Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the hottest shows
on TV. One of its most memorable stars was Madylin Sweeten, who played Ray Barone's daughter
Ally. She's all grown up now, and living a pretty amazing life.
Before she became a beloved child star, Madylin Sweeten was winning over hearts in beauty
pageants. She was pretty successful at it, as she racked up more than 40 trophies in
just a year and a half of competing. She started at the local level in her hometown of Brownwood,
Texas, and she did so well that she was eventually awarded the national title of "Our Little
Miss." According to her mom, Sweeten was pretty much unstoppable. As she revealed to Pageantry
Magazine,
"She would win and win. She would talk to the judges, while the other kids were pretty
shy."
This early success was just a hint of bigger things to come. At the age of 4, Sweeten landed
her first on-screen role in the 1996 CBS TV movie A Promise To Carolyn . That same year,
she made her debut as Ally on Everybody Loves Raymond.
"Oh, no, no, no." "Hi, Daddy."
If you think the name "Sweeten" sounds familiar, you might be quick to connect the dots to
Jodie Sweetin, another adorable blonde sitcom star who played Stephanie Tanner on Full House.
But there's no known connection between Madylin and Jodie beyond starring in two of the decade's
most popular sitcoms. Their last names are spelled slightly different, after all, as
Madylin's ends in "E-N" while Jodie's ends in "I-N."
But Madylin Sweeten is related to some fellow sitcom stars, as her on-screen twin brothers
on Everybody Loves Raymond were played by her actual twin brothers, Sawyer and Sullivan.
The boys pretty much grew up on the show. Born in 1995, they were just a year old when
Raymond debuted. Fortunately, they had their big sis around to show them the ropes. Not
only was she already familiar with fame by the time her brothers started walking and
talking, she was also able to help them memorize their lines. In fact, that skill came so easily
to her that she often memorized her castmates' lines in addition to her own!
So many child stars have gone on to struggle after their initial bursts of fame. Madylin
Sweeten had her own issues after the end of Everybody Loves Raymond, but she's fortunately
managed to turn her life around since then. In 2019, she told Voyage LA,
"As a young woman, living a normal life seemed trivial, useless, and impossible to me. This
led to a quite adventurous lifestyle in my youth. By the time I was 19, I had lived the
lives of many people. I was lucky enough to see the world, meet my heroes, and work on
a primetime television series for nine years. Once my twenties came knocking at my door,
I had spent so much time chasing adventures that I had forgotten to take care of my mental
health."
Desperate for something to provide meaning, Sweeten turned to alcohol. As she recounted,
"It's a tale as old as time, a bright young woman starts chasing booze and boys to fill
the empty holes in her soul. My life went on, directionless, like this for a while."
But thankfully for Sweeten, she would soon re-discover some direction and purpose.
Theater helped Sweeten out of one of the darkest periods of her life. As she explained to Voyage
LA,
"I met a man, a wonderful man, who saw all my flaws and embraced them. Along with him
came his boisterous theater company the Loft Ensemble . There I made lasting friendships
that turned my life around."
Sweeten also stressed the importance of keeping good company in that interview, advising young
people not to make the same mistakes she did, as she noted,
"You take on the attributes of the people that you spend the most time with, so choose
wisely."
Sweeten is still with the Loft Ensemble today, as well as with the man who introduced her
to it. That would be fellow actor Sean Durrie , whom she married in 2018 in a low-key ceremony
surrounded by friends. It's a happy ending for what could've otherwise been another tragic
story. As Sweeten told Voyage LA,
"I will be forever grateful to my friends and husband for teaching me that responsibility
can be sexy and fun."
While Sweeten was able to fight off the demons that so often accompany child stardom, the
same can't be said for everyone else in her family, as her brother Sawyer killed himself
in 2015, just a few weeks shy of his 20th birthday. Their mother was interviewed later
that year by Larry King about Sawyer's passing.
"When my young son gets angry and goes into the bedroom and says, 'I want to kill myself,'
should I be wary?"
"Yes. Yes, we should take it seriously."
Sawyer's passing forced his sister to take a harder look at her choices. As she told
Voyage LA in 2019,
"My brother was a funny young man who also hated a lot of things. One day he was just
different, he didn't like anything anymore. It happened fast, over a few weeks, and then
he was gone. He took his own life, and we were blindsided."
She also noted,
"Eventually, I realized that my brother would never get to marry his soulmate, have a career,
or live up to his full potential. That was my job now, and I was going to do my best
to do everything I could to live up to the man I know he would have been."
In 2019, the Sweeten family restored two run-down theaters on the grounds of North Hollywood's
St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Sawyer's name. Also contributing to the restoration were
Ray Romano and his wife Anna, as well as Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal. During
the dedication ceremony, Madylin said,
"My brother told me once that belief in any form is so powerful that it creates our reality
and the next reality that we'll encounter, that believing in heaven and reincarnation
is what makes it real. That particular belief of his gives me the most joy because he believed
in everything so he is everywhere. I urge you, all of you, to come here and find him
when you need a light and when you need to believe."
Madylin Sweeten has really expanded her repertoire since her sitcom days, and she isn't afraid
to tackle a tough project if she believes it will make a difference. In 2018 and 2019,
for example, she performed with the Loft Ensemble in a production called The Columbine Project,
which is based on the tragic real-life 1999 Columbine High School shooting. Sweeten wanted
to not just entertain people, but also to honor the memories of those who died and help
to prevent such atrocities from happening again. In an Instagram post, she called The
Columbine Project, quote, "one of the most important pieces of theater" in Los Angeles.
She also noted,
"Many people have said to me that if every student in America could see this play, school
shootings would be a thing [of] the past. It's difficult to watch, yes, but it's important.
At the end of every show, we list all the major school shootings since Columbine. Every
night I watch my cast mates backstage stop where they are to force themselves to watch
the names scroll by, to NEVER FORGET. It's impactful."
While Sweeten has taken on some hefty dramatic roles in recent years, that doesn't mean that
she's lost touch with her comedic roots. That's plenty clear in the hilarious demo reel that
she posted on her YouTube channel in 2015. She has a true instinct for comedic timing,
and her ability to take on both comedic and dramatic roles proves just how versatile her
skill set really is.
Sweeten has also turned her ability to make people laugh to good use. She's appeared in
dozens of episodes of TMI Hollywood, a show that parodies celebrities. One hilarious routine
features her playing herself in a fake talk show hosted by Kim Kardashian . She also spoofed
Adele in a parody of the singer's "Hello" video. We don't know how Sweeten does it,
but she somehow seems to only get funnier and funnier with age!
"Can you hear me?"
"Sorry, Adele, he can't hear you, because he's not on America's most reliable wireless
network."
Sweeten's showbiz skills go beyond acting. In 2019, she was named the Associate Producer
of The Blank Theatre's 27th Annual Young Playwrights Festival. According to her LinkedIn profile,
she also designs and constructs sets for seven productions per year for the Loft Ensemble.
She also serves as a production manager with the ensemble, overseeing the company's many
productions through conception, art design, casting, and scheduling.
Not only does Sweeten do plenty of work behind the scenes for the Loft Ensemble, she also
does it on a budget. According to her website, her work with the ensemble is donation-based,
so she has to get pretty creative in order to stretch her funds as far as possible. On
top of all that, she also went to school to get an associate degree in interior design,
graduating in 2018 from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
If you've watched every episode of Everybody Loves Raymond dozens of times and you still
can't get enough of Madylin Sweeten, never fear! If you want to see her in person, you
could always book a ticket to Los Angeles and catch one of her stage performances. But
if something you can watch a little closer to home is more your speed, you can always
check out some of her recent movie and TV projects. She's lately been filling her resume
up with some guest starring roles and indie flicks, including a short film called Frames,
which you can watch on YouTube.
Sweeten's other recent credits include a part on the 2016 miniseries Games Gone Wrong as
well as one episode apiece of Grey's Anatomy and Lucifer. Sweeten might not be as visible
these days as she was back when she was in the Barone household, but she does seem to
have struck up a positive work-life balance that allows for plenty of time with family
and friends. If you miss seeing her on your screen on a regular basis, you can at least
rest assured that she's doing well.
Sweeten has pursued many passions over the course of her life, and it seems like she's
always finding new ways to express her creativity. In 2020, for example, she set up a website
with her husband called by Design by Durrie to share some of her art with the world. The
site's Instagram promises,
"Custom art on custom products. Curated by a lovely couple just for you."
Some of the art for sale in Design by Durrie's online catalog includes an illustration of
a person pulling a rabbit out of a hat, someone doing a trick on a motorcycle, and a series
of shelves entitled "All Mixed Up." The illustrations are offered on a variety of products, including
t-shirts, backpacks, and even beanbags.
Madylin Sweeten has faced a lot of ups and downs over the years, but through it all,
she's managed to learn how to love herself. She struggled with her body image for years,
but she finally eventually got to a better place after becoming sober. In an interview
with Ventura Blvd , she emphasized the importance of body positivity. As she put it,
"I’m comfortable with who I am. Body positivity starts with the way you talk to yourself.
I refuse to tell myself hateful things I would never tell another person."
For Sweeten, loving yourself and loving your body means building yourself up. While it
can be all too easy for people to criticize their weight or their skin or other aspects
of their bodies, she doesn't allow herself to do that anymore. This is evident in her
artwork. One of the designs that she and her husband sell on Design by Durrie features
an image of a kneeling woman hugging herself along with the command "love thyself." And
the product description for a tank top featuring that design sums up Sweeten's stance on body
positivity:
"We could all use a little more self-love!"
We agree, and we're happy to see that Sweeten has finally gotten to that point in her own
life!
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