When Elle Chapman showed up to audition for “The Madison,” she immediately regretted her choice of attire. The character was a twentysomething wealthy Manhattanite named Paige, which the room full of “blonde actresses I’ve grown up watching” interpreted as all-black ensembles. Chapman, meanwhile, has always loved tailoring, and wanted to bring that to the character.
“I showed up in this tailored light blue dress with matching blue heels and a tiny blue purse,” she recalls. “And I walked in and I saw everyone and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m wearing the wrong thing.’”
Not only was the look a hit — and in fact, the wardrobe designer took inspiration from it when developing the character’s look — but Chapman beat out the rest of the room to land the role. The show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan, called her personally to offer her the part.
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“It was a moment I will never forget. I think I said, ’Are you joking?’ And he was like, ‘No, I’m not f–king joking,’” she says.
Chapman is the newcomer in the cast of “The Madison,” starring alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Patrick J. Adams and Beau Garrett in the new drama that follows the Clyburns, a New York family who head to Montana after an unexpected death in the family. Chapman and Garrett play sisters grieving the loss of their father, which Chapman immediately resonated with.
“I lost my father when I was young, and I have a big family of women. And I feel like the way it affected my family in some ways mirrored what you see in the Clyburns,” Chapman says. “When I read the script, I was like, ‘Oh man,’ it just felt so close to the heart.”
Chapman, 26, has wanted to work on a Sheridan project since she watched his show “1883” while researching a role.
“Once I started watching Taylor Sheridan, I completely fell in love with his writing. It feels very heartfelt,” she says.
She remembers telling a wrangler on that earlier project how much she wanted to work for Sheridan, and him reassuring her it would happen someday.
“He looked at me and he was like, ‘Taylor would love you. Trust me, you’ll work for him,’” Chapman says. “And then I wrapped that movie and four months later I got an audition for ‘The Madison.’”
Chapman was born in Alexandria, Va., and, due to her father’s job as a diplomat, moved to New York, Turkey and the Netherlands as a kid. When her father was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 11, the family moved back to the U.S., where she would start her acting career.
“I remember watching ‘Princess Bride’ [growing up] and I just thought Princess Buttercup was so beautiful and ethereal,” she says. “I was like, ‘I want to do that. I want to be in that movie.’”
Her first brush with fame was appearing in a Bad Bunny music video, which garnered the attention of an agent. Not long after, she appeared in her first movie, “A Man Called Otto.” The part was originally supposed to be as an extra, but she ended up sharing a scene with none other than Tom Hanks.
“As I’m getting mic’d up, I look over and Tom Hanks is getting mic’d up right next to me,” she says. “I was so nervous, but he was the nicest guy ever. I told him, ‘This is my first thing.’ And he’s like, ‘you are a total pro. You’re doing great.’”
Chapman will be back for Season Two of “The Madison,” which has already been shot, though a release date is yet to be announced.
“[Paige] is so interesting to me to play because I think on the surface, she seems very image focused and sometimes bratty and a little bit out of touch. But I think when you get to know her, you realize she just feels things at 100 percent and she loves at 100 percent. She hates at 100 percent,” Chapman says. “She’s messy, but I think that’s what makes her human.”
