To Sarah Hyland, The Great Gatsby's Daisy Buchanan Is a Survivor

Sarah Hyland is no stranger to playing misunderstood women.

A former child star, Hyland cut her teeth as young Jackie Kennedy in the Broadway production of Grey Gardens in 2006 before transitioning to the screen, honing her comedic skills as the popular-yet-insecure Haley Dunphy in Modern Family. Having returned to the stage in 2024 as Audrey in the long-running Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, Hyland is now extending her talent for finding the heart of characters often misjudged at first glance to Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (now running at the Broadway Theatre).

“I’ve been a lifelong fan of the book,�� Hyland shares. “Honestly, between this and 1984, those were the novels I read the most when I was younger.�� While she was on-set for screen projects like One Life To Live, Lipstick Jungle, and Modern Family, “I was always reading one or the other.�� Her journey to The Great Gatsby felt beyond natural—she first saw the show while starring in Little Shop of Horrors, and was immediately hooked. “The set design, the music, the book, the actors—it was the epitome of theatre. And then, when the offer came my way, all these little idiosyncrasies just lined up. It felt perfect.��

Since the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel was published in 1925, Daisy has been a polarizing figure. Viewed by detractors as careless and self-absorbed, her defenders instead see her as a survivor of her time and circumstance. For Hyland, the latter perspective resonates. “Being a woman in the 1920s absolutely plays into Daisy’s choices,�� she explains. “She has this constant underlying resentment for her place and role in life. She has a yearning for more. But because of her upbringing, she doesn't even know what more is supposed to look like.��

In recent years, Hyland has opened up about her personal experiences with domestic violence. She's become an advocate for those enduring abuse, which makes her back-to-back roles as Audrey and Daisy particularly poignant. “When I got the offer for The Great Gatsby, I looked at my husband and said, ‘What is the universe trying to tell me?’�� she recalls. “Maybe there are things, energetically and spiritually, that are not healed for me, and that’s why I’m being called to these roles.��

Throughout her career, Hyland has portrayed women who are boxed in by the snap judgements others make of them. In many ways, Audrey is a heightened portrayal of what audiences expect an abused woman to look like, sporting a sling and a black eye alongside her undeniably villainous paramour. With Daisy, Hyland is exploring a much more grounded depiction of abuse, subtle to the outside eye yet still devastating to those experiencing it.

“To be a survivor, you have to understand humanity at its deepest level,�� she says. “I relate a lot to these women in certain ways. I am so honored and privileged to be able to provide them with understanding, and that casting directors and directors and composers and lyricists and book writers trust me with their work for these types of women. Playing them reminds me that I am a very strong, opinionated, free survivor.��

Rehearsing intense scenes—especially those where Daisy is unsafe—required a supportive environment. “The creative team was incredibly mindful,�� Hyland says. “We had discussions, the fight captain, and John [Zdrojeski, the actor playing Tom Buchanan] was always respectful, as were his covers Austin [Colby] and Pascal [Pastrana]. I’ve been in situations before where I wasn’t safe, but with these wonderful human beings, where I know there is no mal-intent, it makes a world of difference. I’m really able to dive in headfirst with them.��

One of the most difficult aspects of Daisy’s arc throughout the show is her well-maintained disconnect from those around her. Initially a coping mechanism, her ability to detach from reality to protect her sanity can be a disquieting thing. Interpreted by some as frivolity, Hyland sees it as true psychological dissociation.

“Daisy was doing anything she could to get out of her head and not pay attention, pulling the wool over her own eyes. Everything she does, setting up her cousin with her best friend, chasing fun, it’s so she doesn’t have to deal with her reality. And then Jay reappears out of nowhere, and it hits her like a truck. ‘My entire life, I have been taught to not think and just do what people tell me to do. I don't know how to get out, because I've been wired to not be able to do so.�� She was raised to believe she had no control, and the only time she ever glimpsed freedom was with Jay, five years earlier. When she thought he was dead, she shut off that part of her brain. But then he reappears, and suddenly, it’s ‘What if?’��

The relationship between Daisy and Jay Gatsby has been romanticized for a century, but Hyland sees it as much more of a star-crossed tragedy. “Young love can be very confusing, and it can be twisted into something that's not healthy. When they meet again, it has been five years of Jay pining and trying to build the life that he thinks is the only way to get her back, while she’s been struggling in this abusive marriage, having a child and pushing her real feelings down. And then, when they meet again, it's like they’re in this fairy land.��

To Hyland, as Jay goes deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, trying to rewrite the traumas of the intervening five years, the pair find themselves so far apart they aren't just on different pages—they might as well be reading different books. “Jay has spent years clinging to this dream version of Daisy, but she’s not the girl he remembers.��

As the tension between Jay’s memory and Daisy’s reality thickens, a concerning question is dangled in front of Daisy: What is Jay going to do when his dreamscape shatters, and what could he be capable of doing to her when it all comes crashing down? “Nobody wants Daisy to stay with Tom, and they don’t understand why she does. But as a woman who's been in that situation, I do. Sometimes, it’s better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.��

Hyland hopes her portrayal will bring a new perspective to audiences. “I want people to understand Daisy more,�� she says earnestly. “I hope that women are able to see themselves in her and make different decisions than her, or decisions that are right for themselves...Love or money? That has been women's plight for so very long. And I think with everything that's going on in the world today, even with the novel being published 100 years ago, it is heartbreaking for me that for many of us, it is still our plight.��

Hyland pauses, her voice low and thick with emotion. “I could cry right now, just thinking about it. But tonight, I’ll go out there, and I’ll tell Daisy’s story again. And the themes and the words that we speak on that stage will hopefully reach someone who needs that push to make a different choice for themselves.��