Isabelle Fuhrman on Playing the New Sally Draper

We love a good angsty TV teen (au revoir, Sally Draper!). And right now, no one’s doing that quite as well as Isabelle Fuhrman on Masters of Sex. She plays Tessa, Virginia’s whipsmart, headstrong Catholic schoolgirl daughter. The two women have been clashing all season—Virginia’s determination gene is totally coming back to haunt her. And Tessa’s coming-of-age battles—dealing with hookup pressure, puking on your nice dress at homecoming—have become the most spellbinding thread in the show, thanks to Fuhrman’s great work. I talked with the Washington, D.C., native by phone about Tessa, turning 18, and her favorite girls in the biz.

You were the orphan in the 2009 scary flick Orphan, which everybody went bonkers for. What do you remember about the part? How did you get it?

I remember my mom reading through the script first, since it was highly inappropriate for me at 10. She blacked out all the F-words and sex scenes with a Sharpie. Then I read it, and because I was so young, I think, I understood the character. Underneath everything, she just wanted to find love. People still recognize me from it—they’ll go, “Oh my God!” and turn away and tell whomever they’re with very loudly. I’m like, “I’m standing right here! I can hear you.”

I bet you get recognized a lot too from your part in The Hunger Games—you played Clove, who tries to kill Katniss.

Hunger Games fans are really cool. When I was filming a movie in Santa Fe, I went and had breakfast at a cafe. I was by myself, just reading a book. When the bill came, [the server] told me it had been paid and pointed to this booth of 12- to 18-year-olds. I went over to say thank you, and they told me they were the unofficial Hunger Games Santa Fe fan club. It made my morning.

I read that you initially auditioned to play Katniss, but were deemed too young. True?

Yes. I love those books so much, so when I went in, I did a monologue from the epilogue of Mockingjay. The casting director said that’s what made her think of me for Clove, because Clove has this huge monologue, as every villain does when you’re trying to kill the heroine.

That heroine, of course, was Jennifer Lawrence, who got the part of Katniss and is now one of the biggest stars in the business. What was it like working closely with her?

I so respect her ability to drop in and out of a scene. She can go from bawling on camera to making everybody laugh on set. She’s ballsy, and she’s not just a talented actress, she’s a genuinely great person. I think that’s why she’s become such a role model for young actors.

Your Tessa of Masters of Sex and Kiernan Shipka’s Sally Draper of Mad Men could get up to some trouble together—they’re both strong-willed and fight with their moms all the time.

Kiernan is a friend of mine and I adore her. I remember meeting her and Hailee Steinfeld at a photo shoot years ago, I think it was around the second season of Mad Men. And I will never forget this: Afterward, Kiernan texted me and said “Let’s do coffee or a light lunch.” She’s such a little woman! I love her. I kind of want to be her.

It must be great to have other young actresses in your support system, especially since so many of you are playing really sophisticated roles on television now.

It’s cool to have friends whom you can be happy for about the parts they get, and to be able to talk to people about this stuff. [Last Man Standing and Justified actress] Kaitlyn Dever and I had a whole conversation about romance scenes the other day.

Masters has thrown you into the deep end on that front—you had to kiss Michael Sheen in the beginning of the season, and now you have a story line with a boyfriend who pushes Tessa to do things she’s not comfortable with.

[The boyfriend scene] was really difficult to shoot. The first thing I thought of when I finished reading the script was, Well, I know people who have gone through this. I could remember a lot of girls in middle school who had boys expect things and ended up going further than they wanted to go. And then wondered, Is this my boyfriend? Are we together?Tessa is definitely having a rebellious moment. Can you relate?

We’re very different people. She’s very sexual and very wild, and that scares me. But that’s what makes it the perfect part for me. It’s helping me grow as an actress, and it’s helping me feel more free in a way. Growing up, I was always very mature for my age. I was just very sure that I never wanted to have regrets, so I didn’t act like other young people. It’s been good for me to play a character who does things so impulsively. Even though I don’t like going to parties, I’ve gone to some now, to people-watch, and I can understand why Tessa finds this stuff fun.

You recently turned 18 and graduated high school—a huge milestone. Do you feel different?

I’ve wanted to be 18 forever—every young person wants to be an adult, that’s the dream. I actually said that in my graduation speech. But the night before my 18th birthday, I was crying in my mom’s arms because I didn’t want to be an adult. But I feel like the only difference, really, is that my mom doesn’t have a curfew for me. Although I still have to be home early enough to walk my dogs before bed.

Hold up—you spoke at your graduation?

I was the class elected speaker, which was pretty cool. I went to an online high school, so I know my classmates and teachers from virtual chat, but I’d never met them in person. When I got the memo that they voted me class speaker, I was like, “Well, they only picked me because I was in The Hunger Games!” So I wrote that into my speech. I think that joke actually worked pretty well.

Masters of Sex is a show run by a woman with a fantastic, female-majority cast. What have you learned from working there?

The women are the reason I did the show. I hadn’t done TV before. But when I went to meet with Michelle [Ashford, creator of Masters of Sex], we had the greatest time talking about women in Hollywood. Every woman on the show is super smart, and they’re all innately beautiful people. And Lizzy is such a strong woman, and so funny. After I had the scene where I had to kiss Michael, I walked off the soundstage and she was standing there in a robe. She just said “Yup, happy 18th birthday!”

Masters of Sex airs at 10 P.M. Sundays on Showtime. For more on how the show pulls off its sex scenes, check out our interview with Ashford.