Here are five reasons Mercedes McNab may be the coolest 26-year-old in Hollywood: (1) Do you see those shapely hips on the next page? Mercedes is an Afro-Brazilian dancer. Those hips can rev at 5,000 rpm. (2) Speaking of revs, she's got a name that breaks the speed limit. (3) She's an intelligent, witty starlet with a successful acting career. (4) Her dad happens to be Bob McNab, the late-1960s British soccer star. (5) Look at her!
You probably first saw Mercedes in her role as Harmony Kendall on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel. She thinks the shows gave a lot of folks the wrong idea about her. "People know me from roles where I played the biggest bitch ever," she says. The fact is, this stunner bears no resemblance to the catty type she often portrays on-screen. Vivacious and engaging, she is blessed with as easygoing an attitude as you'd expect from a native of western Canada.
Nowadays Mercedes resides in L.A., and her big-screen career is gaining steam. When we caught up with her, she'd just wrapped The Pink Conspiracy, a dark comedy due out next year. You can also catch her in Hatchet, a classic blood-splattering horror flick that had critics raving at the Tribeca Film Festival. She plays one of the leads opposite Kane Hodder, the horror legend best known for his work as Jason in the Friday the 13th films. "This was straight gore," Mercedes says, a smile blooming. "People getting decapitated and stuff. It was so much fun!"
As for her three days spent posing for our lenses in Italy, Mercedes proved a natural. She says she grew up doing ballet, and "when you're wearing a leotard all the time, you get comfortable in your skin. Besides, I'd always had this vision of myself in Italy in a gondola, so when they said we were shooting there, I was so happy. It was meant to be."
