Mackenzie Davis

Mackenzie Davis (birthname: Mackenzie Rio Davis) is a Canadian actor best known for her main role in the AMC series, Halt and Catch Fire (2014-2017), and who has developed a reputation as a performer of a wide range, distinguishing herself in many film genres, beginning with drama for her supporting role in Smashed (2012), co-written by James Ponsoldt and Susan Burke and directed by Ponsoldt, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullaly, Kyle Gallner, Mary Kay Place, and Octavia Spencer, and released by Sony Pictures Classics after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Davis graduated to a more significant supporting role in director/co-writer Drake Doremus’ drama, Breathe In (2013), co-starring Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, and Amy Ryan, which launched at Sundance before a limited release by the Cohen Media Group.

Davis was cast in a major supporting role in her first Canadian feature, the rom-com The F Word (2013), directed by Michael Dowse and co-starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Megan Park, Adam Driver, and Rafe Spall, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and scoring a best-adapted screenplay win from the Canadian Screen Awards. Davis had another Toronto premiere that year with her first feature starring role in the crime drama, Bad Turns Worse (2013), co-starring Jeremy Allen White, Logan Huffman, William Devane, and Mark Pellegrino, under the co-direction of brothers Zeke and Simon Hawkins.

Mackenzie Davis played support to co-stars Zac Efron, Miles Teller, and Michael B. Jordan in director/writer Tom Gormican’s comedy-drama, That Awkward Moment (2014), delivering a strong return ($40.5 million gross on a $8 million budget) for distributor Focus Features, and then Davis co-starred with Nicholas Braun in Columbia Pictures/Sony Releasing’s comedy-horror commercial bomb (costing $33 million and grossing a paltry $71,000), Freaks of Nature (2015), with Josh Fadem, Joan Cusack, Bob Odenkirk, Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt, Vanessa Hudgens, Werner Herzog, and Denis Leary, under Robbie Pickering’s direction.

Davis co-starred opposite lead Imogen Poots in director/co-writer Anna Axster’s intimate family drama, A Country Called Home (2015), with Ryan Bingham, Mary McCormack, June Squibb, and Shea Whigham, and then Davis landed a role in her biggest movie to date in the Ridley Scott-directed/Drew Goddard-written Mars movie for 20^th Century Fox based on Andy Weir’s bestseller, The Martian (2015), starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Benedict Wong, Donald Glover, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, launching at the Toronto Film Festival before grossing an outstanding $631 million gross and landing seven Oscar nominations.

Davis went in the ultra-indie direction with her next assignments, first in talented indie filmmaker Sophia Takal’s drama, Always Shine (2016), co-starring Caitlin FitzGerald and premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, and then in the starring role in writer-director Christian Papierniak’s Los Angeles comedy-drama Izzy Gets the F*uck Across Town (2017) with Carrie Coon, Alex Russell, Alia Shawcat, and released by Shout! Studios.

Mackenzie Davis was cast by fellow Canadian director Denis Villeneuve for his anticipated $185-million-budgeted sequel, Blade Runner 2049 (2017), starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto, but which proved to be a box-office dud ($276.6 million) for Columbia Pictures/Alcon Entertainment and distributors Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Releasing. Davis then joined co-stars Charlize Theron, Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston, and Diane Lane in the Jason Reitman-directed comedy-drama, Tully (2018), launching at the Sundance Film Festival before a successful release ($15.6 million gross) for distributors Focus Features and Sierra/Affinity.

Davis was cast as a new character in the sixth entry in the Terminator franchise, Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), with Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta, although the sequel was a dud (a poor $261 million against $196 million costs) for lead producer 20^th Century Fox and co-distributors Paramount Pictures and Disney’s Buena Vista International. Davis yet again switched up genres as co-star in the period update of Henry James’ 1898 supernatural Gothic novella, The Turn of the Screw titled The Turning (2020), adapted by co-writer brothers Carey W. and Chad Hayes and directed by Floria Sigismondi, with Finn Wolfhard, Brooklynn Prince, and Joely Richardson, and released to poor box office ($19.4 million gross against $14 million costs) by Universal Pictures.

Mackenzie Davis swerved toward political satire in her next movie project as part of the ensemble of director/writer Jon Stewart’s Irresistible (2020), starring Steve Carell, Chris Cooper, Topher Grace, Natasha Lyonne, and Rose Byrne, and released by Focus Features. Davis took another unexpected turn by making her debut as director/writer/producer of her first short film, WOACA (2023), a British-backed horror fable starring Sidse Babett Knudsen and made by an entirely female production staff and crew and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.

Davis returned to acting with a co-starring role with James McAvoy in director/writer James Watkins’ English remake of the 2022 Danish psychological horror thriller, Speak No Evil (2024), with Scoot McNairy and Aisling Franciosi, produced by Blumhouse Productions and released by Universal Pictures. Davis then co-starred with Christopher Abbott and Ariane Labed in Justin Anderson’s UK/France-backed debut adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2011 novel, Swimming Home (2024), premiering at the Rotterdam Film Festival and released in multiple territories by Bankside Films and Front Row Filmed Entertainment.