A Closer Look at Amanda Seyfried’s “Mermaid Knight” Emmys Look

It was a big night for Amanda Seyfried at the 2022 Emmy Awards. The actor won her very first Emmy award, for her portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s The Dropout. (Her voice impression of the infamous entrepreneur? Worth an award alone.) “This was the first TV thing I’ve done since I was young, and it’s been the most extraordinary work I’ve gotten to do,” says Seyfried of her win. “It’s so nice to celebrate something that you worked really hard at and that you really are proud of.” 

It was not an easy role to take on. Given Holmes is notorious for her deep voice and quirky mannerisms, Seyfried had her work cut out for her in terms of getting into character on-set. “Because there’s so many things about her that are iconic, one of the challenges was making sure that you are creating a version of somebody that people will believe,” says Seyfried. “You have to get the audience on your side.” 

As an actor, she also had to attempt to understand and empathize with Holmes’s choices, despite her defrauding investors. Holmes was the CEO of Theranos, a company that aimed to innovate on at-home blood testing, though it was later discovered that the technology did not work; She was convicted on four counts in January, including wire fraud and fraud against investors. She will be sentenced at the end of the month. “We were showing all sides of Elizabeth,” says Seyfried. “She’s somebody who has made some really bad decisions, and we weren’t shying away from that. If not, what’s the point?” Still, Seyfried had worries about what Holmes would think. “Playing somebody who exists, and is walking around in the real world right now, is tricky—it’s intimidating,” says Seyfried. “It was a little easier playing someone who has passed. I wasn’t so worried about Marion Davies [who I played in Mank], and how she would feel about my portrayal.”