Do you know who made the absolute most out of her Hollywood breakout opportunity? Storm Reid. Not only is she exceptional in Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, but ever since, she’s been scooping up a wide variety of projects and delivering big in every single one including Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, playing Zendaya’s sister in Euphoria, and then some. (Also, be sure to check out Reid’s underseen pre-A Wrinkle in Time title, Sleight directed by J.D. Dillard.) Next up on Reid’s list? A movie in the screen thriller subgenre, Missing, from the filmmakers behind 2018’s Searching.

Reid stars as June, a typical teenager who butts heads with her mother (Nia Long) and leaves the majority of her check-in text messages unanswered. June gets a hefty dose of that digital radio silence herself when her mom never returns from her trip to Colombia with her new boyfriend. Desperate to find her and frustrated with the significant amount of international red tape she encounters, June takes matters into her own hands by using every resource available to her online to track down her mother.

In celebration of Missing’s January 20th nationwide release, Reid took the time to join me for a Collider Ladies Night interview to revisit her journey from Matilda super fan to headlining her own thriller. She began:

“I started acting at three, so that was a while ago, but I was always obsessed with movies, specifically Matilda. I mean, I just love Matilda, and I don't think Matilda made me want to act, but it really did make me fall in love with movies. And then fast forward, seeing people like Z on television and on Disney Channel, it gave me hope like, ‘Oh, I can do that, too.”

Reid went from thinking “I can do that, too” to realizing that if she, indeed, did that too, she could use that work to inspire others. Here’s how she put it:

“I think when A Wrinkle in Time came out I realized that my career was bigger than myself and that I was inspiring young people, specifically young girls that look like me. I was like, ‘Oh, this is not something that I'm just doing to pursue my dreams and my passions. This is something that is impacting others and impacting audiences and I could really help people with my storytelling,’ and I think that's really cool. So that's when I was like, ‘Oh, I've got to continue to do this. I want to go harder. I want to make all my dreams come true.”

Make her dreams come true she did — with some phenomenal filmmakers at her back to set all the right precedents. Here’s what Reid said when asked for the first project that made her feel like an adult and like her creative input was being heard in a different way:

“Even though I was only 13, Miss Ava made it a goal for her and made it a vital thing that we were able to be collaborative. And, of course, she's an amazing director and there are some specific things that she wanted, but she let us play. And I'm grateful that I got that opportunity at such a young age because that gave me the confidence to be able to go to other sets now that I'm a young adult and I could be like, ‘Well, how about this idea?’ Or, ‘This is what I think about my character.’ So I got to experience that quite early.”

Another thing Reid’s come to appreciate in her directors? Being encouraged to forge connections with her co-stars off-set. She explained:

“I love when directors like for their actors to forge a connection and a bond before you get on set. I think that's so valuable and can make or break a film or a television show. So, I really just do admire when directors allot time in the schedule for people to get to know each other and create bonds before getting on camera, and making sure that it feels real and there's an actual true genuine bond there.”

In addition to coming to understand what she appreciates in a director, Reid’s also put great thought into what it means to be a good scene partner. In fact, Reid put a unique spin on a familiar Collider Ladies Night question; name a past co-star with a similar process and then another with a different approach to the work who challenged you to try something new. Rather than specify two actors and techniques, Reid emphasized the importance of embracing your own personal approach to the work and letting your co-stars do the same:

“I think it is important to give your scene partner space and give your scene partner grace. It is not my responsibility, or it is not my goal to try to match the energy of my scene partner as far as methods. You are able to do what you do so brilliantly and so beautifully with your process and how you connect with your scene partner and how you take a moment if you're being emotional, and other people have their own methods and processes. So I can't really point out particular people who have matched my energy or haven't matched my energy, if that makes sense, because I think everybody's entitled to their own process and as long as we're on screen and we're able to gel when the director calls action and we're able to listen to each other and be true scene partners and be supportive of one another, I think that's all that matters.”

One recent co-star Reid was especially impressed by? The Nun and The Nun 2 star, Taissa Farmiga. As a big believer we don’t tell one another “good job” nearly enough, I asked Reid for a time she saw a co-star crush their material. She immediately pinpointed Farmiga.

“Most recently I was filming The Nun 2 in France and my co-star was the incomparable Taissa Farmiga and she is brilliant always, but there are a few scenes [that] she would do and I’d just shake my head and be like, ‘You just killed that. Amazing job. You go girl!’ But I love giving people their flowers. It's motivating, it's empowering, and it's cool to see people be good at what they're doing.”

I’m also a big believer we have to give ourselves flowers more often, so followed up by asking Reid for a scene of her own that she’s particularly proud of. She went for an especially unforgettable moment in Euphoria Season 2.

“The fight scene between Gia and Rue. That's a scene that I'm really proud of because it wasn't scripted. Sam just basically said, go in there and fight, and we did it and it was so beautiful, so raw, and I think that's probably one of my favorite things that I've done because it was just so real and so uncut and so emotional.”

All of that has led Reid to Missing. As if delivering a strong performance in a traditionally shot movie isn’t challenging enough, the screen thriller format demanded that Reid be aware of and involved in a variety of technical elements, like operating cameras and being hyper-aware of eye lines. On top of that, the Missing story just plain old doesn’t work unless Reid is able to convey a sense of history for June while taking the character through this harrowing experience.

Here’s what Reid said when asked for character qualities and experiences she had to keep in mind in order to justify June’s choices throughout the film:

“We meet June and she's just a stubborn young teenager who butts heads with her mom like any other typical teenager, but I think the relationship that June and her mom had when June was a little bit younger I tried to think about that a lot, to think about the love that June has for her mom despite the going back-and-forths and in her getting older. She loves her mom and her mom is the only parent that she has, so she goes to bat to go find her. Or, you know, just the emotional stakes that June has to go through and her having to stay grounded and cool and calm and collected throughout the film to be able to, hopefully, find her mom, I think is something that I had to really think about. And June is a typical teenager and she doesn't really know what's going on, so I think I just tried to channel that energy as much as possible.”

June’s got the calm necessary to spearhead an online investigation to find her mother, but what about Reid herself? Could she keep it cool under such pressure?

“I would lose my mind! Fifteen minutes I'm like, ‘Where’s my mom? Oh my god!’”

Eager to hear more about Reid’s journey in the industry thus far? Check out her episode of Collider Ladies Night at the top of this article or listen to the uncut version of the conversation in podcast form below: