Why Margaret White From Carrie Looks So Familiar

The latest actress to take up the iconic role of Margaret White, the fierce, evangelical, and abusive mother in "Carrie," is 47-year-old actress Samantha Sloyan. Sloyan is killing it in the newest adaptation of Stephen King's famous horror novel. Prime Video just released all eight episodes of "Carrie," and if Margaret's actress seems oddly familiar to you, it might be because you're a fan of "The Pitt."

One of Sloyan's most recent high-profile TV roles came in Season 1 of "The Pitt," in which she played grieving mother Lily Bradley. Bradley is given one of the darkest storylines of an already-dark season of TV: She finds out in Episode 2 that her college-aged son, who overdosed on fentanyl-laced study drugs, is fully braindead. Over the next few episodes, Sloyan's character and her husband must decide to pull the plug on their only child. It's a devastating storyline, and Sloyan's performance was praised by viewers for how real her grief felt.

Sloyan has also starred in hit dramas like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal." For some viewers, however, her most important performances are the ones she's had in the many projects of "Carrie" showrunner Mike Flanagan.

For fans of Mike Flanagan, Samantha Sloyan is best known for her major role in "The Fall of The House of Usher," Flanagan's popular and critically acclaimed 2023 miniseries. There she played the emotionally disturbed Tamerlane Usher, a role Sloyan described as compelling and tragic. "She's so lost and she's so desperate," she told Doof! Media about Tamerlane, "and she does not listen to ... what her heart tells her at all, ever."

Before playing Tamerlane, Sloyan played Leigh Crain in Flanagan's 2018 miniseries, "The Haunting of Hill House." Leigh wasn't as prominent a character as Tamerlane, but Sloyan still moved audiences with her character's big monologue in the climactic "Haunting of Hill House" finale. Sloyan also starred in the Flanagan-directed "Hush" in 2016, "Midnight Mass" in 2021, "The Midnight Club" in 2022, and "The Life of Chuck" in 2024. "Carrie" marks Sloyan's seventh time working with Flanagan. 

At a Q&A session at the 2026 Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, Flanagan talked about how nice it was to still be working with Sloyan 10 years after their first project together. "Having worked with Samantha now for more than a decade ..." he said, "this performance [in "Carrie"] is, I honestly believe, the best work I've ever, ever seen from [her]."