Early work (2018–2021) Cailee Spaeny made her film debut in March 2018 in
Pacific Rim: Uprising, the sequel to
Pacific Rim (2013), directed by
Steven S. DeKnight. In the cast, she appeared alongside
John Boyega and
Scott Eastwood, playing Amara Namani, one of the protagonists of the story. The character is a young orphan, intelligent, skilled, and independent, who becomes a self‑taught engineer. The reception to her performance was generally positive, especially given that it was her first major film role. Also in 2018, Spaeny took part in three other films. In September, she joined the cast of
Bad Times at the El Royale, a thriller directed by
Drew Goddard, in which she played Rose Summerspring, the younger sister of Emily Summerspring, played by
Dakota Johnson. The character is a fragile and impressionable teenager, manipulated by the cult led by Billy Lee, played by
Chris Hemsworth. The role highlighted the actress's versatility; after playing the determined Amara in
Pacific Rim: Uprising, she took on a character marked by vulnerability. In November, she acted in
On the Basis of Sex, a biographical legal drama directed by
Mimi Leder based on the life and early cases of
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve as an associate justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States. In the film, Spaeny played
Jane C. Ginsburg, the elder daughter of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, portrayed by
Felicity Jones. In October of the same year, she starred in
The Craft: Legacy, a supernatural horror film written and directed by
Zoe Lister-Jones, conceived as a sequel to
The Craft (1996). This marked her first leading role in a film, as well as her first time going through a casting process. The production follows a group of young women who develop supernatural abilities, taking place within the same narrative universe as the original film. In January 2021, Cailee Spaeny took part in the film
How It Ends, an independent apocalyptic comedy also directed by Zoe Lister-Jones. In the production, she played Young Liza (also referred to as "Little Liza" or "Younger Self"), a teenage version of the protagonist Liza, played as an adult by the director herself. In April of the same year, she joined the cast of the
HBO miniseries
Mare of Easttown, created by
Brad Ingelsby and starring
Kate Winslet. In the work, Spaeny played Erin McMenamin, a 17-year-old and single mother living in Easttown, a small working‑class town in
Pennsylvania. Her character faces financial difficulties while caring alone for her son, who needs an expensive hearing surgery. The events involving Erin constitute the central element that drives the main narrative of the miniseries.
Breakthrough (2022–present) In April 2022, Cailee Spaeny joined the cast of the series
The First Lady, which depicts aspects of the personal and family lives of three
First Ladies of the United States:
Eleanor Roosevelt,
Betty Ford, and
Michelle Obama. In the production, Spaeny played
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (also known as Anna Roosevelt Halsted), the only daughter of
Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Eleanor Roosevelt. In September, Spaeny was cast as
Priscilla Beaulieu Presley in the film
Priscilla, directed by
Sofia Coppola, alongside
Jacob Elordi as
Elvis Presley. The film is based on Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir,
Elvis and Me. The film premiered at the
80th Venice International Film Festival, where Spaeny was widely acclaimed for her portrayal of Priscilla Presley, a performance that earned her the
Volpi Cup for Best Actress. At the premiere, the actress watched the film alongside Priscilla Presley herself, who was moved by the work and by Spaeny's performance. In an interview, the actress commented on the preparation process for playing the character: "It was very daunting, but I was very lucky to spend some time with Priscilla, and she was very generous. When you're playing someone so well-known, that support makes all the difference. She was very kind to me and supported me, and that was my main source, besides the book." That same year, she starred in
Alien: Romulus, a film directed by
Fede Álvarez and produced by
Ridley Scott, part of the
Alien franchise. In the production, she played the
space colonist Rain Carradine, the central character of the narrative. Reviewing the latter film,
Jordan Hoffman of
Entertainment Weekly deemed Spaeny "the finest weapon in the arsenal... differentiating herself quite a bit from the doe-eyed characters she played in
Civil War and
Priscilla." In 2025, she was part of the cast of
Wake Up Dead Man, a film belonging to the
Knives Out franchise, written and directed by
Rian Johnson and starring
Daniel Craig. In the plot, she played Simone Vivane, a former cellist of international renown whose career was interrupted due to a chronic
neuropathic pain condition. The character is drawn to a small town under the promise of a cure by becoming involved with the local church. In 2026, Spaeny stars in the second season of the anthology series
Beef, alongside
Oscar Isaac,
Carey Mulligan, and
Charles Melton. She was also cast in the upcoming
Elden Ring film, a live-action adaptation of the eponymous game, which is set for a March 2028 release. ==Filmography==