It’s fitting that Anna Van Patten grew up not in a classroom but on sets — trailing her father, Emmy-winning director Timothy Van Patten, through the worlds of The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and Rome. “It taught me that stories aren’t only told with words,” she says. “There is so much in the unspoken. Anything is possible — maybe it also taught me to dream big.”

Now 27, Van Patten takes on the role of Kitty in Euphoria‘s long-awaited third season. She prepared for it with characteristic thoroughness, taking pole dancing lessons before she even had the part. “It became a way into her for me,” she explains. “It made me more comfortable in my body, gave me permission to take up space. It forced me to lean into my femininity and embrace the playful tension I tried to convey throughout Kitty’s scenes.” The role itself came fast, booked just a week before filming. But by then, Van Patten was ready. “I tend to overthink everything. It allowed me to stay present with her and focus on her truth in each moment.”

Just before Euphoria, Anna was in Budapest shooting The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, flying back and forth to LA when the call came in. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be playing a stripper on Euphoria,” she says. “It’s a reminder that anything is possible.” Between roles, she stays in motion by design: “I’d rather stay curious, keep making things, and experience life as fully as possible,” she says, guided by a constellation of women who embody exactly that spirit. Her inspirations read like the most interesting dinner party guest list imaginable: Dr. Jane Goodall, Anaïs Nin, Lee Miller, Gena Rowlands, Nina Simone. “I’m drawn to  emotional honesty,” she says. “Women who can be playful yet vulnerable, deeply uncompromising, and who use their art as a way of revealing their authentic selves.” 

She journals daily – “it’s how I make sense of the world,” she says – annotates everything she reads, and returns, again and again, to a playlist her father made that she says feels like being inside a cathedral. “It grounds me and reminds me that everything will be okay,” she adds. For someone whose career is moving this fast, that kind of stillness can be a blessing.

This story appears in the pages of V161: now available for purchase!

Photography Dennis Leupold

Fashion Christopher Campbell

Makeup Pablo Macias (Opus Beauty)

Hair Davontae’ Washington (Opus Beauty)

Editor & Casting Kev Ponce

Production Preslee Adams

Cinematographer Lukas Chmiel

Photo Assistants Ben Chant, Winston Kingstro

Makeup Assistant Katherine Moncada

Hair Assistant Taylor Thorton

Location AGP West