This spring, the actress takes her first starring role in the blistering fashion satire Idiotka.

PHOTOGRAPHY Emily Soto
STYLED BY Yael Quint

The actress Anna Baryshnikov sits in a quaint Brooklyn cafe that could be called &ldquo;The Clubhouse for That Guy from the Thing.&rdquo; Every table has a TV scene-stealer sipping an oat latte in a nubby sweater. Behind us is an Industry villain who just did a Broadway play. A few seats over, there&rsquo;s a Tony nominee who&rsquo;s braved no fewer than three apocalypses on HBO. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a neighborhood hangout, but also an industry one,&rdquo; Baryshnikov, 33, says as we claim two stools at the bar.
She fits right in to this crew of steady working actors. Baryshnikov booked her first jobs right after graduating from Northwestern University, starting with bit parts on TV shows like Blue Bloods, then with brief-but-strong turns in prestige films like Manchester by the Sea and Love Lies Bleeding. Hailee Steinfeld tried (unsuccessfully) to wean her off a coffee addiction when they filmed Dickinson. Oscar-winning director Kenneth Lonergan still gives her advice. But Baryshnikov might soon have to wear a baseball cap over her flaxen hair to stay anonymous, at least if film critics are correct.

Bodysuit CHLOÉ Earrings and necklace CARTIER

She&rsquo;s already receiving raves from her first feature, a hotly anticipated satire about the fashion world called Idiotka, out March 12. Baryshnikov plays Margarita, a wide-eyed Russian-American designer who makes ends meet by creating Prada knockoffs. When Margarita&rsquo;s clattering immigrant family faces eviction, she enters a Project Runway&ndash;esque reality contest to try and save her home. Idiotka co-stars Camila Mendes, Julia Fox, and Owen Thiel. Ukrainian-Israeli actor Mark Ivanir plays her father, a former physician under house arrest for fraud; Galina Jovovich (mother of Milla) plays her grandmother.

Top BALENCIAGA Necklace CARTIER

&ldquo;I was so grateful to do a story about a Russian immigrant family&mdash;specifically, this incredibly hilarious one&mdash;because my own relationship to my Russian identity has always been kind of strange,&rdquo; says Baryshnikov, who is the daughter of Latvian-American ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov and American choreographer and journalist Lisa Rinehart. &ldquo;I grew up quite American in New York, but a lot of things that I thought were just family quirks, like an obsession with slippers in the house, and this willingness to confront darkness on a daily basis? That&rsquo;s just being Russian!&rdquo; [Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the former USSR in 1974.] Idiotka&rsquo;s writer-director Nastasya Popov shares this background as the daughter of Russian immigrants. Baryshnikov reflects, &ldquo;[Natasya] made me feel like I could finally own it, too. Usually roles for Russian actresses are, like, conflicted prostitute or killer spy. Those are so fun, but I was relieved to see this other facet of my identity.&rdquo;
Idiotka turns fashion into shorthand for chaos, and costume designers Natasha Simkowitz (who worked on Sabrina Carpenter&rsquo;s &ldquo;Please Please Please&rdquo; video) and Sophie Kay (Babylon) keep Margarita in a mix of Anna Molinari silk slips, grandma cardigans, and Marc Jacobs perfume bottletops repurposed as rings. &ldquo;We kept going, She&rsquo;s a raccoon!&rdquo; says Baryshnikov. &ldquo;She finds things in the trash and turns them into art.&rdquo; (She admits to having her own Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume charm. She pulled it off a perfume bottle cap in high school.)

Dress GUCCI

For the role, Baryshnikov took sewing classes in New York&rsquo;s Garment District, but when it came time to actually stitching things on camera, the pressure got real. &ldquo;My sewing machine jammed, and I actually whacked it. I was like, My job is on the line here! We have one hour to film this sequence. Come on!&rdquo; When Baryshnikov was growing up, television on school nights was off limits unless her family was watching the Olympics or Project Runway. &ldquo;Making this movie made me realize they&rsquo;re equally hard,&rdquo; she quips dryly.
There&rsquo;s a subplot in Idiotka about&mdash;spoiler&mdash;a rich contestant pretending to be poor. Baryshnikov says she &ldquo;loved&rdquo; the script&rsquo;s nepo-baby jabs, even though, to a certain generation, her own dad is best known as Carrie Bradshaw&rsquo;s doomed lover, Aleksandr Petrovsky. &ldquo;Growing up, if you weren&rsquo;t obsessed with ballet, you didn&rsquo;t really know my dad. Then in middle school, suddenly he was on Sex and the City!&rdquo; she begins to laugh. &ldquo;I mean, I was 11. It was so weird.&rdquo; She laughs somemore. &ldquo;I think in my family, like in a lot of Russian families, we had an understanding that one should be exercising their soul through art,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;However you&rsquo;re lucky enough to do that, go for it.&rdquo;

Jacket, skirt, and shoes DIOR Scarf STYLIST’S OWN

After Idiotka, Baryshnikov will get to exercise her soul&mdash;and her IMDB profile&mdash;with roles in the Cape Fear reboot starring Amy Adams and Javier Bardem, as well as the upcoming A24 drama The Drama, with Robert Pattinson and Zendaya. There&rsquo;s also Sender, a thriller starring Britt Lower and Jamie Lee Curtis, that gave Baryshnikov an unexpected research opportunity. &ldquo;The makeup artist looked so familiar,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It was Sweet P. Vaughn, the Project Runway contestant! I was so excited. I was like, Wait, tell me everything.&rdquo;

HAIR: Blake Erik FORWARD ARTISTS
MAKEUP: Lisa Aharon THE WALL GROUP
STYLING ASSISTANT: Maisie Blakelock

Anna Baryshnikov Takes the Lead

Tags

Recommended posts for you

Fashion

See All the Best Celebrity Red Carpet Looks From the 2026 BAFTAs

Film & TV

Anna Baryshnikov Takes the Lead

Fashion Week

At Richard Quinn, the Hourglass Reigns Supreme

Fashion Week

Simone Rocha Makes Sport Feel Sacred For Fall/Winter 2026

Pop culture

Gracie Abrams and Paul Mescal Make Their Red Carpet Debut

Travel & Living

Kilometre Paris and Ritz-Carlton Launch an Accessories Line for the Luxe-Loving Jetsetter

Pop culture

Kate Middleton Makes a Polished Return at the Six Nations Match

Fashion

Millie Bobby Brown's Best Style Moments