Hereditary (2018) Cast — Where Are They Now?

Hereditary (2018) shocked and unsettled audiences with its relentless grief drama and slow‑burn supernatural dread, and it launched a cast whose careers split into striking directions. This round‑up checks in on the key players from Ari Aster’s debut feature: where they came from, the standout work that followed, and what they’re doing now,  from Toni Collette’s continued powerhouse turns to Alex Wolff’s genre and directing moves, Ann Dowd’s steady prestige run, Milly Shapiro’s music and stage projects, Pat Barnett Carr’s steady character work, and Gabriel Byrne’s latest film attachments. Here is Hereditary (2018) Cast – Where are they Now?

Toni Collette as Annie Graham

Annie Graham is a miniature artist struggling with grief after the death of her distant, secretive mother. Her already fragile family life collapses when her daughter Charlie dies in a horrific accident. Consumed by guilt, anger, and sorrow, Annie becomes emotionally unstable and desperate for answers, especially as strange events begin to plague her home.

Seeking comfort, Annie turns to the occult, only to uncover that her mother led a cult devoted to the demon Paimon. Every attempt Annie makes to protect her family instead fulfils the cult’s plan. By the end, she is possessed and killed, revealed as a tragic pawn in a ritual that ensured her family’s destruction was inevitable.

Toni Collette — Where is She Now?

Toni Collette (born 1972) broke out with Muriel’s Wedding (1994) and gained international notice with The Sixth Sense (1999), which earned her an Academy Award nomination. Equally fluent on stage and screen, she’s delivered acclaimed turns in About a Boy (2002), Japanese Story (2003), Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Hereditary (2018), and won an Emmy and Golden Globe for United States of Tara (2008–2011).

As of January 2026 she remains very active: filming the heist thriller The Roots Manoeuvre (dir. Raine Allen‑Miller) and attached to several projects in pre‑production — Ibelin (Morten Tyldum), Hot Mother (Lucy Knox), Fangs (Lucy McKendrick) and A French Pursuit (Catherine Hardwicke).

Gabriel Byrne as Steve Graham

Steve Graham is Annie’s practical, steady husband: a calm, rational psychiatrist trying to hold his fracturing family together after the deaths that unspool their lives. He’s the stabiliser — compassionate, pragmatic and often the voice of reason — yet increasingly powerless as grief, guilt and supernatural forces overtake Annie and their son Peter. Steve’s medical training drives him to seek logical explanations (and to protect his family), but his rationalism leaves him blind to the cult legacy tied to Ellen; that blind spot costs him disastrously. By the film’s end he becomes a tragic casualty of forces he neither understands nor can control, his charred corpse a grim symbol of the family’s collapse.

Gabriel Byrne — Where Is He Now?

Gabriel Byrne (born 1950) is an Irish actor with a long, distinguished career across theatre, film and television. He came to international attention in films such as Miller’s Crossing (1990) and The Usual Suspects (1995), won a Golden Globe for his lead role in In Treatment (2008–2010), and has earned multiple Tony and Emmy nominations for stage and screen work. Known for his quietly intense presence, Byrne moves easily between prestige drama, character parts and international cinema.

Most recently attached (pre‑production as of Feb 2025) to Wayne Wang’s English‑language Tokyo set drama Diary of a Mad Old Man, starring opposite Fan Bingbing and Lily Franky. The film — adapted from Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s novel with a screenplay by Kelvin Wyles and produced by an international slate of companies — but no dates for shooting just yet.

Alex Wolff as Peter Graham

Peter Graham is Annie and Steve’s 16‑year‑old son: a withdrawn, awkward teenager crushed by survivor’s guilt after his sister Charlie’s death. He’s the emotional nervous system of the film — sensitive, brooding and full of suppressed shame — whose quiet fragility makes him the perfect target for the cult’s supernatural designs. Peter tries to disappear rather than confront his family’s pain, retreating into isolation, prickly silence and occasional outbursts of anger or panic.

His guilt warps his relationships: he alienates his mother, who alternates between blaming and obsessing over him, and drifts away from his father’s calm rationalism. As strange forces escalate, Peter’s vulnerability shifts from psychological trauma into literal possession — his physical and mental breakdowns pave the way for something else to inhabit him. By the finale Peter is stripped of agency: he falls, is revived by a supernatural orb, and is crowned as the cult’s chosen vessel, his identity replaced by the dark power the family has unwittingly nurtured.

Alex Wolff — Where is He Now?

Alex Wolff (born 1997) is an American actor, musician and filmmaker who moved from child‑star TV fame with The Naked Brothers Band into darker, more adult work. He broke out on film with roles in Patriots Day (2016) and the chilling lead in Hereditary (2018), where his subdued, panic‑flickering performance earned wide attention. Since then he’s alternated between acting, writing and directing — making his feature directorial debut with The Cat and the Moon (2019) — and appeared in major studio fare like the Jumanji films and prestige films such as Oppenheimer (small role).

Alex Wolff is currently busy: he’s filming Jumanji 3 (2026) as Spencer Gilpin, attached to the Holocaust drama Untold, about Rudi Vrba’s escape from Auschwitz‑Birkenau, and developing If She Burns as writer‑director — an Italy‑set family drama about grief, desire and mysterious wildfires that features Justice Smith, Asa Butterfield and Victoria Pedretti. He continues to balance acting with directing and music (touring with his brother as Nat & Alex Wolff).

Pat Barnett Carr as Ellen Taper Leigh

Ellen Taper Leigh is the secretive, domineering matriarch whose occult life shapes the entire story. On the surface she’s a late‑life grandmother whose funeral opens the film, but buried in her belongings Annie uncovers that Ellen led a coven devoted to the demon Paimon. Cold, calculating and utterly devoted to the cult’s goal of giving Paimon a male host, Ellen engineered rituals and manipulations across generations — using intimacy, gifts and control to bend her family toward the coven’s design.

Though mostly absent through the story, Ellen’s influence is constant: her photo albums, ritual texts and the discovery of her headless corpse in the attic reveal the extent of her planning. Her actions set Charlie’s fate in motion and ultimately ensure Peter becomes the vessel. In the climax Ellen’s body sits among the coven’s tableau, a grim testament that her lifelong sacrifices succeeded — she is both the architect of the family’s destruction and a chilling symbol of devotion to a monstrous cause.

Pat Barnett Carr – Where is She Now?

Pat Barnett Carr is a character and supporting actress who works mainly in independent films, shorts and regional (including LDS) productions. She’s appeared in features and shorts such as White Iris, an End of Life Love Story (2019), The Nutcracker Wish, Thanksgiving (2024) and had a small but memorable turn as Ellen (Queen Leigh) in Hereditary (2018).  Her recent and upcoming work includes the short Thanksgiving (2024), the family/fantasy feature The Nutcracker Wish (post‑production) and a TV episode of Dusty Bluffs (post‑production).

Ann Dowd as Joan

Joan is a deceptively warm, steady presence who first appears as a fellow mourner and support‑group confidante to Annie. She offers comfort and the promise of contact with the dead, guiding Annie into séances and grief rituals while presenting herself as a grieving mother who understands loss.

Beneath that calm exterior Joan is a devoted acolyte and organiser for Ellen’s cult; she engineered key events (including the séance and the manipulation around Charlie) to shepherd a male host to the demon Paimon. In the finale she stands among the coven as one of Paimon’s leaders — a betrayer whose empathy was a calculated mask for cold, methodical devotion to the cult’s purpose.

Ann Dowd — Where is She Now?

Ann Dowd (born 1956) is a veteran American character actress celebrated for her fierce, precise performances across film, television and theatre. She earned major notice in indie films like Compliance (2012) and won wide acclaim for roles in Captain Fantastic (2016) and Mass (2021). On television she became especially prominent as Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale (2017–2025), winning a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress; she also earned praise for The Leftovers (2014–2017) and continues to be a sought‑after supporting player in prestige projects.

Dowd’s slate remains active. She recently appeared in The Exorcist: Believer (2023) and The Friend (2024), and her upcoming screen work includes the TV adaptation The Testaments (Aunt Lydia) and the feature Poor Boy (pre‑production) starring alongside Guy Pearce. She also continues to work on stage and lends her voice to animation and audio projects.

Milly Shapiro as Charlie Graham

Charlie Graham is the strange, inward 13‑year‑old daughter of Annie and Steve whose odd mannerisms — a constant clucking, disturbing sketches and a painful fascination with death — mark her as both vulnerable and otherworldly. Her accidental decapitation in a roadside horror is the film’s inciting tragedy, detonating the family’s grief and setting Annie on a desperate path toward contact with the dead.

Though physically dead, Charlie remains central: her sketchbook, rituals and apparent spirit become the focal point for Annie’s séances and the coven’s manipulation. Ultimately she is revealed as the initial vessel tied to the cult’s plan for Paimon; her corpse and crowned severed head serve as grim symbols of the cult’s work while her “presence” helps facilitate the transfer of Paimon into Peter, completing the family’s ruin.

Milly Shapiro — Where is She Now?

Milly Shapiro is an American actress and singer who first gained attention on Broadway as one of the original Matildas in Matilda the Musical (honoured with a Tony Honor in 2013) and moved into film with a haunting lead turn as Charlie in Hereditary (2018). She has continued to work across stage, screen and music, appearing in TV projects and lending her voice to animation while co‑creating the band AFTERxCLASS in 2021.

Shapiro’s recent and upcoming projects include the post‑apocalyptic horror feature The Hallowarrior and a stage appearance in The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse (2025). She remains active musically with her band AFTERxCLASS and continues to take selective acting roles in film, TV and voice work.