who what wear.
who what wear | 18

Barbie and Beyond: Theadora James Is Just Getting Started.
Who What Wear.
Mar. 30, 2024.

When people took to the theaters last summer in their pinkest ensembles, it was a bubbly and blonde Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling they were expecting. But when Sasha, portrayed by Theadora James, graced the screen, everyone was quickly hit with a whiplash of their past teenage angst. The questions began: Should we all apologize to our moms? Did we all talk with that kind of sass? When did girlhood ever end, and why did we let it?

While I wait for James to join our Zoom call, I half expect a poised Sasha to pop up on my screen, ready to roll her eyes at my Barbie related questions—or, worse, call me a fascist. Instead, I'm met with a sweet yet fiercely confident 18-year-old who's shuffling around her apartment, laptop in hand, trying to find her charger while simultaneously keeping focus on our conversation. Bouncing from the spacious living room to impressive terrace, I practically get a virtual home tour. Eventually, she settles herself in her bedroom, where she's quick to bare all her future aspirations, and she has a lot of them. While Sasha may have been perceived as angsty or mean, James' strong nature is inherently captivating and reminds me that this is what it's like to be passionate as a teenager in 2024.

At the age of 11, James was named one of The Hollywood Reporter's Top Stars Under Age 18. After playing the seven year old neighbor of Ben Savage on Disney Channels Girl Meets World, she moved onto major fan-favorite franchises, such as Greys Anatomy, DCs Birds of Prey, Disneys Descendants, and popular Netflix originals such as Outer Banks and Stranger Things. "I've accidentally thrown myself into the most passionate fan bases, from DC to Taylor Swift," James says, referencing the multiple music videos she has been in for the popstar. "I'm like, 'Great! I've just thrown myself into a volcano.' [Although] there's pressure, there's also so much love behind it."

Despite having an extensive résumé for her age, James' true breakout role was playing the Debbie Downer, as she affectionately refers to Sasha, in Greta Gerwig's world of girlhood. "I will forever be indebted to Barbie," she prefaces at the start of our conversation. It was on set with the likes of Gerwig, Robbie, and America Ferrera where the young actress truly learned what it took to create a story, start to finish. While filming over the course of four months, James committed herself to observing and building her career toolbox. "It's changed everything in my life. I've been acting since I was 7, but everything's changed so fast and so much in the past few recent years." she shares with a sense of awe. "Stranger Things was huge, [Outer Banks] was huge, and now Barbie. I was like, 'this is insane.'"

No longer were her sights set on just acting. James quickly started thinking about what she'd like to write, produce, and direct. Following the 118-day SAG strike that took place during the majority of Barbie's theater run, the young actress was ushered into the award-season circuit, rubbing shoulders with actors she'd spent years admiring on-screen. "At the [award] shows, I just looked around at the people I was sitting with and those who were accepting awards, and it just lit a fire underneath my ass," she says.

As for what ideas will come from this fire, James has plenty to share. "Right now, I'm super interested in creating an authentic and realistic coming-of-age story," she says. Before I can respond, she quickly adds, "I know it's been done before, but I don't think it's been done by an actual current teenage girl." That's true. The most popular teenage stories that come to mind have been written through the lens of someone older reflecting on their past experiences. "Being a teenager nowadays is incredibly different in every way," she continues. "With what I'm going through, my emotions are so present and real at this very moment that I think now is when I should be creating and putting it on paper."

The topic of time comes up heavily throughout our conversation, and for James, waiting around for a future opportunity to tell the kinds of stories she's interested in isn't an option. She's self-assured and buzzing with creativity, and she wants it now.

The absence of hesitation is a common theme I notice among the next generation in the industry. We're all aware of the quintessential Disney pipeline, yet currently, that timeline seems to be set to hyperspeed. In the aughts and 2010s, megastars like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Zendaya paid their dues on the family channel for years—acting in multiple seasons of their shows along with crossover episodes, spin-offs, and movies. Now, you have stars such as Olivia Rodrigo, who left her Disney series after three seasons to work on her Grammy-winning album, and Jenna Ortega, who quickly graduated from Stuck in the Middle to Netflix's You and the rated-R thrillers Scream and X. Previous actors were just beginning to leave the world of Disney at age 18, but the current gen is already at the next level of their careers by the time they reach adulthood. In James' case, it's already taken off, most of which before she had even reached her 16th birthday.

James is hitting milestones that those much older are still working toward, but with the release of the five-part docuseries Quiet on Set earlier this month, a lot of questions have come to light about how child stars are protected in this industry. When I ask James what she thinks the industry can do better for young actors, her inner Sasha quickly comes out. "I think the change just needs to be to get the oldest people out of control — in the industry and the world in general. Go away. We don't need you anymore," she says. It's a topic James can passionately discuss at length. She pauses but emphasizes her feelings for a few more minutes as I cheer her on.

It's not just the people in suits who have an impact on actors growing up in Hollywood these days. There's the heightened presence of social media and the expectations surrounding it too. The likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone may have been able to escape being tapped into digital algorithms, emphasizing a focus on their privacy, but younger actors don't always have that same choice. "I'm not protecting my peace as much as I should be," James says. "It's hard because now it's a part of the job. You kind of can't not have it." At the time of publishing, James has 14.2 million followers on Instagram and 5.9 million on TikTok. As she continues to open up about the woes of the internet, I can sense a twinge of frustration in her voice. Despite her confident personality, James is hyperaware of how she can be perceived online. "I'm 18, so TikTok is my form of entertainment. I'll see a video of myself pop up, and I'm like, 'Oh, I should check the comments,' and then I want to die. But it is what it is," she says.

These complex feelings fuel James' desire to create and tell stories that align with her generation's point of view. "A lot of the time, they give teenage characters to 20- to 30-year-olds. If they do give a younger actor a role, it's not a very meaty character," she says. That's what James says is her biggest goal as an actor — taking a straightforward role and giving it depth, molding it into someone she could relate to. "I'm really proud that in the vast majority of my projects, I've been able to [achieve that goal]. Charlie, Ruby, Sasha... they're all young people who had a voice and used it, which is super important."

As for what's up next, James recently started production on the fourth installment of the Outer Banks franchise, a set she says has become familiar and welcoming. In addition to director Megan Parks sophomore production My Old Ass [coming to theaters this September], James will also return to Netflix later this summer in A Good Girls Guide to Murder where, once again, she's thrown into a world of deep fan expectations. The show is based on the best-selling book series of the same name. Her character, Cara, is the best friend of the protagonist, Pippa (Emma Myers). Cara can be described as curious, intelligent, and, in James' words, "stupidly brave." Regarding her prep process, she explains, "People who are fans of the books are going to want something specific, and those who have never read them are going to be going entirely off of what's happening on screen — no background information or anything to base it off. I think I found a happy medium between giving the fans a character they'll recognize, while also introducing her to the world in a new light and digestible manner."

James is determined to be a storyteller of her generation. "I think there could be more [younger roles], which is why I feel like it's kind of my job to be like, 'I can do this,'" she says. At 18, she's not waiting to be given the moment to share her ideas with the world. Director Barbie, Actor Barbie, Writer Barbie — she's ready to claim them all.