Who Plays Carolyn Bessette Kennedy on 'Love Story'? Meet Actress Sarah Pidgeon

Sarah Pidgeon, the actress playing Carolyn Bessette Kennedy on FX's Love Story, was born and raised in Michigan.

After studying at Birmingham Groves High School, the 29-year-old star graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2014. She then relocated to Pittsburg to attend Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, where she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in 2018.

Pidgeon's early experience in performing laid the groundwork for her career, helping her small roles in One Dollar and Gotham.

In 2019, she secured her breakout role in The Wilds on Amazon Prime, which follows a group of teen girls from different backgrounds who "must fight for survival after a plane crash strands them on a deserted island. The castaways both clash and bond as they learn more about each other, the secrets they keep, and the traumas they've all endured. There's just one twist to this thrilling Drama - Coming of Age … these girls did not end up on this island by accident."

She was then cast in the films Lazareth, The Friend and I Know What You Did Last Summer and played the main role in the 2023 series Tiny Beautiful Things.

Although Pidgeon is more focused on her acting career, several videos of herself singing have made rounds online. Her character in the Tony Award-winning play, Stereophonic, is also a singer-songwriter.

"I always love returning to the theater, that is where my love for acting began," she said of the play, per Vogue Adria. "In theater, if something goes wrong, you have to figure it out immediately. It is like walking a tightrope and it is very exciting."

Pidgeon's performance as Diana in the 2024 Broadway production of Stereophonic earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

"Every character I've played, I'm always 'Team Fill-in-the-Blank.' Even if they're extremely flawed, there's a way to justify what they did," she told ELLE. "I did judge Diana a bit for being in this relationship [with her bandmate] and finding it so difficult to advocate for herself. It's like, 'Just get out, leave him,' but it's so much more complicated than that. She's in a different time, and she's extremely dependent on him. He introduced her to music, he helped her write all of her first songs, and now she's starting to have a lot of agency as a songwriter by herself."

According to reports, Pidgeon dated Spacey Jane frontman Caleb Harper in 2022. Though little is known about their relationship, she notably appeared in the visual for the band's single "It's Been a Long Day."

"I wanted the video for 'It's Been a Long Day' to capture the sadness and desperation of the song's themes," Harper said. "The song was written in part before and after a breakup and we tried to recreate that arc in the video. We found an old apartment in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, that was both beautiful and grimy and allowed us to capture really different moods and scenes."

Before filming for I Know What You Did Last Summer ended in 2025, Pidgeon received an email about an audition call. She recorded a video at her agency the next day and ultimately got a callback a few weeks later.

When she arrived in Los Angeles, she met director Ryan Murphy and proceeded with the casting process.

"I did every scene only once. I thought, 'Okay, they are not asking me to repeat the scene. How could they possibly trust me with something like this?'" she said. "I did everything I wanted to do at the audition, but I do not know how it turned out."

A few days after the audition, Pidgeon received a call informing her she had landed the role.

During an appearance on the March 3 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the starlet revealed her team helped her in the casting process by "photoshopping blonde hair" onto her.

"I have very naturally dark hair. So I think that maybe helped with convincing production that this was the right move," she shared.

Love Story premiered on FX on February 12. The cast also includes Paul Anthony Kelly, Grace Gummer and Naomi Watts.

"She was a young woman in New York, determined to make it on her own," she said of Bessette Kennedy. "She had a rich life before and after John [F. Kennedy Jr.], she was her own person. Witty, vibrant, and she could be loud. I read a story about how she swore like a sailor at a hockey game and cheered with real passion. It fascinates me that this icon of minimalist fashion had so much temperament and such a strong presence. I hope I've kept from her the fact that I speak up more now. Playing her and wanting to honor her, I had to stand up for myself too."