2026 Hollywood Breakout Star Walked Dogs to Pay Rent Before Starring in 'Obsession'

Inde Navarrette may be one of horror’s biggest breakout stars today, but not long ago, she was wondering when her next acting job would come.

The actor broke out as Nikki Freeman in Obsession, the supernatural horror hit that turned into one of 2026’s biggest surprises. According to Box Office Mojo, the film has defied all expectations, grossing roughly $339 million worldwide against a reported production budget of just $750,000. Amid that runaway success, social media is now flooded with Obsession fan theories, Nikki edits, and praise for the performance that made Navarrette a household name. But that recognition didn’t happen overnight. 

After filming wrapped, Navarrette hit a rough patch, a stretch she recently opened up about in an interview with Complex.

“I didn’t work for a year and a half after Obsession,” she said. “I was auditioning, I was doing everything, just nothing was sticking. I wanted to pay rent and I wanted to do things. So I was walking dogs, I was streaming, doing everything I could.”

Getting the part was a climb of its own. Navarrette described the casting process as a true roller coaster, one that included a Zoom read that nearly cost her the role.

“The audition process for Obsession was so crazy,” she told the outlet. “I sent in a tape, they liked it, I went in for a Zoom read, it was awful. Because I felt like I knew where I wanted to take it but my body just wasn’t reacting. I think I was in a space personally where I was so shut off from my own emotions, and with Nikki, you need all of them.”

One final chance turned everything around. “Then you have the opportunity for the chemistry read, which was the third and final thing,” she continued. “I was like ‘If I have this opportunity, I’m doing everything that I possibly can,’ then I left feeling proud that I did it, and then I felt even more excited when I got the phone call that I got it.”

These days, audiences cannot get enough of her. Long before Obsession, Navarrette streamed titles like Call of Duty, Halo, Red Dead Redemption, and Fallout, and even assembled her own gaming PC during the pandemic.

Curious new fans have started combing through Navarrette’s old livestreams, sending view counts climbing on clips of her playing The Last of Us long before Hollywood took notice.

Born Danielle Fabiola Navarrette on March 3, 2001, the actor picked up the nickname “Inde” early in life. In a conversation with USA Today, she revealed that her mother started calling her that because she was such a fiercely independent child, and the name stuck, eventually becoming her professional identity.