One of Hollywood's brightest new stars strolls into the cookie shop across from her Brooklyn apartment with a warm smile, arms outstretched. She’s casually dressed for the humid summer afternoon in crisp head-to-toe white, which accentuates her striking blue eyes against long rust-colored locks, dyed for her role in the cyber-thriller series Mr. Robot.



Over tea, the actress, Grace Gummer, is friendly and totally at ease—a far cry, she says, from earlier in the week, when she stepped into the role of fashion model for a shoot to celebrate Women in Film, a nonprofit organization that promotes equal opportunities for women in the entertainment industry. “I really understand why supermodels are paid a gazillion dollars,” says Gummer, 31. “It’s 95 degrees, and I’m wearing wool pants and cashmere sweaters, cars coming in every direction, and the photographer is like, ‘Smile, okay, back, front, turn around, and hop in the air.’ ”

Max Mara Atelier coat, turtleneck, pants, sunglasses, and bag; Cartier earrings and rings (worn throughout). Jennifer Livingston

Modeling may be out of the ordinary for her, but playing a character comes far more easily. The actress portrays the brash FBI field agent Dominique “Dom” DiPierro in Mr. Robot, which starts its third season on the USA Network this month. To prep for the part, Gummer shadowed real FBI agents, and says the show’s plot has left her with a healthy dose of paranoia (Dom is out to stop a hacker hell-bent on bringing down corporate America). “I use encryption apps for texts and calls,” she says. As for the hair, “I like it red. People notice me more, and I don’t think that’s necessarily for my work.”

The Italian luxury fashion brand Max Mara—a longtime partner of the annual Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award, which honors the young generation of stars on the rise, embodied by Gummer—would no doubt disagree. “Grace is an actress who combines a strong talent with a playfulness, originality, and intelligence that’s also expressed through her style,” says Maria Giulia Maramotti, Max Mara’s director of retail.

Max Mara Atelier coat, and turtleneck. Jennifer Livingston

Gummer, who studied art history and Italian at Vassar, considered becoming a costume designer until a theater- director friend sent her a script and she decided she’d rather say the lines than create the clothes. She caught her first big break in 2011, in the Broadway revival of which led to roles in high-profile TV shows like The Newsroom, American Horror Story: Freak Show, and Good Girls Revolt, and in which she portrayed a young Nora Ephron. (Incidentally, Gummer’s mother, Meryl Streep, a close friend of the late writer-director, also played a version of Ephron, in the lightly fictionalized 1986 film Heartburn.)

"Grace is an actress who combines a strong talent with a playfulness, originality, and intelligence that’s also expressed through her style,” says Maria Giulia Maramotti of Max Mara.

The actress has two projects coming up on the big screen. “I just filmed Beast of Burden with Daniel Radcliffe,” she says. “It’s a very cool, Bonnie and Clyde–style crime thriller.” She’s also dipping her toes into comedy with The Long Dumb Road. “It was just after the election, and I wanted to laugh and make other people laugh. I’ll do whatever I can get my hands on that means and says something important to the world.” Asked who is on her director wish list, she is quick to name Paul Thomas Anderson (“like a dream”) and Kelly Reichardt (“I want to work with more women”). And she finds inspiration in contemporaries Carey Mulligan, Sarah Paulson, and Claire Danes. “They’re my friends, but I also love their work.”

Now that her career is taking off, Gummer says her wardrobe has had to play catch-up. “I don’t go to work in sweatpants anymore,” she says, laughing. “I’m a little bolder now. Maybe it’s the hair.”

Max Mara Atelier coat, turtleneck, pants, sunglasses, and bag; Converse shoes. Jennifer Livingston

Lead image: Max Mara Atelier coat, sweater, pants, sunglasses, and bag; New Balance sneakers; Hair: Tommy Buckett for Garnier; Makeup: Justine Purdue for Charlotte Tilbury; Production: The Lovely Works.