One evening I was watching Ash vs. Evil Dead on Starz and the show introduced a new character late in the first season; a hiker named Heather. She seemed sweet and grounded enough, and actually managed to make an impression amidst a very colorful and lovable cast of established characters. Then – spoiler – Heather gets what’s coming to her in this Deadite-infested world, a deliciously over-the-top and wicked demise. That’s the scene that officially seared actor Samara Weaving into my brain forever.

After that, Weaving added one impressive credit to her name after the next. She had a small but unforgettable role in the Oscar-winning Martin McDonagh film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. She also starred opposite The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun in the underrated Mayhem and lead the top-notch Netflix horror-comedy from McG, The Babysitter. It’s about time Weaving become a household name as an actor with A+ comedy chops, the ability to expertly balance tones, and so much more. Hopefully her new movie Ready or Not will contribute to making that a reality when it hits theaters on August 21st, but we want to do our part too, so we’re putting the Collider Spotlight on the incomparable Samara Weaving.

Daughter of a filmmaker and the niece of the prolific Hugo Weaving, the itch to act came naturally to Weaving as she was surrounded by it. “My dad is a filmmaker and a professor of film so he was always watching movies and talking about them. Whenever we’d watch movies as a family, we’d discuss them.” On top of that, her father actually got into the habit of interviewing her. “Dad always had the camera out,” she recalled. “He used to interview us, and I think I must have been five or six, and I had this really strange accent because we went to a British international school and then an American one, so I kind of sound Irish. And I’m like, ‘I want to be a dancer, or maybe a performer.’ It’s like the introvert in me was like, ‘that’s the only way I can show the extrovert side of myself.’”