Why You Recognize Alexandra Daddario's Sister, Catharine

Catharine Daddario is emerging from the long shadow cast by her older sister, actor Alexandra Daddario. The latter, of course, has become one of Hollywood's hottest rising stars, thanks to her show-stopping performance as newlywed Rachel Patton in the first season of HBO's critically acclaimed series "The White Lotus" in 2021. Prior to that, she delivered memorable performances in "True Detective," "American Horror Story," and "The Girlfriend Experience," before going on to headline her own series, "Mayfair Witches."

While the Emmy nominee has been establishing herself in Hollywood, so too has her little sister. In fact, Catharine has been following in the footsteps of her big sis, appearing in guest-starring TV roles and indie movies before making her mark in big-budget studio productions. In 2024, she was cast in the dark indie comedy "Mama Duck" and "Muffled," a New Orleans-shot horror-comedy, projects promising to propel her even higher up the Hollywood ladder.

Film and TV viewers will no doubt be seeing Catharine Daddario even more as she follows in her older siblings' footsteps to mainstream fame.

Catharine Daddario has two older siblings — sister Alexandra Daddario and brother Matthew Daddario — and all three are actors (Matthew is best known for the TV series "Shadowhunters"). While it would be easy to assume that they come from a showbiz family, nothing could be further from the truth. Their grandfather, Emilio Q. Daddario, was a politician who represented Connecticut in Congress. Meanwhile, the Daddario siblings' mother and father both worked as attorneys; their dad, in fact, was a former prosecutor who also headed up the NYPD's counterterrorism unit.

So how did Catharine wind up becoming an actor? As she revealed in an interview with The Extravagant, her pathway to stage and screen was initially paved by a childhood speech impediment. "I had speech apraxia when I was a kid, which basically meant that I couldn't speak well ... It was just pure gibberish," she said. In order to aid others in understanding what she was trying to say, she used a lot of theatrical gestures to illustrate her meaning. "So I joined this theater group because I was like I have to learn how to speak, and do it very well," she added. "So I joined this repertory company, and after doing show after show after show, I was like this is where I'm supposed to be."

Having zeroed in on what she wanted to do with her future, Catharine Daddario took a serious approach. Not only did she work with famed acting coach Ann Ratray (whose students included "The Walking Dead" alum Merritt Wever and "Chicago Med" star YaYa DaCosta), she also studied at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting. 

Catharine Daddario was still a kid when she made her television debut in a 2008 episode of NBC's "Primetime," playing the young victim of bullying in a dramatic re-enactment of a true crime. Her next big screen credit came more than a decade later, when she starred in the 2019 music video for "Nowhere Now," from American rock band Wyland.

In the video's opening scene, Daddario is at home and answers the door, only to discover an old-school video camera sitting on the porch. She picks up the camera and takes it for a spin; for the rest of the video — directed by Wyland frontman Ryan Sloan — she experiences the world around her with a fresh perspective as she sees things through the lens of that camera.

Interestingly, the video's unique look came from a camera that was obtained specifically for the video. "We wanted to make this video really different and visually unique, so we sought over a very rare and discontinued digital camera," Matt Bastos, the video's director of photography, told Atwood Magazine.  "I only know of two or three in all of the U.S., and we were lucky enough to find one by us."

The same year that Catharine Daddario appeared in that music video, she also made her movie debut. Starring in "Lake Artifact," a low-budget indie sci-fi horror film from writer-director Bruce Wemple, Daddario portrayed one of several teenagers partying in a remote cabin in the Adirondacks when bizarre occurrences begin taking place. A big fan of both the sci-fi and horror genres, Daddario told Boston Hassle why she felt Wemple's combination of the two was so effective. "Sci-fi can feel just as unnerving as horror just because it's foreign to us," she explained.

According to Wemple, Daddario was actually integral in him coming up with the idea for the film in the first place. "For the premise itself, it started when I was on a music video shoot with Cat Daddario and [fellow actor] Dylan Grunn," the director recalled. "We were just at this cabin, and one of us said, 'How weird would it be if we found a photo and it was just of us?' Things snowballed from there, so we brought things together and started the script for 'Lake Artifact.'"

Daddario apparently had an enjoyable experience making the movie. "Had just as much fun at the @lakeartifactmovie private screening as I did shooting!" she wrote in the caption accompanying a photo she posted on Instagram of herself with Wemple and the cast. "Love these people!" In fact, she enjoyed working with Wemple so much that the actor and director would go on to collaborate on further projects as the years passed.

Catharine Daddario shifted gears when she was cast in the 2020 indie drama "Donna Stronger Than Pretty," about a young mother (Kate Amundsen) who becomes a victim of domestic violence and then escapes that abusive relationship. "The movie is just about sort of female strength across the board," Daddario explained in an interview with AnyGoodFilms?, noting that the film's story was inspired by the real-life experiences of director Jaret Martino's mother.

Speaking with The People's Movies, Daddario pointed out that the film's subject matter brought about some scenes that are uncomfortable to watch. However, she was hopeful that "Donna Stronger Than Pretty" would play a role in lifting the veil about domestic violence. "Hopefully his film will encourage people to speak out about it, it's lovely and effective," she said. "It's an important movie to watch as we need to change [the] dialogue around domestic violence. It may just spark something you weren't expecting or spring up conversation."

In addition to the satisfaction of having been part of a project with the power to generate such important and necessary dialogue, Daddario also confirmed that she thoroughly enjoyed the experience of making the movie. "It was really cool to be a part of this film," she told Digital Journal, noting that telling Martino's mother's story was very much a passion project for the director. "It is really crazy the number of people that have been affected by domestic violence," Daddario added. "Everyone on set took this very seriously. It was a really nice set to be on."

The same year that "Donna Stronger Than Pretty" was released, Catharine Daddario was cast as Piper Vega in an episode of "The Good Fight," the spinoff of critically acclaimed TV drama "The Good Wife," starring TV and film veteran Julianna Margulies. While she had a small role in a big show, guest-starring in an episode "The Good Fight" clearly caught the attention of Hollywood casting agents. 

Meanwhile, Daddario enjoyed an exceptionally busy 2020. In addition to a film and her role in "The Good Fight," she reunited with director Bruce Wemple in another horror movie, appearing in his Sasquatch-themed 2020 creature feature "Monstrous." Later that same year, Daddario was also seen in another Wemple-directed movie, "The Retreat," in which some hikers in the Adirondacks wind up encountering a terrifying creature. Again she reunited with Wemple for his 2021 horror-comedy "My Best Friend's Dead," starring as a woman who makes a terrifying discovery about her bestie. "If you're not a fan of monster movies, don't be put off, it's really funny," Daddario said in an interview with Watch or Pass. "I really like my character in it."

As Catharine Daddario's star continued to rise, she was cast in another indie drama, "Alia's Birth." Deadline described the film as being "about a rocky relationship between a female couple that forces them to spend the night apart," with Daddario described as a "newcomer." 

"So excited to shoot 'Alia's Birth' in just a few weeks!" a clearly excited Daddario gushed in an Instagram post, sharing a screenshot of Deadline's report. "Such great actors and a fantastic director, I couldn't be happier," Daddario added, referencing the film's stars, Poorna Jagannathan ("The Night Of" and "Big Little Lies") and Nikohl Boosheri ("The Bold Type"), and director Sam Abbas.

When "Alia's Birth" was finally released in 2021, the reviews were decidedly mixed. Variety declared that the film "frustrates more than it intrigues, and won't have much appeal outside the furthest corners of the art-house world." On the other end of the spectrum, Film Threat declared, "The film is beautiful and poignant and worth giving something different a chance." Meanwhile, The Guardian praised director Abbas for his "graphic-novel-esque tableau style carefully distils his themes of desire and connection, with humour threading through the ennui."

Over the course of her years as an actor, Catharine Daddario worked to establish herself in supporting parts. In 2022, she was tapped for her first starring role, headlining a Lifetime project, "Dying for a Crown." In the ripped-from-the-headlines TV movie (loosely based on a true story), Daddario played a high school student who arrives at a new school and goes to extreme measures to sabotage all other contenders to ensure she'll be homecoming queen.

For Daddario, the experience of being the star on a film project was a world away from how she got her start as an actor in New York City. "I grew up doing stage plays," Daddario recalled in an interview with the "Story & Craft Podcast with Marc Preston" in 2024. 

Despite all the inroads she's made into Hollywood, Daddario admitted that theater remained an incomparable experience. "The element of it being live every night really is incredible," she explained. "You are so dropped in completely each time, and it's like you're taken out of your body for however long the show is." 

Lifetime's "Dying for a Crown" wasn't Catharine Daddario's only project to release in 2022. That year, she also appeared in the indie comedy "Dance Dads," about a group of single fathers who form a competitive dance troupe. Portraying Dom Feliciani, the documentary filmmaker helming the faux film about dancing fathers, was Catharine's actor brother, Matthew Daddario. 

Catharine's role was small, but the opportunity to appear in a project alongside her brother for the first time was apparently too much to resist. As she explained in an interview with AnyGoodFilms?, she's never really felt competitiveness with her siblings, despite being in such a competitive profession. "None of us are really going out for the same parts," she explained, revealing that they all enjoy taking each other down a notch. "We make fun of each other's movies and each other's acting, like, 'What are you doing there? That's terrible,'" she laughed. Meanwhile, having two siblings who've carved out careers as successful actors has given her a level of insight that other aspiring actors her age likely don't have. "Great to have them understand or talk to them for advice," she told The People's Movies. "That's been the biggest benefit of the Daddario surname."

Several years earlier, Catharine's big brother paid tribute by sharing a photo of her on Instagram during a family holiday celebration. "@catdaddario ready to light the Christmas tree with the blowtorch," he wrote in the caption, accompanying a photo of his little sis brandishing a blowtorch.

Catharine Daddario had already made several movies with director Bruce Wemple when they reunited for the 2023 sci-fi flick "The Tomorrow Job." The plot involved a group of high-tech thieves who use a sophisticated time-travel drug to execute lucrative heists; when one of them goes wrong, they must break the strict rules of time travel in an attempt to change the past and save their butts. 

As Daddario explained in an interview with Boston Hassle, she feels right at home within both the sci-fi and horror genres. "I like working on anything, of course. But science fiction is where my heart lives," she said. "I was reading all the classic 1950s sci-fi books all through my youth. I have pretty specific taste when it comes to horror. I'm happy Bruce makes stuff I like, since it's such a weird crossover between genres. I like the lines the film can cross. It toes the line between genres that I really need."

It's fair to say that Catharine Daddario's Hollywood career took a big turn when she was cast in "IF," the 2024 film directed by Hollywood heavyweight John Krasinski. Krasinski, of course, broke through by playing Jim Halpert on beloved NBC sitcom "The Office" before launching himself as a Hollywood leading man, and with the sci-fi horror film "A Quiet Place," a sought-after director as well.

In "IF," Daddario played the mother of a young girl named Bea who discovers she can see everyone's imaginary friends (the titular "IF" acronym). "Oh my gosh, it was so fun. He's such a positive director. I've never had anyone be so fun on set, and so on top of it, it's really amazing to see," Daddario told ScreenSlam while attending the "IF" premiere. During the interview, Daddario expressed how grateful she was to be part of such a creative and whimsical project. "It's so heartwarming and such a fun movie," she added.  

Catharine Daddario has demonstrated some impressive diversity throughout her acting career, spanning horror, comedy, drama and all genres in between. In 2024, she was able to showcase her drama chops in "The Midway Point," starring opposite Sean Ryan Fox as two teenagers on the autism spectrum who fall in love. 

Meanwhile, fans of this talented up-and-comer can expect to see a lot more of her in the near future. As of late 2024, Daddario had no less than eight projects in the can set to be released, ranging from "Muffled" and "Mama Duck" to the film "Tributaries" and the TV series "Second Chances." Looking toward the future, Daddario told The Fan Carpet Extra that her "dream role" still had to present itself. "I don't have a favorite genre and I don't have specific dreams," she said, "just anything that I can feel free to bring to life."

When deciding on her next project, Daddario tends to gravitate toward roles that have some multi-dimensionality, particularly if it's a supporting part. "I really like fully fleshed out female characters," she told The Extravagant. "I think a lot of the time, unless you're the lead, you're not really fleshed out." She also seeks out roles in which she can showcase different aspects of her own personality. "I'm a little spunky, so I really like getting a character like that. I can relate to that," she added. "That would probably be my favorite character right now — someone who can turn aggression into laughs."