dabble in burglary to survive. The film is a gritty coming-of-age story that brings the millennial underclass of America's Midwest to the forefront. Shia LaBeouf co-stars as Sasha's love interest while Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough also appears. All three actors developed a close friendship while working together.

Speaking about Star, whom she calls "strong," Sasha told Elle UK in October 2016 that the two share similarities. She said, "I connected with Star a lot which is why Andrea felt such a strong bond between me and the character... We're both free and naive — her maybe more so than me, which is why sometimes I think, 'Yo, girl, get it together.' Star is naive in the same way that I'm not stupid."

While reflecting on how she became involved in the project during her Fort Worth Star-Telegram interview, Sasha said, "I feel like fear is what holds us back the most and to be at such a point where you really have nothing left to lose, it's kind of easier to hop in a stranger's car and take a new opportunity. [Meeting Andrea] was a blessing in disguise."

American Honey screened at Cannes in 2016 and was awarded the Prix du Jury.

Sasha's other projects include the short film Born in the Maelstrom (2016) and Shoplifters of the World (2017), which is about the day the British band The Smiths broke up. The band's disintegration triggered a fan to storm a New York radio station armed with a gun and force the DJ to play nothing but The Smiths' music all night. The movie co-stars Joe Manganiello.

Sasha, who has become a style icon and was dressed by Nicolas Ghesquière (creative director of Louis Vuitton) at the American Honey screening in Cannes, believes in allowing the universe to work its magic. During her Elle UK interview, she said, "I'll do anything that sparks me. Sometimes I'll want to do something random with ballet and then I'll want to be a hippie caterpillar in an animation film. Who knows what will come my way but I'm going to try and put little hints into the universe and hopefully they'll float on by. I want to continue being passionate, creating and floating through life, because apparently it's working for me so far."

Most recently, she played the role of Alice Monaghan in the major motion picture Hellboy. She's also currently filming a starring role in the upcoming Amazon Studios TV series, Utopia.

Filmography:

Shoplifters of the World (2017)
American Honey (2016)