Best New Yorker Profiles

In some ways, the world is cooked. But being a twelve-year-old still kind of eats.

How Scott Rudin turned Laurie Metcalf into the First Lady of American Theatre.

The pop star brings motherhood and middle age to the dance floor.

The Senate candidate believes that Democrats can win by appealing to higher values. Can he succeed in the age of Trump?

California’s governor has been touted as the Democrats’ best shot in 2028. But first he’ll need to convince voters that he’s not just a slick establishment politician.

The network’s new editor-in-chief has championed a press free from élite bias, while aligning herself with a billionaire class more willing than ever to indulge Donald Trump.

As Secretary of State, the President’s onetime foe now offers him lavish displays of public praise—and will execute his agenda in Venezuela and around the globe.

Will Pope Leo XIV follow the progressive example of his predecessor or chart a more moderate course? His work in Chicago and Peru may shed light on his approach.

Rebecca Mead profiles the British actor and memoirist as he takes on the role of Lady Bracknell in a West End production of Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

A Profile of the former Talking Heads front man, whose 2025 tour features songs from his album “Who Is the Sky?” Amanda Petrusich reports.

In a Profile, the Oscar-winning star of movies including “Die My Love,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and “The Hunger Games” discusses fame, having kids, and politics. Jia Tolentino reports.

Zohran Mamdani’s opponents, including Andrew Cuomo, thought his socialist politics and his position on Israel would sink his candidacy for mayor of New York. Instead, Eric Lach reports, the young candidate is poised to take City Hall.

A Profile of the actress, the star of TV shows including “Felicity,” “The Americans,” and “The Diplomat.” Emily Nussbaum reports.

The founder of “House Inhabit” gained popularity chronicling the Presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Clare Malone reports on how she has continued to grow her audience during the second Trump Administration—with political gossip and “quality conspiracy.”

The musician’s overwhelming popularity can overshadow his ethos of self-reliance, Amanda Petrusich writes. On his new album, “Guitar,” he played every instrument and is releasing it on his own label.

A Profile of the Tony-winning actress, including her comments about Audra McDonald, Kecia Lewis, Glenn Close, Hal Prince, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Can Claudia Sheinbaum manage the demands from D.C.—and her own country’s fragile democracy? Stephania Taladrid reports.

A Profile of the author of the new book “Vanishing World,” plus “Convenience Store Woman,” both translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori. Elif Batuman reports.

Alexandra Schwartz profiles the director of “The Childhood of a Leader” and “Vox Lux,” whose new film stars Adrien Brody and is an Oscar favorite.

Alice Gregory reports on L. A. Paul, a philosophy professor at Yale and the author of “Transformative Experience,” who has written about how there is no rational way to decide whether to have a child.

A profile of Marielle Heller, the director of “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” and the new Amy Adams movie “Nightbitch,” as well as an actor in “The Queen’s Gambit.” Emily Nussbaum reports.

Glenn Horowitz sold the archives of writers including Vladimir Nabokov, Alice Walker, Bob Dylan, and Gabriel García Márquez. Then Don Henley of the Eagles accused him of possessing stolen property.

A Profile of the “Saturday Night Live” star Bowen Yang, who co-hosts the “Las Culturistas” podcast with Matt Rogers and will appear in the upcoming movie “Wicked.” Michael Schulman reports.

With her new memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens,” the star of the Food Network’s “Barefoot Contessa” and “Be My Guest” looks back on her troubled childhood, her East Hampton store, her collaboration with Martha Stewart, and her marriage to Jeffrey.

A Profile of the L.A. surgeon who has operated on Charlize Theron, Laura Ingraham, Aaron Rodgers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other celebrities. Zach Helfand reports.

Molly Fischer on the Emmy Award-winning actress, and how the comedian and writer, who got her start with the Girl Who’s Never Been on a Nice Date, created a network hit.

Trailing Trump in polls and facing doubts about his age, the President voices defiant confidence in his prospects for reëlection. Evan Osnos reports.

Joshua Rothman joins Geoffrey Hinton on his island and learns why the neural-network pioneer thinks A.I. systems, like Open AI’s ChatGPT, could grow too smart to remain under our control.

Michael Schulman profiles the director of “Alien,” “Blade Runner,” “Gladiator,” and “Thelma & Louise,” who discusses his career and his new movie about the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby.

After a No. 1 hit, “Unholy,” the artist is under pressure to do it again. Kelefa Sanneh writes about her new album, “Feed the Beast.”

Anthony Broadwater spent sixteen years in prison and twenty-two more as a registered sex offender, Rachel Aviv writes. For him and for the author of “The Lovely Bones,” justice is a difficult dream.

In his first interview since a near-fatal stabbing, the author talks with David Remnick about the attack, his recovery, and his new novel, “Victory City.”

The Republican leader’s ambition has always been his defining characteristic. Attempting to placate both Trumpists and moderates may lead to his downfall, Jonathan Blitzer writes.

John Lahr on the actress and screenwriter—who has appeared in such movies as “Love Actually,” “Sense and Sensibility,” and “Nanny McPhee”—taking on a musical adaptation of the latter.

France’s renowned author, known for his penetrating portraits of murderers and disaster victims, trains his eye on his own emotional collapse, Ian Parker writes.

After making “The Good Wife,” Robert and Michelle King went rogue, creating wildly experimental series that capture the vertigo of post-Trump America, Emily Nussbaum writes.

The star of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Mad Men”—who is also a director, a rom-com fan, and a Scientologist—likes to swim in the weird, Michael Schulman writes.

Calvin Tomkins writes that recognition for the American sculptor, who is representing the U.S. at the Venice Biennale, may have come late but it seems foreordained.

Sixty years after renouncing modernity, the writer is still contemplating a better way forward, Dorothy Wickenden writes.

Jonathan Blitzer writes about how the musician’s political persecution pushed him into a career he was never sure he wanted.

Lauren Collins on a food-world star’s method and mess.

David Remnick on how, half a century after the Beatles broke up, McCartney is still correcting the record—and making new ones.

The behavior geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden, author of the new book “The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality,” is waging a two-front campaign: on her left are those who assume that genes are irrelevant, on her right those who insist that they’re everything.

Calvin Tomkins profiles the artist Kerry James Marshall, a virtuoso of landscape, portraiture, still-life, history painting, and other genres of the Western canon.

Lauren Collins writes about how the star of “Lupin” pulled off his greatest confidence trick.

His runaway success began with castaway junk: a bag of bottle caps along the road. Now, Julian Lucas writes, the Ghanaian sculptor is redefining Africa’s place in the global art scene.

Rachel Syme writes about Kim Kardashian West’s makeup artist, Mario Dedivanovic, who is known for his Masterclass series and is launching his own cosmetics line.

Elizabeth Kolbert on how a scientist known as the “father of global warming” watched his dire predictions for the planet come true.

Her new album, “Punisher,” was crafted with foresight and intention, but the absurdity of the world in which it’s being released requires a certain amount of disengagement, Amanda Petrusich writes.

Alex Ross on Igor Levit, who, during Germany’s shutdown, streamed more than fifty performances from home and is questioning what a concert can be.