Bella Hadid opens up on her acting ambitions

She says acting is a dream of hers, hopes to continue after starring in Ryan Murphy's 'The Beauty'

Bella Hadid is looking to expand her career beyond modelling with her upcoming role in FX's The Beauty. The supermodel, who has graced the covers of Vogue more than 30 times and was named Model of the Year by the British Fashion Council in 2022, recently shared her aspirations during the show's New York City premiere.

"I would love to keep continuing acting after this. This is a dream of mine," Hadid told The Hollywood Reporter. "I've brought my art side and my creativity to modeling, but at the end of the day, I love being able to move, and I love film and acting in general. I love actors because they can be different characters for so many different people."

Hadid highlighted the opportunity to work with Ryan Murphy as a major factor in joining the project. "Ryan has just an incredible brain. I love his brain. I love his heart. He's somebody I really look up to when it comes to directing, and I think he brings fantasy into so many things. I'm just grateful that he brought me onto this opportunity," she said.

In The Beauty, Hadid portrays a model who becomes part of a dark narrative involving a super drug that wreaks havoc in the fashion world. While her character is a model, Hadid emphasised that the experience was very different from her real-life profession. "The modeling has no connection to what I did on this set, to be honest, it was the complete opposite of anything I've ever done," she noted.

The series, which stars Ashton Kutcher as a tech billionaire, explores the extremes people will go to for beauty. Hadid's message is simple: "Just be who you are." The cast also includes Evan Peters, Rebecca Hall, Anthony Ramos and Jeremy Pope, with a host of guest stars including Isabella Rossellini, Jaquel Spivey and Vincent D'Onofrio. The first three episodes premiere on January 21, 2026, followed by weekly releases.

Hadid began her modeling career aged 16. She was signed to IMG Models in August 2014, and made her New York Fashion Week debut the following month. In 2016, she was voted "Model of the Year" by industry professionals for Models.com. In 2017, Hadid broke Doutzen Kroes's record for the most Vogue September covers in one year by appearing in five international editions. As of 2023, Hadid was one of the world's highest paid models, earning $19 million. Hadid was born on October 9, 1996, in Washington, D.C. Her father, Mohamed Hadid, is a Palestinian-American real estate developer, while her mother, Yolanda Hadid (née van den Herik), is a Dutch former model. Through her father, Hadid claims descent from Daher al-Umar, ruler of northern Palestine in the mid-18th century. She has an older sister, Gigi Hadid, and a younger brother, both of whom are also models.

She also has two older paternal half-sisters. In May 2025, Hadid and her sister Gigi announced in a statement that they have a younger half sister through their father named Aydan Nix. They shared that they connected with Nix in late 2023. Nix was welcomed by her mother, Terri Hatfield Dull, after a brief relationship with Mohamed that came after his divorce from Yolanda. Hadid and her siblings were raised on a ranch in Santa Barbara, California. The family moved to Beverly Hills after ten years. Hadid's childhood home was destroyed in January 2025 due to the series of wildfires in Southern California.

As a teenager, Hadid was an equestrian and dreamed of competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics, although she competed in equitation, which is not an Olympic discipline. She was diagnosed, along with her mother and brother, with chronic Lyme disease in 2012. During her high school years, Hadid experienced difficulties with inattention and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She was prescribed Adderall, but subsequently developed anorexia as a result of the appetite suppressant.