From showing off her comedic skills with Rachel Sennott to sharing the big screen alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Timothée Chalamet, actor Odessa A’zion has established her place among entertainment’s rising stars in 2025.
Formerly known for the Netflix series Grand Army and a series of horror films, A’zion stars in two of the season’s biggest titles: Sennott’s I Love LA, now airing weekly on HBO, and the A24 sports movie Marty Supreme,coming to theaters Christmas Day.
Marty Supreme stars Chalamet as aspiring ping pong champion Marty Mauser and A’zion as Rachel, his longtime friend and eventual love interest.
For A’zion, 25, performing with multi-time Academy Award nominee Chalamet marks a career milestone. “He was on my list of top-five actors I would love to work with,” she told W magazine. “We’re very different actors, which I think worked for the movie. He was a scene partner that I felt understood the f—k out of the assignment, knew how to do improv when we needed to improv, let me challenge him, and challenged me back.”
The breakout actor has challenged herself throughout her career, accepting projects in a variety of formats and genres. Here’s everything you need to know about Odessa A’zion and her steady ascent to major movie star.
Who Is Odessa A’zion’s Mother?
A’zion, born June 17, 2000, has acting in her genes.
Her mother, Pamela Adlon, is an Emmy-winning actor who provided the voice of Bobby Hill on the animated comedy King of the Hill during its initial 13-season run and 2025 revival. She also appeared in the popular TV series Californication and Louie, receiving four additional Emmy nominations as a writer and producer for the latter alongside Louis C.K.
A’zion’s father is Felix O. Adlon, a German writer and producer. Felix and Pamela were formerly married, but divorced in 2010. Odessa has two siblings—an older sister, Gideon, and younger sister, Valentine—who are also actors.
Adlon previously spoke about how her daughters helped shaped some of her TV work, including for the FX series Better Things featuring Mikey Madison. “My real-life daughters, they chose the girls. I showed them the tapes for casting, and they cast the girls who they thought was best,” she told Jimmy Kimmel Live. “It’s kind of weird. It’s like picking your re-enactor of your life.”
When Did Odessa A’zion Begin Acting?
A’zion grew up in Los Angeles and quickly discovered her passion for acting.
She told Teen Vogue she found early inspiration in Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson’s performance from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). “I just really wanted to be like that,” she said.
So, A’zion began performing her own plays and writing skits with her siblings in their bedrooms. A’zion’s first credited acting role came in the 2011 dramedy Conception, which starred her mother Adlon and featured an ensemble cast with Connie Britton, David Arquette, and Julie Bowen.
But by her teenage years, A’zion wanted to truly put her career into motion. “I wanted to [act] when I was younger, but my family didn’t let me. When I was 15, I went and got an agent and just started doing it on my own,” she explained.
Then credited as Odessa Adlon, she picked up a five-episode part on the TV drama Nashville in 2017, along with movie roles in Ladyworld (2018) and Let’s Scare Julie (2019).
Is Odessa A’zion Also a Musician?
As she continued building her acting résumé, A’zion followed her creative pursuits through music as well. She learned to play piano and guitar and started her own band called Dessa, writing songs and playing gigs around Los Angeles. She later posted music to Soundcloud under the name “bugzbee.”
“I don’t feel stronger [about acting or music]. They feel very equal in my heart,” A’zion told The Face.
One of her biggest musical idols is legendary Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. She had the opportunity to meet the 82-year-old rock star at a Vanity Fair Oscars party and complement him on the Stones’ 1981 album Tattoo You. “He was like: ‘Fank yew, dahling, fank yew,’” A’zion recalled, mimicking Jagger’s trademark accent.
What Was A’zion’s Breakout Role?
As for acting, A’zion continued testing the waters in multiple genres, including comedy. She appeared in the only season of Fam opposite Nina Dobrev in 2019.
A year later, A’zion landed her then-biggest part as the star of Grand Army—the Netflix drama about five teenagers navigating high school in Brooklyn. The show was a vast departure from her CBS sitcom, tackling serious subjects such as sexual assault and drug use.
“I’m excited and I’m nervous and all the things in between because I’ve never been this vulnerable in front of the camera before,” she told Nylon ahead of the premiere. “I know that it’s important to play this type of a character, but at the same time, it is a little bit embarrassing to think about my friends or my family that are going to watch it.”
Grand Army similarly lasted only one season, but A’zion’s trajectory continued skyward. She appeared in the 2022 movie Am I OK? starring Dakota Johnson and the 2023 Prime Video movie Sitting in Bars with Cake also featuring Bette Midler.
What Other Movies Has A’zion Been In?
Horror movies have been a breakout vehicle for a number of prominent actors, including Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween (1978) and Johnny Depp in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). A’zion is already a “scream queen” in her own right.
In 2022, the actor starred as Riley McKendry in Hellraiser, a Hulu reimagining of the cult classic franchise featuring “Pinhead” and supernatural entities called the Cenobites. That same year, she played a descendant of Lizzie Borden in The Inhabitant.
More recently, A’zion was part of the cast for 2025’s Until Dawn, the time-bending thriller based on the video game of the same name.
Luckily, A’zion was already a seasoned horror fan. “The first film that scared the s—t out of me was The Fly,” she told Entertainment Weekly, referencing the 1986 movie starring Jeff Goldblum. “I was like, ‘I want to watch a really scary movie!’ and my mom was like, ‘Alright, watch Brundle-fly!’ That was the first one that I remember sitting down and watching and yeah, that freaked [me out].”
She unfortunately did experience a dental scare on set, chipping a tooth during Hellraiser filming in Belgrade, Serbia.
How Did Odessa A’zion Get Cast in Marty Supreme?
With new episodes of I Love LA continuing to debut weekly on HBO, A’zion has been participating in media events for Marty Supreme. She attended the Los Angeles premiere on December 8.
A’zion recorded audition tapes for the movie while filming Hellraiser, and a prior connection helped her land the part of Rachel. The casting director for Marty Supreme, Jennifer Venditti, remembered the actor from her audition for season one of the HBO teen drama Euphoria. A’zion eventually joined table reads for the cast, but never appeared in an episode.
“She has such a depth, an edge and a rawness to her that it can lend to these [characters] on the fringes,” Venditti told The Face.
A’zion is riding her career momentum into 2026. She is already confirmed to be part of Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, an animated spinoff of the hit Netflix series now in post-production, and the yet-to-be released drama movie Nickels starring Rob Riggle.
With the buzz surrounding I Love LA and Marty Supreme, it’s likely other prominent roles will materialize. “I really hope that from these two things I can have the career I want to have, because that’s what I care about: making art and making good movies that someone is going to walk out of the theatre and not think, ‘Well that was a waste of my time,’” A’zion said.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
