Hailee Steinfeld’s Multi-Racial ‘Sinners’ Role Had “Deeply Personal” Impact On Actress

Despite the undead nature of her latest role, Hailee Steinfeld had a profound connection to the character.

The Oscar nominee recently opened up about how she related to her multi-racial role in Ryan Coogler‘s Sinners, which premieres April 18 in theaters, as she reflected on “all the questions … that this movie raised for me.”

“It had such an impact on me personally,” she told People. “Therefore, I feel like the least it can do is make an impact on those that watch it. I think it affected all of us so personally and so deeply, and I do believe that you feel that and you see that when you watch this movie.

Steinfeld, who is part-Black and part-Filipino on her mother’s side, plays a multi-racial vampire named Mary in the 1930s southern-set horror.

“I’m so grateful for the deeply personal connection that each of us have [to the material], mine being with my family history, with my grandfather, who I wish was still here to answer all the questions that I have that this movie raised for me and making this movie raised.

Michael B. Jordan stars in Sinners as twin WWI vet enforcer brothers, Smoke and Stack, who come home to start a blues club in 1930s Mississippi, but discover a supernatural evil waiting for them.

Coogler previously explained to Deadline that the film came from a very personal place for him as well, following a death in his family.

“Look, it all started with my Uncle James, who was from Mississippi. He passed away while I was working on Creed. He was, for a long time, the oldest man in our family, and he lived in close proximity to me,” he explained. “And his house was close enough that I could walk to it as a kid. I spent a lot of time with him, man. And he would listen to blues music. That was his thing.”

Coogler added, “I would find myself listening to those blues records when I wanted to think about him, and I would feel like I was conjuring him, if the song was good enough and loud enough. If the room was dark enough, I would feel like he was right there listening with me.”