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Acting , Interview , Television , The Daily Roundup

‘Reacher’ Star Maria Sten Talks LA, Vegas and Putting Her Spin on Frances Neagley


March 12, 2024

You can be forgiven if you haven’t seen Maria Sten’s work before she appeared in the first season of Amazon’s smash hit drama series Reacher. Her two biggest roles before that were in the little-seen anthology series Channel Zero and the DC Universe adaptation of Swamp Thing.

Since the fall of 2022, she has appeared as Frances Neagley, the best friend and close colleague of title hero Jack Reacher. Based on the series of books by Lee Child, the show is the biggest hit Amazon has ever had, and it has made a star of Sten, who is regularly stopped by fans who quote the show’s lines to her. That kind of life-changing hit is rare, but Sten takes it in stride. She spoke to us from her home in Los Angeles.

How did you get into acting?

I was a very curious child, and I think I had a need to express myself. I did one theater thing when I was five years old in school and thought that was fun, but at that time I was pursuing dance. I was born and raised in Denmark, and I came to New York to be a dancer.

I thought I was going to do musical theater first, then realized that’s a very limited genre. I realized, “Okay, this isn’t what I want to do for the rest of my life,” and finally decided to commit to acting and try that out for real.

Walking into my first acting class and just having such a big “aha” moment. This is what I want to do. I would sit in an acting class for five hours straight and just be enthralled. That was how I then decided that I was going to be an actor, which is, of course, a terrible decision. (Laughs) But I still love it.

Two things that I think a lot of actors have in common are an innate curiosity and having that “aha” moment where something spoke to you. Do you remember specifically what that moment was?

I was living in Vegas, modeling and dancing, and was very miserable. I [already] had a show in Atlantic City and wanted to be in LA, but at the time it was expensive. I was like, “Oh, I can be in Vegas. I have connections here already because I’m a performer.” So, I lived in Vegas and was miserable because I was living in Vegas.

I was Googling acting classes in LA, and the first thing that came up was this notice to audit an acting class at the Aaron Speiser Studio. I decided, “Yeah, I’m gonna drive to LA and audit an acting class.” Then I did, and that was when I had that moment, my first day in class. I was like, “This makes sense to me. I know this language, my curiosity is here mirrored back to me.” There’s a deep exploration of humanity, of discovery, of human nature in general, that I was just so captivated by and interested in.

How long did it take until you moved to LA permanently?

I would drive out every single week, back and forth. I’d be in acting class Monday through Thursday, then drive back to Vegas, and we’re doing shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a year. I finally decided, “Okay, I’ve had enough of Vegas and I will be in LA full time.”

I found different studios to study and then I got a manager when I felt that I was ready for it. Then I realized I didn’t know how to audition at all, so I needed to go do an audition technique [class]. I did that for a while, very much trying different things on the menu in terms of what LA has to offer. I think it’s good to try different modalities and approaches to make up your special sauce of how you’re going to approach the work.

Maria Sten sitting down outside smiling. Photo courtesy of Maria Sten.

It’s interesting, it sounds to me like you didn’t try to get work until you felt like you had some mastery of what you were doing.

You know, in this business, often you only get one shot. I think for me it was very much about learning the craft first, learning what is acting and how am I able to translate it in my body. It took a year, maybe two. I still auditioned for short films and student films, low-stakes situations, finding a place where I could work and explore my craft and get footage. But yes, to answer your question, I very much wanted to feel that I had a good grasp on the craft before I put myself out there.

I think most actors just dive in and try to get work, even if they don’t have any clue what they’re doing.

I’m a very intense person. I’m very hyper-focused. Whatever I’m doing, I’m doing it 100%. For me, this was a time where I wanted to focus on learning this craft. I think that there is something to learning what you’re doing before you start doing it. That’s not to say you need to do it for five years. It’s not to say you can’t put yourself out there in low-risk situations, like go with your acting class friends and shoot something. I’m all for going out there and doing things with your friends. But I do think you can set yourself up for success, set yourself up for good feedback and not have the casting director calling my manager being like, What the hell was she doing? She’s not ready! You know?

You’ve had major roles in shows like Channel Zero and Swamp Thing, but Reacher is the biggest thing you’ve ever done.

It’s great to be on a show that people are watching. It’s satisfying to do the work and have people see it. Channel Zero was my first job, but five people saw it. The people that saw it loved it, but five people saw it. I think the same with Swamp Thing. So yeah, it’s lovely to be on a show that is watched by everybody everywhere, all over the world.

Did you have any idea about the size and scope of the fanbase of the Reacher series?

I didn’t. I knew there had been two movies starring Tom Cruise, and that they were based on books. I did not know it was a billion-dollar book franchise.

There’s so much pressure in regards to playing a character like Neagley because, after Reacher, she is the most beloved in the book franchise. I felt that there was pressure to get it right. I went back and read all five books that Neagley is in and drew a lot of my inspiration from the books, in terms of how to create her as a character. We put our spin on her, which I think is lovely and makes her interesting and endearing in a way that is not just cool, tough, badass. I feel like we’ve seen that so many times now.

Neagly is not in Killing Floor, which was the basis for the first season of the show, nor is she in Persuader, which is the basis for season three. And yet, you’re in both. That must be enormously gratifying to be doing something so well, they’re finding reasons to bring you back.

That’s a wonderful way of looking at it. I think it’s because Neagley is a cool character. It’s great to be able to just explore her more and be able to dive deeper into who she is. I’m very grateful that the show has gotten the response that it has. My character is seemingly very loved around the world.

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