At just 19, Mckenna Grace is already something of a Hollywood veteran. “I’ve been doing this my whole life, so it is hard to imagine myself doing anything else,” she notes, toting a resume that backs it up. In 2021, she made Primetime Emmy history as the first child actor to be nominated in a guest acting category, thanks to a transfixing performance as Esther Keyes on The Handmaid’s Tale. “That show is so heavy,” she recalls, “I had to adapt a lot of my process to be able to leave it behind at the end of the day.” Not that Grace shies away from intense roles—quite the opposite. Even as a kid, she was game to go all in for a part. Take I, Tonya, where she portrayed a young Tonya Harding. “I had to learn how to ice skate, and that was so fun, but intense!” Grace remembers coming home from skating practice covered in bruises: “My legs were so bruised and my feet were bleeding. It was my first time getting that physical for a role and that’s something I find I really love to do now.”

By now, she’s racked up more film and TV credits than most actors twice her age. With a Critics’ Choice nomination at age 11 for Gifted and scene-stealing roles in projects like Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Captain Marvel, Grace has quickly emerged as one of the most versatile and accomplished young actors today—and she’s determined to keep it that way. “I’ve just always hoped I could do this forever.”

While heavy-hitting dramas and blockbusters may have earned her critical acclaim, it’s horror that has her heart. “Screaming and crying and getting covered in blood is my therapy at this point,” she jokes, citing childhood memories of reading Stephen King and watching scary movies with her dad. Now, she’s become a bona fide scream queen in the making. Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House? Check. A creepy kid in Amityville: The Awakening? Yep. A possessed doll movie (Annabelle Comes Home)? Been there. But nothing compares to scoring a role in the Scream franchise. As a self-proclaimed “biggest Scream fan” who calls the 1996 original her go-to movie night pick, landing a role in Scream 7 (out February 2026) and working under creator Kevin Williamson felt like a dream. “I’ve seen [Scream] a million times, so you can only imagine how surreal that was to shoot!” she says. “It was an honor to do—and with Kevin too! No one knows those stories better than him, so getting to watch him work was incredible.” 

As if slasher flicks weren’t enough, Grace is venturing into another massive pop-culture juggernaut: The Hunger Games. In the upcoming prequel Sunrise on the Reaping, she’ll play Maysilee Donner, an overconfident District 12 tribute who joins a young Haymitch Abernathy in the 50th Hunger Games, the infamous second Quarter Quell. When we caught up with Grace, she was literally on a plane en route to begin filming. Seated next to co-star Joseph Zada (Haymitch Abernathy), they were busy running lines and geeking out about stepping into Suzanne Collins’ dystopian world. “We’re all so excited! Everything has been so surreal,” she says of joining the beloved franchise. “It’s daunting in the best way possible as they are scary shoes to be stepping into! I want to play her as true to the fans as I can and just hope everyone loves her as much as I do.”

One glance at Grace’s eclectic filmography and it’s clear she refuses to be put in a box. This fall, she’ll finally check “romance” off her bucket list with Regretting You, calling it one of her favorite shoots to date. In the upcoming mother-daughter drama based on Colleen Hoover’s novel, Grace not only stars as rebellious teen Clara opposite Allison Williams (Girls, M3GAN) as her mom, but she also serves as an executive producer on the project. “She’s so in command and well spoken, it was really admirable to watch. She wanted me to feel empowered in my role as a producer,” Grace says of Williams, noting how much she loved learning from the Get Out star. And for the record, Grace says filming the heartfelt mother-daughter clashes with Williams was fun… apart from “all the crying we both had to do!” 

As she stands on the cusp of her 20s, Grace has already lived many lives on screen, and she’s only getting started. In other words: keep your eyes on Mckenna Grace. She may be young, but she’s already proven she can take on every challenge Hollywood throws her way.

This story appears in the pages of V156: now available for purchase!

Photography Dana Boulos (A Creative Partner)

Fashion Valeria Semushina

Makeup (for Sasha) Shelby Smith (Highlight Artists)

Makeup Anna Kato

Hair (for Sasha) Cherilyn Farris (Highlight Artists)

Hair Ted Gibson (Exclusive Artists Management) using Ted Gibson

Manicure Olivia de Montagnac (The Wall Group) using Olive and June

Production Long Play Creative

Light Direction Dan Patrick

Digital Technician Ryan Geary

Retouching Maria Smirnova

Location The Kingsley House

Fashion Assistants Lili Mushkudiani, Oksi Belkasemi

Makeup Assistant Yana Kavalerchikyana

Production Assistants Ian Roper, Geoffrey Leslie