On her first day on the set of Imperfect Women, Apple TV‘s latest mystery series, Kate Mara found herself playing a dead body.
As it turns out, it wasn’t the only time she’s portrayed a corpse. Earlier in her career, in the 2017 film Chappaquiddick, she had a turn as Mary Jo Kopechne, the young campaign staffer who died when Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge. Before that, in 2014, she played reporter Zoe Barnes on Netflix’s groundbreaking political drama House of Cards —she was the one Kevin Spacey shoved in front of a Metro Train.
Practice, as they say, makes perfect. Or as Mara puts it, “This was not my first time on one of those slabs.”
Luckily for the 43-year-old actress — who happens to be Rooney Mara’s older sister, as well great-granddaughter to both Tim Mara, founder of the New York Giants, and Art Rooney, founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers — her part in Imperfect Women involves plenty of undead acting, as well. She stars — largely in flashbacks — alongside Kerry Washington and Elisabeth Moss as part of a friends-since-college trio in Los Angeles that turns toxic and starts spilling out secrets after Mara’s character gets murdered.
“I knew right away it was something I was going to be interested in,” she says.
Mara had never worked with Washington before, but her husband, actor Jamie Bell, had (they co-starred in 2022’s Shining Girls). And years earlier Mara herself had briefly met the Scandal actress, back when she first began auditioning as a teenager. “Kerry’s manager is the one who started my career,” she says. “When I was 14, we got [the manager’s] info somehow, and I sent her a tape of me singing a jingle, along with my resume and headshot.” Mara started getting sent on auditions and eventually began landing small roles: an episode of Law & Order in which she played the daughter of a murder victim, as well as shows like Nip/Tuck and Everwood. It wasn’t long before she was making enough money to support herself — and convince her parents that she didn’t need to go to college.
For a decade, she steadily climbed the casting ladder, playing Heath Ledger’s daughter in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, a small-town waitress in 2006’s We Are Marshall, and a sniper’s widow in 2007’s Shooter. But then, in 2013, she was cast as Zoe Barnes, the snoopy reporter who becomes strange bedfellows with Frank Underwood on House of Cards. The character got killed off after only one season but afterwards her career took off, with stellar ensemble roles in big-budget films like 2015’s superhero tentpole Fantastic Four and, that same year, Ridley Scott’s massive Matt Damon survival epic The Martian.
Still, despite spending time on such lavish sets, she wasn’t entirely prepared for the level of spending on an Apple TV series. “Our trailers were in Hancock Park, and we’d walk through this incredible neighborhood to shoot at this beautiful house, and it was very glamorous,” she says. “It was just so dramatically big.” It was also uncharacteristically convenient, the first time she’s been able to work at home in Los Angeles — where she and her husband have been raising three children — in 15 years, since she played Dylan McDermott’s unstable mistress in that LA-set season of American Horror Story (her character got killed in that series, too).
Mara, though, has no trouble roughing it when the need arises, and she’s just finished shooting two much leaner productions. To costar in Tim Robinson’s quirky dark comedy Friendship, she spent days in New Jersey sewers. “I thought, ‘Oh, that scene will be on a soundstage,’” she says. “But it was real. And there were bats.” There was also the several weeks she spent on a “tiny, tiny, tiny set” in Ireland, where Werner Herzog was shooting his “wildly peculiar” drama Bucking Fastard, in which she and her sister Rooney act together, playing identical twins so close they speak in unison and fall in love with the same man.
There is one ambition Mara still hasn’t fulfilled, however — landing a Broadway gig. But she’s determined. After wrapping Imperfect Women, she and her family decamped for New York and she’s put out the word to her agents that she’s looking for stage acting opportunities. Luckily for her, she knows some people — like her cousin John Mara Jr., producer of the Broadway hit John Proctor is the Villain — and has some helpful neighbors.
“I live near Carrie Coon,” she says, “and our husbands just did a movie together, so I’ve called her a few times to be like, ‘Tell me exactly how we make this work?’”
On her first day on the set of Imperfect Women, Apple TV’s latest thriller, Kate Mara found herself playing dead.
As it turns out, it wasn’t the only time she’s portrayed a corpse. Earlier in her career, in the 2017 film Chappaquiddick, she had a turn as Mary Jo Kopechne, the young campaign staffer who died when Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge. Before that, in 2014, she played Zoe Barnes, the plucky reporter whom Kevin Spacey shoved in front of a Metro train on Netflix’s groundbreaking political drama House of Cards.
But her death on Imperfect Women was at least a bit different. “Somehow,” she notes, “this was still my first time on one of those slabs.”
Luckily for the 43-year-old actress — who happens to be Rooney Mara’s older sister, as well as great-granddaughter of both Tim Mara, founder of the New York Giants, and Art Rooney, founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers — her part in Imperfect Women involves plenty of undead acting, too. She stars — largely in flashbacks — alongside Kerry Washington and Elisabeth Moss as part of a friend group in L.A. that turns toxic and starts spilling out secrets after Mara’s character gets murdered. “I knew right away it was something I was going to be interested in,” she says.
Mara had never worked with Moss before, but her husband, actor Jamie Bell, had (they co-starred in 2022’s Shining Girls). And years earlier, Mara herself had briefly met Washington, back when Mara first began auditioning as a teenager. “Kerry’s manager, shoutout to Kathy Atkinson, is the one who started my career,” she says. “When I was 14, we got her info somehow, and I sent her a tape of me singing a jingle, along with my résumé and headshot.” That apparently was enough; Mara started getting sent on auditions and landing small roles: an episode of Law & Order as well as shows like Nip/Tuck and Everwood. Soon, she was making enough money to support herself — and convince her parents that she didn’t need to go to college.
For a decade, she steadily climbed the casting ladder, playing Heath Ledger’s daughter in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain and a cheerleader who’s also the narrator of 2006’s We Are Marshall. But then, in 2013, she was cast as Zoe Barnes, the snoopy reporter who becomes strange bedfellows with Frank Underwood on House of Cards. The character got killed off after only one season, but Mara’s career took off, with stellar ensemble roles in big-budget films like 2015’s superhero tentpole Fantastic Four and, that same year, Ridley Scott’s massive Matt Damon survival epic The Martian.
Still, despite spending time on such lavish sets, she wasn’t entirely prepared for the level of spending on an Apple TV series. “It was just so dramatically big and glamorous,” she says. It was also uncharacteristically convenient, the first time she’s been able to work at home in Los Angeles — where she and her husband have been raising three children — since she played Dylan McDermott’s unstable mistress in that 2011 L.A.-set season of American Horror Story (her character got killed in that series, naturally).
Mara, though, has no trouble roughing it when the need arises, like when she starred in last year’s quirky dark comedy Friendship and spent days filming in New Jersey sewers. “I thought, ‘Oh, that scene will be on a soundstage,’ ” she says. “But it was real. And there were bats.” There were also the several weeks last year she spent on a “tiny, tiny, tiny set” in Ireland, where Werner Herzog was shooting his upcoming and “wildly peculiar” drama Bucking Fastard, in which she and her sister, Rooney, play identical twins so close, they speak in unison and fall in love with the same man.
There is one ambition Mara still hasn’t fulfilled, however — landing a Broadway gig. But she’s determined. After wrapping Imperfect Women, she and her family decamped for New York and she’s put out the word to her agents that she’s looking for stage acting opportunities. Luckily for her, she knows some people — like her cousin John Mara Jr., producer of the Broadway hit John Proctor Is the Villain — and has some helpful neighbors.
“I live near Carrie Coon,” she says, “and our husbands just did a movie together, so I’ve called her a few times to be like, ‘Tell me exactly how we make this work?’ “
This story appeared in the March 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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