Sidney Prescott

Sidney Prescott
Scream character
Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott in Scream
First appearance	Scream (1996)
Last appearance	Scream VII (Upcoming)
Created by	Kevin Williamson
Portrayed by	Neve Campbell Stab films (movie-within-a-movie): Tori Spelling (Scream 2 cameo depicting Stab) Angelina Tyler (Emily Mortimer) (Scream 3 photos depicting cancelled Stab 3)
Birth date	14 March 1979[1]
In-universe information
Alias	Cassandra (play role) Laura (in hiding) Angel of Death
Nickname	Sid
Occupation	High school student (graduated) College student (graduated) Crisis counselor (formerly) Self-help author (currently)
Family	Neil Prescott (father) Maureen Prescott (deceased mother) Unnamed firstborn eight-year-old daughter (born 2013)[2] Unnamed secondborn six-year-old daughter (born 2015)[2] Unnamed baby/toddler (born approx. 2019—2021)
Spouse	Mark Kincaid (husband)
Significant others	Billy Loomis (original film) Derek Feldman (second film)
Relatives	Maternal: Roman Bridger (half-brother) Kate Roberts (aunt) Jill Roberts (cousin)
Religion	Antireligious[3]
Nationality	American
Location	34 Elm Street, Woodsboro, California (former childhood home)[4][5] Windsor College, Ohio (formerly)[3] Hollywood, California (temporarily)[6]
Status	Alive

Sidney Prescott is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Scream franchise. The character was created by Kevin Williamson and is portrayed by Canadian actress Neve Campbell. She first appeared in Scream (1996) followed by four sequels: Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011), and Scream (2022).^[7] She is set to return in the upcoming seventh film in the franchise.^[8][9] Until 2023's Scream VI (where she is only mentioned and appears via drawings), her character had appeared in each successive film in the series, her role initially that of the victim but growing into heroine where she personally confronts each killer and defeats them.

The character appears in the Scream films as the target of a series of killers who adopt the Ghostface persona, a ghost mask and black cloak, to pursue her. In each film, the Ghostface killers often murder people close to Sidney and taunt her by phone with threats and intimate knowledge of her life or the murder of her mother, leading to a final confrontation where the true killer is revealed.^[10] The killers that target Sidney have varying motivations ranging from revenge in Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3 to the fame that will come from killing her in Scream 4, due to the fame she herself has obtained as a survivor of the murder spree in the original 3 films. She first becomes the focus of her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and his friend Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), Billy seeking revenge for his mother's abandonment following his father's affair with Sidney's mother, Maureen Prescott (Lynn McRee). Scream 3 later reveals that Billy learned of this affair through Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), Sidney's half-brother, himself seeking revenge for his abandonment and rejection by Maureen, sparking the chain of events that permeate each film.

Drew Barrymore was cast as Sidney Prescott but scheduling conflicts led to her taking a smaller role as Casey Becker, with the lead being offered instead to Campbell, who at the time was starring in the television series Party of Five. Campbell was hesitant to take another horror role after finishing work on The Craft (1996), but took the opportunity as it would be her first leading role in a feature film. Campbell reprised the role in Scream 2 and Scream 3 though her own scheduling conflicts meant she could only film for a short period of time while the third film was in production. This resulted in her character's role being reduced significantly from prior installments and focus was shifted onto the series' other lead characters, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette). Campbell initially refused requests to return for Scream 4, with scripts written with her character's absence in mind, but ultimately agreed to return.

The character is depicted as an intelligent, resourceful young woman who gradually becomes stronger over the course of the series as she attempts to overcome the threats and deaths around her.^[11] Neve Campbell's role as Sidney Prescott has received significant critical praise throughout the series, earning her the title of scream queen in the 1990s, and won her the Saturn Award for Best Actress in 1997 for Scream^[12] and the MTV Award for Best Female Performance in 1998 for her role in Scream 2.^[13]