5. SHE GUSHES ABOUT MEETING CELEBRITIES
Even the stars themselves can get star struck. Emma Watson has felt that, talking in interviews of how it felt to be around serious actors like Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and more for the Harry Potter movies and boosted up majorly. That’s followed in a movie career working with heavyweights such as Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Emma Thompson and so many more. As skilled as she may be, Watson can still gush on how much it means to have such famous actors give her a good push. McNamara can have the same feeling. She still cannot believe that when she was 14, she was sharing a stage on Broadway with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stirch and Angela Lansbury.
“Learning from those women taught me what being a leading lady means. They taught me what being an actress means. The kind of work ethic you have to have, the way you treat people and how you deal with certain situations. I learned by watching and listening to their stories. That is something I’ll never forget.”
Talking to Covetour, McNamara has long cited Audrey Hepburn as one of her key inspirations and how it feels walking the red carpet for some huge premieres. It’s nice to see even the famous folks can get overwhelmed by some star power.
4. SHE’S GOT MAJOR DISNEY CONNECTIONS
It’s always fascinating to look back and see just how many future starlets were once on Disney Channel shows. As it happens, McNamara was quite the favorite for the Channel. She started out as the on-screen rival of Olivia Holt (who joins Freeform herself in Cloak & Dagger) on the martial arts comedy Kickin’ It. They joined again for the original movie Girl Vs Monster. She also starred opposite Debby Ryan on a couple of episodes of her show Jessie. Of course, McNamara has other TV credits from the short-lived MTV series Happyland to playing the younger version of Poppy Montgomery’s character in Unforgettable.
As Disney owns Freeform, McNamara still has Disney connections, including showing up for various movie premieres. One of the biggest bits was when Disney Channel did “Spark Tank”, a parody of Shark Tank with characters coming in to pitch ideas to kids. McNamara showed up in character as Clary to talk about an “idea that came to me in an angelic vision”. It was a website to help others, which inspires the kids to volunteer. Watson, of course, became a Disney princess as Belle but McNamara can join her as a Disney gal. (Source: IMDB)
3. WHO HER FAVORITE DISNEY PRINCESSES ARE
The term “Disney Princess” can be rough for some today. While they have improved, too many of them were damsels in distress and promoted the old idea of letting a man take care of them. In many ways, Belle of Beauty and the Beast led the way to changing that image. She was an avid reader, very independent, smart, tough and dismissed the handsome but callous Gaston in exchange for the monstrous but truly kind Beast. When Watson was cast, she talked in various interviews of wanting to make Belle more “modern” and enhance her appeal for young female viewers. McNamara seems to share the same love for the Disney ladies who are tougher than they seem. Talking to the D23 Fan Club magazine, McNamara shared her favorite Disney ladies were Mulan and Pocahontas.
“Because they were the warrior princesses, and maybe that’s why I identify with Clary so much! They always stood up and fought for what they believed in. I thought that was great.”
McNamara has also shown a love of Disney wearing shirts with characters like Peter Pan. So both ladies share a bond in the idea of changing how people view women, in and out of television and film, in order to have progress.
2. SHE’S AN AVID READER
One of the best reasons for the casting of Watson as Hermione was that the character was a serious bookworm, and Watson had the same kind of vibe. That’s grown with her education as Watson pushes her love of books a lot. That included hiding copies of books around the New York Subway System and promoting various books online to the point of nearly having her own book club going. It’s no wonder she was cast as Belle in Beauty & The Beast, as the character famous for having her nose in a book for most of the movie. Watson has spoken out about pushing reading much more and loved for her bookworm ways.
McNamara shares that. Given she was home-schooled, it’s no surprise she read a lot and obviously, The Mortal Instruments was on her list before she was cast in the role. However, she has a big love for various books and part of her work with GirlUp involves encouraging women to read larger volumes to challenge themselves. As part of a special Freeform “Get Read” campaign, McNamara shared a selfie with her own favorite book: The classic To Kill a Mockingbird. McNamara even played a role in a stage production of the novel to show her love for it and how, like Watson, she promotes serious reading well.
1. BAKING IS HER PASTIME
If you follow her Instagram feed, you’ll know one major thing about McNamara: She loves to bake. The actress is constantly showing off her cooking skills in her videos and photos and clearly enjoys it. She regularly binges on cooking shows and in fact was a guest judge on an episode of Cake Wars. Even better was joining her Shadowhunters co-star Emeraude Toubia for an episode of Cupcake Wars. In interviews, her Shadowhunters castmates talk of how McNamara is always bringing in treats and they can count on her to host some nice parties.
Talking to Prunce Magazine, McNamara noted “The cast loves to call me Grandma. I bake and I always have a big purse with hand sanitizer, cough drops, and anything else that anyone would need.”
This is a connection to Emma Watson as the actress talked to Women’s Health on how, despite her wealth, she lives a simple life doing chores and her own cooking. Like Watson, McNamara has admitted that while eating well is good, she’s a sucker for a good pizza too. So while she’s a big push in acting, McNamara is a good cook too and can easily whip up some dishes to tide folks over between shoots.