Sadie Calvano

Sadie Calvano: biography

The Los Angeles native, Sadie Calvano, is a well-known, young Hollywood actress, which made her breakthrough in 2013, portraying Violet Plunkett in CBS’s sitcom Mom. Calvano's other TV credits include the internet miniseries The Skinny, NCIS, and Eagleheart. In movie, Calvano participated in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and the comedy Eggplant Emoji. In 2019, Sadie had a lead role in highly rated ten-episode dark comedy Why Women Kill. The net worth of young actress is roughly estimated at $2 million.

Childhood and youth

The birthplace of Sadie was Los Angeles. She appeared to her parents on April 8, 1997, and was the only child in the family. Calvano had never had any siblings. The girl grew up as very active child and devoted herself to a lot of classes. When she hit fourth grade, Sadie understood that keeping up with gymnastics, acting, and school got to be too much. She decided to focus full time on gymnastics but soon realized that she wasn’t happy.

The girl began missing the people at the theater, and Sadie felt she wasn't satisfied and that she was really craving her art. She finished out the season with successful competitions, and then cleaned out her locker and finally convinced her mom to do a summer of auditions. Sadie’s mother was initially hesitant to have the daughter enter the movie world because of all the stories she’d heard about child actors, but Calvano was determined and convinced her mom to let her try it for a summer.

Sadie booked one of her first auditions and fell in love with the business. Her mom saw how happy her daughter was and couldn't help but support it. Soon, the novice actress began performing in musical theatres. She was at the age of seven then. In 2008 – 2010 her theatres' credits included such roles as Alice in Alice In Wonderland, Belle in Beauty And The Beast, and Sharpay in High School Musical.

Movie career

The career’s beginning

In the summer of 2010, Calvano’s professional career began. Made a guest star appearance on Conan O’Brien’s Eagleheart, Sadie continued with a co-star role on NCIS as William Devane's kidnapped granddaughter for which she received a YAA best actress nomination. A year later, Sadie made her big-screen debut as Leonardo DiCaprio's niece in the Clint Eastwood bio-epic J. Edgar.

Mom

In 2013 Calvano joined CBS’s comedy pilot Mom, and it was her breakthrough. From prolific producer Chuck Lorre, the multi-camera comedy centered on the newly sober Christy (played by Anna Faris), a single mom looking to pull her life back together in California’s Napa Valley. Sadie portrayed Violet, Christy’s teenage daughter, and granddaughter of Bonnie (Allison Janney)—who were both recovering addicts. Calvano joined the project’s previously cast Allison Janney, Matt Jones, Spencer Daniels, and Nate Corddry.

One of the things Calvano loved about Mom was the strong female cast and the edgy nature of the show. In fact, on top of dealing with alcoholism, the show also planned on tackling teen pregnancy. One of the episodes revealed that Calvano’s character, Violet, will soon be a mom. Calvano felt Violet was easy to relate to.

“My mom and I are super, super close, and even I can relate to that teenage angst," said Calvano.

"Underneath her dry and sarcastic, dismissive tone is really a girl that's pretty wounded and really in need of some love because her mom has just really failed to act as a parent for lot of years."

So, the prospective newcomer was forced to combine school and acting. Calvano had a lot of work with juggling her studies and the first season of Mom. Even if she finished work at 8 o'clock, she still had to go home and finish whatever homework she had to do. Sadie’s love for her occupation helped her overcome a busy schedule, enjoying her and motivating her to continue working.

College

When Calvano was 17 years old, her career had already taken off. Nevertheless, the actress had big plans for college. Everyone on the show was supportive of her choice. When she was looking at the artists who she looked up to, all of them were very educated. According to Calvano, it was important for storyteller to understand what was going on in the world to gain perspective in a bigger light and tell better stories. Moreover, her parents could probably kill her if she forwent college.

When Sadie Calvano needed a letter of recommendation for college applications, she knew just who to ask: her boss, Chuck Lorre. After all, it was Lorre who gave her first big TV role, and she considered him a father figure of sorts. However, it turned out to be a difficult matter. Sadie was shaking when she asked Lorre. Luckily, Lorre said yes and was more than happy to help Calvano continue her education. Chuck was honored to write it.

According to the rules, Calvano couldn’t see the letter and could only imagine which review she would receive. But her boss assured her that it was very positive. Soon, the actress entered the Occidental College in Los Angeles. She was in school part-time and lived on campus. Those changes didn’t affect her Mom’s character, Violet. She still was a part of the show. The casting team had a pretty stable schedule, so Sadie knew when she was working and could plan her classes around that.

Why Women Kill

In 2018 Sadie appeared in Moms only as a guest and didn’t stay for the 7th season. The same year she became the cast member of the black comedy called The Package, produced by Netflix and released in 2018. Soon came the news that actress was set as a series regular in CBS All Access’ Why Women Kill, a darkly comedic drama from Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry, Imagine Television Studios and CBS TV Studios.

Created by Cherry, Why Women Kill detailed the lives of three women living in three different decades — a housewife in the ‘60s, a socialite in the ‘80s, and a lawyer in 2018 — each dealing with infidelity in their marriages. The series examined how the roles of women had changed but how their reaction to betrayal had not.

Calvano played April, a beautiful young waitress with a free spirit. She was a burgeoning 1960’s flower child who struck up an unusual friendship with a 1960’s housewife, whose spouse she secretly was dating. Talking about her character, Sadie reported that the viewers would see a typical flower child full of ambition of vibrant spirit and infectious personality. She was truly amazing in every which way, shape or form, but had some hidden secrets in between one that she know the fans would love to get to know her and to follow her journey throughout the series.

The most challenging about Calvano’s portrayal of April was the character’s sense of ambition. When the actress was set to the role, she didn’t hide her admiration for the opportunity to work with iconic creator Marc Cherry. In one of her interviews she said:

“He has been a dream to work with and one that has been on my bucket list for the longest time to be around. His tireless work ethic and drive to bring the stories to life is the greatest part of being on the series, and I truly do feel I will continue to learn from him. He has allowed me to grow with this character 100% through and through.”

Personal life

Besides filming, Sadie loves music. She and her friends always try to go to concerts and music festivals. Sadie is silent about her relationship status. Sadie has a height of 5 feet and 2 inches and a weight of 118 pounds. Being an actress, she maintains her body so that she looks good and has perfect body measurement, and doesn’t need to resort to weight loss. The actress’s salary per year is unknown.

Filmography

• 2010 – NCIS
• 2011 – J. Edgar
• 2011 – Eagleheart
• 2012 – Village People
• 2012 – Kickin’ It
• 2013 – Crash & Bernstein
• 2013 – Melissa & Joey
• 2013- 2016, 2018 – Mom
• 2016 – The Perfect Daughter
• 2016 – The Skinny
• 2018 – The Package
• 2019 – Why Women Kill

Awards

• 2015 – Outstanding Female Actor – Rising Star for Mom