Name: Stefania LaVie Owen
Age: 21
Hometown: Born in Miami and raised in Pauatahanui, New Zealand, a small town north of Wellington.
Now lives: In her family’s home in New Zealand and, most recently, a room in her friend’s three-bedroom apartment in the East Village of Manhattan.
Claim to fame: Ms. Owen is a young actress and fashion plate in high demand, whether she’s appearing off Broadway with Lucas Hedges in “Yen,” or touted by Vogue as a “young starlet on the rise.” Her self-effacing nature defies young Hollywood typecasting. “Coming from New Zealand, I never had the idea that I would be an actor or that it would be a job,” she said. “It was just something that I thought was really fun.”
Big break: As a student at the Chilton Saint James School, a private all-girls school in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, she was recognized for her precocious acting talent. She made her professional debut at 11 in “The Lovely Bones,” a 2009 film directed by Peter Jackson, a fellow New Zealander.
“It was a small part, but because it was an American film, it opened up this whole world to me,” Ms. Owen said. “Everything just started spiraling from there.”
“It was a little scary, but it was also really freeing,” Ms. Owen said of working with the director Harmony Korine. CreditRafael Rios for The New York Times
Latest project: She stars alongside Matthew McConaughey and Snoop Dogg in “The Beach Bum,” a film by Harmony Korine. “I’ve never worked with anyone like Harmony,” she said. “He allowed us the flexibility to use the script as a base and then jump from there. It was a little scary, but it was also really freeing.”
Next thing: Honing her craft with Mr. Jackson and Mr. Korine may have delayed her college plans, but she plans to attend the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University in the fall. She will also star in “Messiah,” a biblical suspense thriller produced by Mark Burnett for Netflix, due out later this year.
The show was shot throughout New Mexico, and it gave Ms. Owen a taste of communal campus life. “On our days off, there would be these big thunderstorms, so we would have to close down set and play games in a local church,” she said.
Closet case: Her love of fashion predates playing Carrie Bradshaw’s rebellious younger sister in “The Carrie Diaries,” the short-lived “Sex and the City” prequel that was canceled in 2014. “You’ve got to see my mom’s closet,” Ms. Owen said. “It’s like you’re in a store. She’s five feet tall, so she usually has her six-inch heels on. It’s like she’s on a catwalk all the time.”
