Hollywood is well known for promoting a lot of actresses as “the next big thing” only for them to falter. However, some do seem to have the ingredients to take off. Alexandra Daddario is a good example. The actress got attention as Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson movies, looking great as a teen demigod and boosting herself up in Hollywood. She had a recurring role on USA Network’s White Collar to showcase her beauty although it was a brief part. Daddario was truly launched thanks to her role in HBO’s True Detective, which was marked by one very amazing scene. She’s parlayed that fame into some blockbusters such as San Andreas and Baywatch. Today, Daddario is bouncing between a variety of movies on both the big screen and Netflix and promising to take off even more.

It’s easy to see why. The woman is utterly gorgeous with lush black hair and incredibly piercing eyes. She has an athletic body that can make a simple pair of jeans and blouse look as great as a red carpet dress. She’s also amazingly talented and quite funny. Her Instagram and twitter feeds are packed with great stuff and she’s notable for having a down-to-earth personality despite her fame. Currently, Daddario is hooking up with her Baywatch co-star Zac Efron which has done even more to build up her fame in Hollywood. With her star rising up, fans should get to know her as more than just a pretty face. Here are 20 things to know about this rising star and how Daddario seems set for some major Hollywood fame to come.

She does Serious Training

As the Percy Jackson movies open, Daddario’s Annabeth is among the many students of a “camp” where demigods undergo training. That involved a lot of wild stuff, including a brief swimming sequence. The sequel was called Sea of Monsters, so it obviously involved a lot more water action and Daddario needing more swim training to handle it. In San Andreas, her character survives a huge tsunami hitting San Francisco and nearly drowns while trying to save others underwater. Daddario joked about how it felt working in a huge water tank, especially when a few of her co-stars decided to “relieve” themselves in it around her. That all paid off with her role in Baywatch having her be believable as a lifeguard.

Naturally, Daddario had to ramp herself up big time for the role. Talking to Women’s Health magazine, she stated that "For Baywatch, I started doing weight training, which I had never done before, and I saw a huge difference. It was kind of amazing, the transformation I went through." She laughs about it and says it was great as “for the first time in my life, I have real abs!” The movie may have ended up being a bomb but Daddario can’t complain over how much she got herself into shape for it.

She’s a Great Voice Actress

Obviously, Daddario is known for her great beauty but has a fine voice too. She showed it off in Texas Chainsaw 3D with some loud screaming and other crazy antics to sell the terror of the film. However, Daddario has also done a lot of voice work for various projects. That includes Robot Chicken, the hit Adult Swim cartoon that puts a very twisted edge on popular movies and TV shows. She did both voice work and motion capture for the video game Battlefield: Hard Edge as the daughter of a gun runner briefly involved in the crazy plot. Most prominently, Daddario voiced Janet Van Dyne aka the Wasp in Avengers Academy, a mobile phone game.

Daddario really gets into it, not phoning it in like another actor would. "Voiceover work, I really enjoy. I don't get to do too much of it, but I've been doing more lately, and I like it because you get to do a bunch of options, one after the other, and you can go as big as you want or as small as you want, and you don't think about it sometimes." So as great as Daddario looks on screen, her voice alone can give some great performances. (Source: Kokatu)

She’s Seriously Funny

On talk shows, Daddario is a favorite for how she comes off nice and charismatic. Her on-set stories are great such as how she auditioned for Baywatch in a swimsuit; the on-set pranks pulled by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on San Andreas and Baywatch; the various run-ins with stars; how it felt having the world seeing her topless with True Detective; and more. Even better is Daddario’s Twitter feed as she’ll often fire off some great jokes and lines about day-to-day life (such as how her philosophy appears to be “keep squeezing that rock and eventually water comes out of it”.) There’s also the funny captions she’ll put on her Instagram photos of her dogs or when she is just hanging around.

This has gotten Daddario a lot of fans but one notable critic: her mother. Her mom watches her Twitter and how “instead of calling, she sends me e-mails” to scold her.

That includes everything from demanding certain posts be deleted to toning down her mentions of certain risqué stories or curse words. Daddario cracks that her mother “spends more time on my Twitter than I do” yet always uses e-mails for complaining. No matter how big a star you are, you still have your mother adding to the humor of your life. (Source: Vanity Fair)

Eyes Are Her Priority

Daddario is notable for her fantastic curves and lush black hair. However, most will say her best feature is her eyes. An incredible bright blue, they’re almost hypnotic with how bright they are, captivating and easily dominate in any of her photos. Even Zac Efron has gushed about them on Twitter and Instagram and how they highlight Daddario. But she is open on how important it is to protect them, not just for herself but millions of others. Daddario is a proud partner of the See America campaign set up by Allergan.

“You go to the dentist and the doctor, and you get work done regularly but for some reason people aren’t aware they need to go to the eye doctor, especially if they have good vision. It’s important for people to know that there are conditions that could lead to blindness that are easily preventable if you go to a doctor.”

Daddario will often post on her Instagram and Twitter feeds about this, using a hashtag to encourage fans to get regular checkups and what kind of medication/cleaner to be using. Most will agree it’s terrific for Daddario to keep her eyes looking so great as they help her stand out wonderfully and boost herself even more in Hollywood. (Source: People)

Fantasy Is her Thing

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. After all, Daddario came to fame starring in the Percy Jackson movies as the daughter of Athena. It was a huge fantasy series, showcasing her athletic skills and lots of CGI creatures. What drew Daddario to the part was that she was a fan of the books already as she has always been a fan of fantasy stories and films. She especially liked the Greek myths, telling WWD that

“Greek gods are so human in so many ways — they love and they hate and they get jealous — and that’s what makes the stories about them so exciting.” She also indulged in a bit of fantasy for Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive video.

Surprisingly, Daddario hasn’t done more for it (although quite a few will claim San Andreas was hardly in the world of realism). She does look like a near-goddess and it’s remarkable she hasn’t been snatched up for a comic book movie of some sort. But given her love for fantasy and how she often promotes books on her Twitter and Instagram pages, it seems likely that Daddario indulges eventually and gives fans something to truly fantasize about.

daddario vs the hotel bed

Every actor has their hotel nightmare stories. It can be mostly the fault of the staff as they can be horrible in their treatment and subpar service. It can be bad weather or coming down with a bad case of an illness. However, Daddario admits that one bad hotel experience was fully her own fault. While shooting San Andreas in San Francisco, Daddario got herself a spray tan to try to fit into her California raised character a bit more. However, tired out after a long day of shooting, she forgot to wash it off properly before going to bed. The next day, she had to race out to the set and thus didn’t realize that the bedsheets were now stained with the tanning oil.

As she related to Harry Connick Jr on his talk show, Daddario was hit by a huge bill by the hotel staff. “I guess they (cleaning staff) had gone into my room to clean my room and basically I got a phone call from the hotel, saying that I had to pay the mattress sanitation fee or else they were gonna call production.” Daddario didn’t say how much the bill was but suffice to say, she’s learned to clean up after herself a bit more to avoid such a humiliation.

Steve Martin is her Favorite Comic

Steve Martin has shown a terrific ability to evolve over the years. He started out as a truly zany comic, his stand-up routines marked by wearing an arrow through his head and his loud “Excuuuuuuuuuuuuse me!” line becoming a national catchphrase. That’s not mentioning his long-time hosting Saturday Night Live with the “Wild and Crazy Guys” sketches. He had success in films but has shifted in later years with roles as a writer toning down the craziness and even writing a Broadway show. Daddario cites Martin as her favorite comic, saying,

“I'm a huge fan of Steve Martin. He's hilarious, but he has this depth to him and this way of dealing with the difficult things in life with a sense of humor that I think has helped me as an actress.”

Daddario has cited Martin’s books like Born Standing Up and An Object of Beauty as among her favorites. She’s even nicknamed one of her dogs Steve Martin as he always makes her laugh. Daddario will often quote Martin in her Twitter feed and showcase his work a lot. She claims meeting him would be a dream come true and shows how Martin’s humor has continued to impress fans across generations. (Source: People)

Her Brother is a Shadowhunter

Daddario gets the fame in her family due to her acting career. Of course, her father is well known in New York as a prosecutor and her mother as a lawyer herself. However, it looks like acting is what the next generation of her family is getting into. Her brother Matthew, studied business at Indiana University Bloomington and it seemed he would be getting into that in New York. But like his sister, Matthew was pulled into acting and soon doing well with it. He had roles in some movies like Delivery Man and The Game Stands Tall, looking well and standing out with his nice talent.

Since 2016, Matthew has become more famous to slews of young female fans for his role as Alec Lightwood on the Freeform hit Shadowhunters. Based on the best-selling The Mortal Instruments book series, he’s part of a group of warriors fighting demons in modern New York. The role has won praise for both his acting and Alec’s relationship with a warlock. Naturally, Alexandra can’t help but promote her brother, plugging the show on Twitter and shows that both Daddario siblings share a love for acting. (Source: IMDB)

Her Dress Sense is Casual

On the red carpet, Daddario is always a great sight. She often picks outfits designed to show off her curves. She can mix up colors, and almost anything on her looks great considering how she has her own personal style, and it always compliments her hair and eyes. However, when not working, Daddario much prefers dressing down.

"When I have no appointments, I spend the day in pyjamas and go to the dog park in pyjamas. I'm very casual."

Indeed, the paparazzi have often caught Daddario just walking around in sweats and jeans a lot and taken to wearing hoodies to cover herself up. However, she still maintains a great shape so even that can look like a million dollars on her. This is a woman who will wear slippers as she goes outside and prefers lounging on her couch watching Netflix to being on point with style. But don’t think she’s a snob about it. “I love getting dressed up. You feel like a princess for a night. It’s fun to play and try new things to help you feel like a different person from the everyday.” So while Daddario is a knock out on the red carpet so often, she enjoys cutting back in her outfits as much as anyone else.

She can't be domestic

It’s natural to think of Daddario as a hot catch for guys. Rumors abound of her and her Percy Jackson co-star Logan Lerman having had a brief relationship. Currently, she’s dating Baywatch co-star Zac Efron although they seem to be a bit cagey about how serious they truly are. However, Daddario has admitted that she’s not the best roommate. She cites being so busy that she can rarely clean up and will leave dirty dishes around a lot. She’s joked about how bad she is at cooking as she grew up in a wealthy house and thus it took moving to L.A. to really start tending to herself. This includes even having to shop for herself.

Her dog, Levon however, is the best roommate to have, apparently. She regularly posts pictures on her Instagram page of the two together with funny poses like the dog glaring at her when she’s in an elegant dress. She and Efron regularly do “dog dates” with his own pitbull which just adds to the heat of their possible relationship. While she’s good handling the dog, Daddario admits her skills with a human companion could use a bit more work.(Source: GQ Magazine)

She Attended an All-Girl School

As someone who grew up on Manhattan’s East Side, public school was not going to be a normal thing for Daddario. Instead, her high school years were spent at the Brearley School, one of Manhattan’s most notable all-girl schools. It’s notable for how so many of its graduates go on to attend the Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale that all put an emphasis on excellence. They have produced scientists, authors, and politicians and are known for a good atmosphere. But as Daddario told GQ Magazine, her biggest concern was the complete lack of any boys and how it affected her.

"I went to an all-girls school for part of high school, and the idea of boys was amazing to me, like, all I ever wanted to do was kiss boys and be around boys."

She continued with stories about how she would go through things so elaborate just to get a boy to kiss her, but thankfully, they often returned it with a lot of enthusiasm. So if Daddario seems a bit off around guys, it’s because her formative years were educated only with women which gave her quite the different high school experience. (Source: GQ Magazine)

Yoga Dates Are Her Thing

The paparazzi had gotten used to getting pictures of Daddario leaving gyms. The woman is able to make just a pair of sweatpants and a sports top look fantastic thanks to her constant training to keep her body in shape. She openly admits her looks opened doors for her and maintains a top-notch shape for that reason. After all, Baywatch had her in a tight swimsuit for the entire movie so it’s only natural she has to maintain herself. Daddario has talked of the usual diets to stay this way, but she rather enjoys having a more “full figure” to herself. What may surprise is that she relies on yoga more than anything for her daily routines.

"For some reason, I find jogging incredibly boring, but yoga is the only thing I've been able to consistently do over the years. I think it's because it also is sort of a mental exercise and calms you and refocuses you."

It sure does help with her flexibility which she’s used for several of her parts. As pics like this can show, she’s excellent at it. This photo just once again proves that yoga is seriously good for you, and maybe we should all be taking a leaf out of Daddario's book. (Source: In Style)

She’s an Upper East Side Gal

Unlike many actresses, Daddario didn’t struggle in some small town. With her father as a powerful New York prosecutor and her mother a lawyer as well, she grew up, if not rich, then very comfortably well off. She was raised on the Upper East Side, thus used to a life among the rich and already getting into a good high-scale fashion sense. She has cited it to People and others on how much she loved it and getting some good breaks there.

“Since I lived in the [New York] City where auditions and agents are very accessible, I have been doing it since I was a kid.” That got her a start and she admits still having a love for New York and its teams.

However, Daddario has gotten used to life in Los Angeles. "When I first got here, I thought L.A. sucked. I hated it. I had this pretentious Manhattan thing. But now I've made such a life here, and I'm so happy here. They're just really different places. I can't really compare them because there's great things about both of them." Most will agree Daddario has taken to the California lifestyle majorly, from her outfits to loving a more exciting life but deep down, she’s a Manhattan girl at heart. (Source: In Style)

She Found Her First Role Boring

Like many young actresses, Daddario had a few early credits in commercials like Barbie toys. She finally latched onto a good part with the classic soap opera All My Children. She played Laurie Lewis, a teen victimized in high school, but doing her best to handle it. Daddario was only 16 but brought a good charm to the role. Her first day was unique as being a “day player” she didn’t get her own dressing room but ended up sharing the one left by Kelly Ripa. Sadly, Daddario was about to join during what fans of the show call a major low point. There were various conflicts between the producers and writers and this led to the decision to move away from the adults and focus on the teen character. This backfired majorly with falling ratings and thus, in less than a year, a new showrunner change let many of the teen stars go, including Daddario.

Daddario has said that she obviously still learned from playing the part, like how to deal with darker themes. She also says she loved her first shot at events like the Daytime Emmy awards and FUSION fashion launch. However, Daddario admits that “I played the good girl and it was pretty boring” but was afraid of approaching the writers for more. As it happened, she was let go and while she enjoyed the experience, she was happy to get a shot at more daring parts. (Source: Heavy.com)

Charlize Theron is Her Icon

Every young Hollywood starlet has their own icons. Not just in acting but also in style. Daddario has been wowing on the red carpet for quite a while, loving showing off and rocking quite a few dresses. When asked by people who she modeled herself after, her answer was simple: Charlize Theron. Daddario is a fan of the Oscar-winning actress and has spoken of her drive and power.

“I think [Theron] is pretty remarkable. Everything she wears is amazing and I think just she’s just so glamorous and beautiful because it’s sort of the way she carries herself.”

Daddario admits she hasn’t met Theron in person but is still in awe of her a lot. "Charlize Theron is perfect. She holds herself with so much poise and grace. I don't know if she looks so good because she has the best body or because she has the confidence to feel comfortable in what she's wearing." Given Daddario’s own fantastic style at various events, it’s clear how much Theron has influenced her. The woman is a great fashion gal in her own right but Theron’s influence just makes her better. (Source: People)

She Does her Own Stunts

Daddario’s star-making performance was in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. She was Annabeth Chase, daughter of the goddess Athena. She thus was pushed as a warrior from the start, showing her athletic abilities. In both that movie and the sequel, Sea of Monsters, Daddario got into some good scenes to show her fighting skills and would insist on doing her own stunts as much as possible. True, that was frowned on as the producers didn’t like her risking herself but she handled it well nonetheless.

Daddario also insisted on doing them for the 2015 disaster movie San Andreas. She played the daughter of Dwayne Johnson who is in San Francisco when a mega-earthquake hit. She’s soon working with a pair of brothers to survive amid aftershocks and a tsunami. She told Den of Geek that “I think it’s important, too, when you are developing the character, to actually do the things and go through the things that the character would have gone through to the extent that you can, because I think it helps you develop the character.” While Baywatch didn’t have as much for the actress, her love of stunts shows her commitment to her roles.

The President Knows About THAT Scene

For all her other credits, it’s one scene that put Daddario on the map big time. HBO’s True Detective is best known today as one of the finest examples of a show that had a stellar first season than a terrible second one. But that first season remains amazing with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as a pair of cops investigating a crime over several years. The show takes various twists and turns and bounces around different timelines a lot to discuss the case amid some rather wild character moments. However, the show-stealer had to be when Daddario, as a young moll, seduces Harrelson’s character.

The screencaps of the moment burned up the Internet and Daddario admits she wasn’t prepared for the attention. What truly blew her away was when she read how President Barack Obama was a fan of the show and wanted to have episodes screened for him early. As she told People, Daddario’s first reaction was how cool it was. But her second was “oh, wow…the President has seen me.” It certainly elevated Daddario up more but also shows how far-reaching that series was.

She Starred in Radioactive

A few famous actresses can list music videos to their credits. Courtney Cox was in “Dancing in the Dark”, Taylor Swift had an all-star cast for “Bad Blood” and even Angelina Jolie was featured in Meat Loaf’s “Rock and Roll Dreams Come True.” Daddario joins that list as she’s been featured in a few music videos. Most prominently was Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive.” Daddario is a mysterious drifter trying to save the band from a puppet-fighting ring run by Lou Diamond Phillips. Her special pink teddy bear saves the day by beating the other puppets with Phillips beaten by the captive ones as the band leaves.

It’s nutty but it fits the Dragons’ unique vibe. They told Rolling Stone they wanted something unique and writer/director Syndrome delivered that. Daddario was still best known in 2012 for Percy Jackson and thus not as huge a deal but brought a good quality to the part. She’s shown on a “making of” video talking about how much she loves the band and “I’m having a great time.” It’s not as famous as so many of her other roles but it’s still one of Daddario’s notable roles which helped her rise to fame.

Her Dad has power

If you want to date Daddario, you’d better be careful. Because her father has some serious clout to get you in trouble. Her grandfather, Emilio Q. Daddario, was a Connecticut congressman for 12 years. Daddario’s father, Richard, inherited that love of politics and law. He spent time as the Department of Justice’s attaché in Moscow and then worked for the New York police counterterrorism unit. Before that, he was a prosecutor for 13 years with an excellent record. Daddario’s mother, Christina, was also a lawyer and the two remain prominent in the New York political circles. Daddario has stated to Variety and others that there was a bit of tension due to her father’s job as threats were common although she’s thankful it didn’t extend to anything serious.

While Richard may be retired, he still has plenty of clout in New York. Indeed, while his daughter is famous in Hollywood, Richard is still recognized for his various cases and working with preparing New York cops for any terror-related activities. Thus, if a guy makes the mistake of making Alexandra upset, her dad can take the “overprotective father” motif to the extreme.

She’s an Amazing Piano Player

One of Alexandra’s early roles was a recurring bit as an employee on Parenthood. She played Rachel, a smart gal who connected with the various employees including Adam (Peter Krause). It heated up with them having a kiss but Adam realized he couldn’t break his wife's heart and broke it off with Rachel deciding to leave so as not to cause things to get worse. One scene has her playing the piano as Adam looks on, a nice and quiet moment. It would be easy to assume it’s the classic “player piano” bit used a lot on TV. As it turns out, it was Alexandra herself who was playing.

She started training at the age of nine, telling Marie Claire that she found it excellent training for acting. It helps her focus and is also great to simply unwind after shooting. On her Twitter feed, Daddario will often post videos of her playing and showing her great style off. While she wouldn’t call herself a professional, she does show a great talent for it and amazing more of her roles don’t try to integrate it in. So if acting dries up, maybe Daddario can give concert playing a try.