Actress Mckenna Grace is drawing boundaries around nudity and highly sexualized roles as she grows up in Hollywood, while holding on to her dream of becoming a Disney princess.
“At this point, I definitely don’t do nudity or very hypersexual things,” she said of her boundaries in a Cosmopolitan interview.
Grace said she respects performers who make different choices, described those kinds of scenes as frightening to her and acknowledged that she does not know whether her feelings will ever change.
She also made clear that her career is not exclusively wholesome entertainment. In the same answer, she pointed to her character’s violent fate in the SCREAM franchise, “but my dream is to try and be a Disney princess someday,” she said.
Grace’s next role is in THE HUNGER GAMES: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING, which arrives in theaters Nov. 20. She plays District 12 tribute Maysilee Donner and her twin sister, Merrilee, bringing another major franchise to a career that began when she was a child.
Growing older has changed more than the parts she considers. Asked about moving from being a child on set to an adult, Grace described the odd expectations young performers face: behaving like grown-ups off camera, then being children when the scene requires it.
Related: Amanda Seyfried Regrets Nudity in Early Roles: ‘How Did I Let That Happen?’
“Now it’s cool to be an adult and be able to give my opinion and have a bit more ownership over characters. I’ve really enjoyed sitting down with producers and pitching all my ideas,” she said.
She has found ways to enjoy some familiar teenage milestones, too. After telling single friends that she would travel to attend their school dances, Grace ended up going to three proms, even though she did not know the other students there.
Her enthusiasm for SUNRISE ON THE REAPING goes back well before her casting. Grace said she owned a HUNGER GAMES poster, got a bow and arrows to imitate Katniss and made fan edits before stepping into the story herself.
She now keeps character journals that include details fans want to see. For Maysilee, that meant speaking up about a braid and a pin, taking the attention she once gave the series as a viewer into her work on set.
That familiarity with beloved franchises runs through her credits, including GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE. Her next television adventure also comes with a recognizable name: Netflix has cast her as Daphne Blake in SCOOBY-DOO: ORIGINS, a live-action series about how the mystery-solving friends first came together.
Grace’s affection for that world extends to her pets. Cosmopolitan reported that her dog is named Scooby Doo and her cat is Scrappy Mew. The projects may be big, but she still talks about them like someone who grew up loving the characters.
For families following her career, the distinction matters. Respecting an actress’s boundaries does not mean treating her entire catalog as a viewing recommendation. Grace is naming what she is comfortable doing now, claiming more say in her work and leaving room for a childhood dream to become a future opportunity.
Read Next: GAME OF THRONES Actress Emilia Clarke Wrecked By On-Screen Nudity, Sex Scenes
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
