Odessa A’zion has landed the cover of Elle Magazine, and the feature story offers an intimate look at a young actress navigating a sudden and overwhelming wave of success. The piece was written by Clover Hope and photographed by Carin Backoff, capturing A’zion during a pivotal stretch of her career. At the time of the interview, she was in the middle of filming a new project in Montreal alongside Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts, while simultaneously waiting to hear news about Oscar nominations. It was a moment that perfectly captured the chaotic, high-stakes energy that has come to define her life lately.
Much of A’zion’s recent buzz stems from her role in ‘Marty Supreme’, where she starred opposite Timothée Chalamet under the direction of Josh Safdie. The film turned out to be the biggest domestic hit in A24’s history and earned recognition from critics and award groups alike. The road to landing the part, however, was not entirely smooth. Safdie had initially passed on A’zion after a Zoom meeting but later changed his mind after watching her audition tape. “Meeting over Zoom is incredibly misleading… It was her audition tape that blew me away,” Safdie said, adding that she brings a “punkish vulnerability” that feels authentic on screen.
The awards season that followed was nerve-wracking for A’zion. She described how people on set kept bringing up the Oscar nominations, which only added to her anxiety. “Everyone on set kept mentioning to me, ‘The Oscar noms are tomorrow!’… I’m like, ‘Please stop talking to me about that,’” she recalled. When the nominations were announced and she did not hear her name, she initially blamed herself. The story took a lighter turn when she and a makeup artist joked that they were “losers,” only to discover the next day that both of them had received British Academy Film Awards nominations, turning a moment of disappointment into an unexpected celebration.
The interview itself took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Montreal, and A’zion was candid about feeling both grateful and overwhelmed. “I still feel like I’m pinching myself… ‘Grateful’ is not enough, and ‘honored’ is not enough,” she said. Alongside ‘Marty Supreme’, her visibility has also grown through her role in the HBO series ‘I Love LA’. Despite all the positive momentum, the attention still makes her uneasy. “I’m uncomfortable, I’m scared. But I’m also so insanely grateful and excited for the future of my career,” she admitted openly.
Her collaborator Jordan Firstman offered his own take on what makes her so compelling to watch, describing her as “a loose cannon in the best sense of the word… filled with energy.” A’zion has also been flexing her creative muscles off screen, co-designing a dress with L’Atelier 7474 and Maison Privée when she wanted to try something outside her comfort zone. She will soon add voice acting to her résumé with a role tied to the upcoming animated project ‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’. Even with all the momentum building around her, she says she still feels uncertain on red carpets and often handles her own styling.
A’zion comes from an entertainment family, being the daughter of actress and writer Pamela Adlon and filmmaker Felix Adlon. She trained at Champs Charter High School of the Arts before pursuing auditions in earnest, landing her first professional role at 16 on the TV series ‘Nashville’. From there she built up her credits steadily, appearing in ‘Fam’ alongside Nina Dobrev and the teen drama ‘Grand Army’. Her film work includes ‘Sitting in Bars with Cake’ with Yara Shahidi and ‘Fresh Kills’, directed by Jennifer Esposito. Her rise has also involved collaborations with Rachel Sennott, Josh Hutcherson, and True Whitaker, all of whom have been part of her growing network in the industry.
Elle Magazine, founded in France in 1945, is one of the world’s most widely read fashion and entertainment publications. It has served as a major platform for launching and celebrating cultural figures across fashion, film, and music for decades. A cover feature in Elle is widely regarded as a significant career milestone, often coinciding with a high-profile project or moment of breakthrough for the subject. The magazine has a long history of spotlighting up-and-coming talents before they become household names, making A’zion’s inclusion particularly meaningful given where she currently stands in her career. A24, the studio behind ‘Marty Supreme’, has built a reputation over the past decade for producing critically acclaimed and commercially ambitious films that often launch actors into award conversations.
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