Taylor Hickson

Taylor Delaney Hickson (born 11 December 1997)

Career In late 2014, Hickson caught the attention of a casting agent who was a friend of her aunt. Initially uninterested in acting, she was later convinced to meet the agent, who signed her the same day. Over the following weeks, Hickson drove several hours to and from her auditions for roles.

Hickson's breakthrough role came in the 2016 action-comedy Deadpool, her first speaking part. She played Meghan Orlovsky, a girl whom the titular character assists. In an interview, Hickson noted that the scale of this movie, along with her speaking role, greatly increased her passion for acting. "I didn't really know how badly I wanted to work as an actor until Deadpool," she said. She further stated that prior to Deadpool, "I thought [acting] might just be a fun thing I did on the side. That was the thing that changed my life."

While reviewing her work in the role, Contrast magazine called Hickson a "beautiful jewel of an actress". Pop Culture Now predicted that she would have a bright future in acting. TV Grapevine declared "Taylor Hickson may be young, but she has a talent well beyond her years."

Hickson also revealed that she bonded with co-stars Levi Meaden and Julia Sarah Stone, who played her siblings on Aftermath, which facilitated their work. "[Levi] really was my older brother and Julia really was my sister. We totally have a sibling dynamic on- and off-screen. It made everything so easy and smooth", she noted.

Hickson was cast as Petra, a goth hailing from a death cult, in the 2018 series Deadly Class. She was then cast as Raelle Collar, a lead character who is a conscripted witch in the 2020 supernatural drama show Motherland: Fort Salem. The show's second season premiered in 2021. On the role as Raelle, Hickson said that

When reviewing Motherland: Fort Salem, The A.V. Club highlighted that "the true standout is Hickson, whose Raelle is flinty and raw and convincingly conflicted about her power and how she wants to use it". The Advocate commented that:

Personal life In a 2016 interview, Hickson noted that she had issues with self-esteem during her upbringing. "I think it's sad that I have to constantly remind myself that I'm beautiful. Everything around us influences our brains to forget. The poster at the bus stop, that Instagram selfie, the ad on TV," she said. "Self-love takes practice."

In December 2016, while filming Ghostland, Hickson was told by director Pascal Laugier to bang her fists against a glass window and that it was safe to do so. The window then shattered and she fell on the glass, severely cutting the left side of her face. The wound required 70 stitches, which left her with permanent scarring. In 2018, Hickson sued the film's production company, Incident Productions, "seeking damages for lost income and future loss of income". In 2019, Incident Productions "pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety and welfare of a worker under the Workplace Safety and Health Act" and was fined $40,000 by the province of Manitoba for the incident. Hickson stated that the experience left her with "trust issues"; however, when working on the show Deadly Class, the show's "executive producer Adam Kane met with her before filming to assuage her concerns, telling her that they'd halt production immediately if she ever felt uncomfortable".

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2015 The Mary Alice Brandon File Townsfolk #1 Short film 2015 Blackway Meth-head girl 2016 Deadpool Meghan Orlovsky 2016 Hunting Pignut Bernice "Story" Kilfoy 2017 Residue Angelina Harding 2017 Everything, Everything Kayra Bright 2018 A Picnic Table, At Dusk Ivy Short film 2018 Ghostland Young Vera Also known as Incident in a Ghostland 2018 Giant Little Ones Natasha Kohl 2024 Bad Genius Grace

Television

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2016 Whistler Film Festival Award Rising Star Hunting Pignut 2017 Leo Awards Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Motion Picture Hunting Pignut 2019 Leo Awards Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Motion Picture Giant Little Ones