Freida McFadden (born May 1, 1980) is a best-selling American writer. She is known for thriller novels. She is also a physician specializing in traumatic brain injury. Her best-selling novel, The Housemaid, was made into a successful 2025 film of the same name, starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney.
McFadden grew up in midtown Manhattan, with one sibling. Her parents, who later divorced, both worked in the medical field. Her father was a psychiatrist, and her mother was a podiatrist. From an early age, McFadden expressed an interest in becoming a physician. She attended a highly competitive New York City high school, later suggesting that the academic rigor she experience there was formative to her work ethic.
McFadden went on to study mathematics at Harvard University. Later, she attended medical school, pursuing a career in medicine, while continuing to write fiction and submit manuscripts to publishers and literary agents. During this period, she balanced her academic training with creative writing, developing material that would, later, inform her early published work.
After completing her medical training, McFadden began self-publishing fiction. Her first novel, The Devil Wears Scrubs (2013), drew heavily on her experiences as a medical intern and was based, in part, on observations from clinical training. The novel marked the beginning of her writing career and established her interest in blending medical settings with narrative fiction.
McFadden lives outside Boston with her husband, along with their two children and cat.
McFadden has stated that her background as a physician has influenced her writing, particularly in her ability to depict medical scenarios accurately. She has also explained that maintaining a stable medical career earlier in her writing life gave her financial security and allowed her to invest in marketing her books. As her author career expanded, she reduced her clinical work and now practices medicine only part time, 1âÂÂ2 days a week. Growing up in New York City, McFadden has noted that the city frequently serves as a setting for her novels.
Her 2022 book The Housemaid was an international bestseller, and was adapted for Lionsgate, with Rebecca Sonnenshine writing the screenplay, and Hidden Pictures' Todd Lieberman and Alex Young producing. It is directed by Paul Feig, and the cast includes Sydney Sweeney as Millie, Amanda Seyfried as Nina, Brandon Sklenar as Andrew, Michele Morrone as Enzo. Filming began in January 2025, and it was released on December 19, 2025. The film hit $300 million at the box office to become the top-grossing film of Feig's career in its original run.