Who Is Sarah Pidgeon?

After charming our screens for the last few weeks as the beloved Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in FX’s Love Story, actress Sarah Pidgeon made her red carpet debut at the 2026 Actor Awards in a look that certainly stood out against her recent CBK-inspired dressing streak—and marked her as an emerging style star to watch.

As the Detroit-born actress continues to make headlines, it’s no surprise she captured our attention tonight. Though she’s only recently added this major role to her growing resume, Pidgeon has been steadily rising through the ranks in Hollywood over the past few years.

Since graduating from Carnegie Mellon’s prestigious theatre program in 2018, Pidgeon has starred in films like I Know What You Did Last Summer and television shows such as Tiny Beautiful Things with Kathryn Hahn. She even earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress for her performance in the 2024 play Stereophonic (the most Tony-awarded play of all time), where she played a singer in a fictional ‘70s rock band.

Despite her early career successes, the multi-hyphenate’s big break came recently when she beat out over 1000 other actresses for the role of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in the new historical fiction series Love Story, which dramatizes the storied romance between the late Calvin Klein publicist and John F. Kennedy Jr.

Since the show’s premiere, Pidgeon has been making waves both for her portrayal of the eternally-loved style icon (the actress’s take on CBK’s signature hair flip has already gone viral) and for her personal fashion choices during Love Story’s press tour. With the help of stylist Emma Jade Morrison (who also works with Jonathan Bailey and Zoey Deutch), Pidgeon seems to be blending Bessette-Kennedy’s effortlessly ‘90s-cool aesthetic with her own style.

Case in point, for a recent public appearance in New York City, Pidgeon donned a knee-length leather coat from outerwear brand Aflalo complemented by simple black pumps for a no-nonsense look that felt very CBK.

She later kept her simple-yet-refined style streak alive in a visit to the Empire State Building with co-star Paul Anthony Kelly where she wore a leather halter dress from Khaite and finished the look with sleek Jimmy Choo heeled sandals.

However, her clearest direct nod to Bessette-Kennedy’s otherwise mostly minimalistic fashion choices came when she wore an Adam Lippes Merriam leopard coat a few weeks ago. Paired with quintessentially ’90s thin-framed sunnies, the ensemble was an unmistakable reference to the Kennedy’s own leopard jacket she famously wore in NYC.

Sarah Pidgeon at the 2026 Actor Awards

At this year’s Actor Awards, Pidgeon arrived on the carpet in a pale pink Balenciaga gown from the label’s Spring 2026 collection. The outfit was noticeably devoid of almost any jewellery (besides a pair of stud earrings and a matching ring from Rahaminov Diamonds), and the actress—who is currently the face of Rhode’s latest campaign for its new Pocket Blush—went with a subtle yet still glamorous no-makeup makeup look courtesy of MUA Emily Cheng and the brand, allowing the unique dress to truly speak for itself.

Featuring a bubbled silhouette, the strapless gown cinched below Pidgeon’s hips for an interesting drop-waist effect. To complete the ensemble, the emerging actress finished the look with a matching pair of Balenciaga pointed-toe heels, replicating how the look was styled on the runway.

Although one could argue that the baby pink dress wasn’t very colourful at all, its subtle splash of hue was in stark contrast to many of the looks that Pidgeon has worn recently while promoting Love Story, and is vastly different from almost anything the public saw Bessette-Kennedy wear throughout the ‘90s.

While we’ve loved seeing Pidgeon channel the late, great fashion icon throughout the new Ryan Murphy show’s press run, her look at tonight’s award show signifies that she has her own personal style that she’s excited to share—and we’re sure that we’ll be seeing much more of it very soon.