Ryan Murphy’s upcoming “American Love Story,” which will focus on the late John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, has found its lead actress in “The Wilds” star Sarah Pidgeon. No one has been announced yet to play JFK Jr.
Bessette, a former model and Calvin Klein publicist, married the son of John F. Kennedy in 1996. They both perished, along with her sister, Lauren, in a plane piloted by Kennedy in 1999 off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
On “The Wilds,” a Prime Video series about the survivors of a plane crash, Pidgeon played Leah Rilke. She also starred in Hulu’s “Tiny Beautiful Things” as the younger version of Kathryn Hahn’s character Clare.
In 2024, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Diana in “Stereophonic,” which follows the ups and downs of a Fleetwood Mac-esque band in the ’70s.
Her filmwork includes the 2024 films “The Friend” with Naomi Watts and Bill Murray and “Lazareth” with Ashley Judd. She will also be seen in Sony’s untitled “I Know What You Did Last Summer” sequel, which is set for release on July 18.
She is repped by Gersh, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
“American Love Story” follows Murphy’s previous anthology series “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story” and “American Sports Story.”
Murphy serves as an executive producer on “American Love Story” along with Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson of Color Force, D.V. DeVincentis and Connor Hines. The studio is 20th Television.
FX and 20th Television had no comment.
Variety first reported this story.
