The I T GIRL

I really like walking around and talking,” says Vancouver-born actress Mackenzie Davis over the phone as she wanders through Bryant Park in New York City. “I find I get so anxious giving interviews in my apartment. I like to be out so I can compose myself to some degree.” Her love of being outdoors and in perpetual motion could be attributed to her summers spent boating “on the high seas” with her family along the Sunshine Coast. “It’s seriously the most magical place,” the 28-year-old actress says with delight. The words “magical,” “sublime” and “gorgeous” come up often when Davis talks of home, but, the actress admits, it was only after she left Vancouver that she began to fully appreciate the city. “I went on a hike with my mom not too long ago, and it was a hike that I’d gone on my entire life, but it was the first time that I really saw how beautiful and intense nature is in Vancouver,” she

recalls. Today, the actress bounces you know...d between Los Angeles and New did id .. yo w. u York while filming AMC’s o Canadians k kn no

are dominating the w summer hit Halt and Catch u .. o big screen this summer... y . Fire (now in its second sea

d d i Evangeline Lilly, Ant-Man (out

son). The show, largely i

y . July 17); Hayden Christensen, o .. u w AmericanHeist (out July 24); Rachel heralded by critics as the o k n n k McAdams, Southpaw (out o next Mad Men, features u w

July 24); Cobie Smulders, yo ... a small ensemble cast of id Unexpected (out July 24) d di d. highly combustible charac..w oy nok ku

ters working in Silicon Prairie uyo d di ... now

during Dallas’ 1980s communications boom. Davis’ character, Cameron Howe, is equal parts coder and hacker and has a predilection for all things punk. “Cameron loves to be hated, but that’s what I love about her,” says Davis, laughing. “Questions like ‘Do people like me?’ and ‘Am I allowed to speak?’ never enter her mind. She thinks she’s the shit, and that’s so cool!” While Davis is a decidedly quieter and more thoughtful version of her Halt and Catch Fire counterpart, she shares a similar love of saying exactly what she’s thinking. (She started off our phone conversation by politely saying she hates talking on the phone.) Passionate about civil rights, along with gender dynamics and their ties to feminism, Davis declared herself a feminist while studying at McGill University in Montreal. So what does the actress have to say about the rise of high-profile women and men declaring themselves feminists this year? “I think it’s great, but I hope it’s not just another trend that we consume and then spit out,” she says. “There are more conversations to be had after you declare yourself a feminist.”

Actress Mackenzie Davis on Canada, coding and the conversations you need to be having.