SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL
Maddie Ziegler (18) and Eddie Benjamin (19) practise laser focus, work ethic and gratitude at every opportunity (I tallied their use of the word “grateful”, which came up no less than 30 times in our hour-long interview), and not in the woo-woo tonality often linked to Californians and Instagram stars. They share a thoughtfulness in their choice of vernacular, their mutual appreciation of each other’s work and the pursuit of their wildest dreams—though they make a point of not forgetting to do “kid stuff” along the way.
“It’s a thing, because we’re always working. We’re like, let’s go and do some kid sh*t today! I bought this electric bike and we’ve been riding around the neighbourhood—in a safe manner!” he says with his signature gap-tooth grin, which makes me question his assessment of “safe”.
Work for the pair spans every aspect of the creative arts. Maddie is arguably the most recognisable dancer in the world—she starred in the for years and cemented herself in pop culture history with a bounce-off-the-wall performance in Sia’s “Chandelier” music video when she was just 11. In 2020, she added actor to her repertoire, moving into multi-hyphenate creative territory with a lead role in Sia’s first directorial debut, , alongside Kate Hudson. She also has two highly anticipated films under her belt: Steven Spielberg’s remake of , set to hit the big screens later this year, and which first premiered at SXSW (the South by Southwest film festival) earlier in March and is slated to make its way to on-demand streaming platform HBO Max.
