Life and career
Dominic Sessa was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on October 25, 2002, [1] [2] and grew up in Egg Harbor Township and Ocean City. [3] He is of Italian descent and has a sister. [4] [5] His mother is a teacher, while his father worked in payroll before his death in 2017. [5] [6] Sessa attended Alder Avenue Middle School and, beginning in tenth grade, received a scholarship to attend the college-preparatory school Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, [2] [6] where he planned to play ice hockey. [7] However, he broke his femur before the start of his freshman season and instead enrolled in drama classes. [7] He initially struggled but later came to enjoy the classes, acting in student productions of the plays Antigone and Rumors and the radio play of Frankenstein . [6] [7]
In the fall of his senior year, Sessa attended a casting call at Deerfield for student roles, including that of co-protagonist Angus Tully, in the comedy drama film The Holdovers , about a classics teacher having to chaperone students at a New England boarding school during Christmas break in 1970. [7] He made a positive impression on casting director Susan Shopmaker, who arranged for him a second audition with director Alexander Payne. [7] Although Payne had imagined someone younger in the role of Tully, [6] he believed that Sessa had potential and scheduled several callbacks to coach him into a more natural performance. [8] [9] Payne decided to cast Sessa after participating in a Zoom call for a script reading session with him and co-star Paul Giamatti. [6]
To prepare for the role, Sessa studied the script for two months and watched films from the period suggested by Payne, including The Graduate (1967), Harold and Maude (1971), Paper Moon (1973), and The Last Detail (1973). [6] [9] While filming The Holdovers, Sessa was admitted to the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama but took a leave of absence after completing his freshman year. [6] Upon release, the film became commercially successful and received positive reviews that named Sessa its breakout star. [a] A critic for the Roger Ebert website said that Sessa had "the energy of [...] a leading man and a quirky character actor at the same time". [13] The performance earned Sessa the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer, the Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and a nomination for the British Academy Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. [2] [14]
Sessa next starred in the Rose Byrne-led drama film Tow (2025) and appeared in advertisements for the brands Yves Saint Laurent and J. Crew. [15] [16] [17] He played an impressionist in the third installment of the Now You See Me film series, titled Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025), [18] which became a box-office hit. [19] Critics appreciated the franchise's new generation of protagonists, portrayed by Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, and Justice Smith, with the Los Angeles Times describing Sessa as particularly "charming" in the role. [18] [20] [21] Sessa starred in the Christmas comedy film Oh. What. Fun. (2025), led by Michelle Pfeiffer. [22] The film received negative reviews but became successful upon its release on the streaming television service Amazon Prime Video. [23] [24]
Sessa will portray celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain in the biographical drama film Tony , set in Provincetown, Massachusetts in the summer of 1976, before Bourdain chose to pursue a culinary career. [5] [25] Sessa said that he tried to set aside the weight of Bourdain's later fame to focus on playing a "young man who's [..] figuring it out". [5]
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