Havana Rose Liu Treats Movie Roles Like Sidequests

For actress Havana Rose Liu, movie roles are the perfect excuse to try out new niche hobbies. Her new film Tuner, in which she plays a music composition student named Ruthie, gave her a reason to take up piano, which she briefly played as a child. It also paralleled her real life — Liu’s character loses her grandmother, who was her closest connection to music. When Liu read for the role, she had recently lost her paternal grandmother, who had done the same in her own life.

“The character felt like an interesting container for a lot of the complexities of grief and drive that I had in that moment,” she says.

Ahead of the film’s release on May 22, get to know NYLON’s May It Girl, Havana Rose Liu.

Austin Butler has quietly cemented himself as this generation’s patron saint of effortless cool. The cheekbones, the vintage white tees, the perpetually quiffed hair: all canon at this point. Now, Butler steps back into his role as the face of Yves Saint Laurent Beauty’s MYSLF franchise for the launch of MYSLF Eau de Toilette Intense.

To celebrate the new gig, we caught up with Butler about his personal style philosophy, emotional memory, and his upcoming role in Miami Vice ‘85.