bra. Araks
coat + trousers. HYKE
opposite
coat + blazer. The Frankie Shop
Between the art of make-believe and the magic of becoming, Kat Cunning has never stayed within the lines. From a childhood spent dreaming of ballet, memorising ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and finding a kindred spirit in Jo March, to carving out a career that moves fluidly between acting, music and performance, Cunning has built a creative world entirely their own.
Now, in ‘Line of Fire’, Cunning steps into the role of Clare Hollingsworth, an FBI agent whose convictions meet the complexities of family, love and identity. For Cunning, the character offers more than a new challenge; it is an opportunity to explore the many contradictions that make women human. Speaking with Schön!, Cunning reflects on the inspirations that shaped them, the freedom of refusing to be defined by a single medium, and the power of bringing a little more of themself to every role.
full look. Campillo
shoes. Dolce Gabbana
ring. Alexis Bittar
opposite
bra. Araks
shirt. Dolce Gabbana
trousers. HYKE
belt. Streets Ahead
When you were younger, was there a particular film, book, character, or performance that first made you fall in love with the idea of make-believe and think, “I want to do this”?
So many core inspirations! By the time I could read, I was infatuated with a ballerina named Anna Pavlova from the 1400s, and I was writing dramatic poems about never being able to dance again (loss of legs, if you’re wondering) by the time I could write. Jo March made me feel like I could be the kind of person I am. ‘Little Women’ was my hookie movie. My mom named me after Kathryn Hepburn, but I would love Jo the same had she not. She wore a dress like it was pants and didn’t care when her hair caught fire. I feel like she was my first Enby icon. Honourable mention: ‘Dirty Dancing’ and ‘Pretty Woman’ — Gma leaked them way too young. They’re in my DNA. I also had a sexual awakening to the City of Angels soundtrack, saw an aerial act to “Motherless Child,” and was so obsessed with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ that I memorized the script (last revised in 1939).
What was your relationship with creativity growing up? Were you always performing or creating stories, music, and characters of your own?
My Mom called me “Cry Baby Katie” till she came home with a Balanchine VHS from the library. I was quiet the second I saw the ballet, so my parents took me to class every day since. I would lie to them about how long my classes were so I could spend more time in the studio. I had such an inspired, creative, serious internal life as a child, and they championed that. I was always a polymath too! Published my first poem in the 4th grade (the peak of my academic career), and even though I hardly spoke at home, I was the class clown at ballet. Jim Carrey was big inspo at the time. Lots of faces were made.
Do you remember the moment when acting stopped feeling like something you simply loved and started feeling like something you could actually build a career around?
Honestly, it still just feels like something I love, and that sounds saccharine, but it’s self-preserving. I’ve scraped for every dollar I’ve made in the arts, and I never take for granted that this isn’t guaranteed. The only way to stay afloat in an industry that doesn’t promise you anything is to love it more than you think it owes you. Most years, I look at my résumé and my bank account, and I’m like, “The math ain’t mathin!” But I’m more of a magician than a mathematician. I’m proud of my ability to pack up the caravan and take the circus where the audience is. I’m just now arriving at the beginning of a career to show for it.
Looking back at the younger version of yourself, what do you think they would find most surprising about the career you’ve built?
Young me would be so freaked out by most of the characters I’ve played. I was kind of conservative before my world broke open. You know what I say, people despise what they repress! From the gunslinging to the cornrows on Reina Reign to the French maid porn I made in The Deuce, not to mention the whole pop star career I built from scratch… they didn’t even know we could sing! And they certainly didn’t know singing would help us raise a bunch of money advocating for LGBTQ protections, ’cause they didn’t know we were queer, or that we do our own stunts ’cause we placed second in a Kung Fu competition in Taiwan!
I think little me would shit themselves in disbelief at most of what we’ve done. They’d be pissed we didn’t really make it as a ballet dancer, but they’d be really proud we have a show on MGM+, ’cause the lion who roars at the start is the very same lion from ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
You’ve explored acting, music, and several different creative mediums throughout your career. What keeps you interested in moving between different forms of storytelling?
I’ve been “successful” at everything I’ve done before I’ve become good at it, and I think that’s because people want to witness people in process. The opportunity to hold intimacy with other humans is so rare, and I want to live in an intense awareness of the present. How ephemeral it is, how intense, how beautiful we are so briefly, here. As a singer, the notes pass through the most delicate instrument, and they are gone. As an actor, you create an entirely new life form in the alchemy of a scene. As a dancer, you are closest to some form of god while the body’s intelligence outweighs the mind.
I think of all of these “crafts” as devotional offerings of the body to the humans who share this otherwise nonsensical existence. All we have is the magic we make in our time here, with each other, and I have always known it is my purpose to be a channel for that magic.
What do you look towards for inspiration when working on new music?
I don’t like to overwork the writing muscle. I gather textures from my life, and I write when I have something to say. The chords I hear in the room colour it a certain way, and I step in.
Do you have a different process when approaching things as you, the musician, versus you, the actor?
Acting allows me to really geek out and be academic with prep. I carry a little binder and buy office stickers and highlighters, and it’s extremely rewarding to have to use my brain for research and repetition. Music is a doozy because the act of making and performing it is more animalistic for me — impulsive, spiritual, free. HOWEVER, the act of having a business as an independent artist is another story. As Issa said, “The music industry is all crooks and criminals.”
dress. Akki
opposite
blazer. Dolce & Gabbana
How has your relationship with your own creativity evolved as you’ve grown as an artist?
I think it’s just come further out of my head. I’ve always had a really strong vision for myself, but I think I’m finally finding the worldly vocabulary and techniques to bring that vision to life.
Is there something you’ve learned from working in music that has changed the way you approach acting, or vice versa?
My attitude, mainly. Acting is a stable, respectable job compared to concert dance and music. Couldn’t make enough to afford health insurance in an industry that guaranteed injury as a dancer, and it’s very hard to get out of the red making music while you’re paying to get your music heard. I found ways to sustain both of those expressions, but not a day goes by on set where I’m not grateful that there’s lunch, and then there’s hot food, and some days there’s a food truck with grilled cheese, and there’s someone named Tina who gets you a bag of Lays when you look hungry.
I just love being of use and in community, and there’s nothing quite like the collaboration that’s required to make a TV show. I’ve really learned that none of it is all about me. We share the wins and losses with everyone, and doing it for all of them keeps me out of my head.
When choosing a new project, what makes a character or story feel exciting enough for you to want to step into it?
I’ll pretty much play anything that doesn’t grate on my soul or bore me. Language is one of my first loves, so when a script grips me, it can shake me down to begging for a role, but I’ll still work with what I’m given. I love an opportunity to explore a side of myself I feel is underestimated, so who am I to underestimate a role before I really meet them? What I really care about is whether I feel trusted and inspired by the people I’m going to be getting in the trenches with.
What was your first reaction when you encountered Clare Hollingsworth and the world of ‘Line of Fire’? What made you want to become her?
I don’t usually look at a lot of information on who’s making something until I get a callback, ’cause I hate getting attached, so I made the mistake of judging the show to be a cookie-cutter cop-family procedural, and it’s anything but. I read the scenes as naturally as possible ’cause I was on my period and I didn’t think I had a chance. It’s when Josh Safran and our director Becca Thomas called me back for a conversation instead of another audition that I knew this was a different kind of project.
Then, Cassandra Kulukundis and I spent Valentine’s Day retaping with different hairstyles to pitch me as a believable daughter — there’s a reason this woman has an Oscar! It’s the first time I really felt that casting directors are auditioning their vision with you — they really are on your side to bring the best work they can to the show. I cried a lot that week, realizing that this thing I had sort of counted myself out, rejected myself in advance of, was actually something I really, really wanted. Behind the borescopes and guns, Clare is my chance to live in a role and bring nuances to the portrayal of a woman fighting for what she believes in, and that, I get.
Clare is an FBI agent working in an incredibly high-pressure environment, but she’s also navigating a complicated family dynamic. What did you discover about her that wasn’t immediately obvious when you first read the script?
I think the fashion informed a lot! I was afraid to play FBI ’cause I thought I’d have to wear black tactical slacks from Express and, like, weird boring tight stuff, but I should have known that our costume designer, the iconic Eric Daman, had me in good hands. We have very sympatico taste. Knowing that we were creating Clare in the image of so many chic, tomboyish detective ladies of yore, like Jodie Foster and Gillian Anderson, encouraged me to bring a lot more of myself to this than I thought I could.
There’s an interesting contrast between Clare’s confidence and competence at work and the vulnerability that comes with being part of her family. How did you approach finding those different sides of her?
Easiest part of the job! I think it would be way harder to play Clare as a one-dimensional hero… that would actually freak me out. It’s the emotional moments that tell me who she is. I’m all the things Clare is; I can be unrelenting when I believe in something, tender when someone is afraid, uncouth in the name of vigilance, hilarious when I’m delirious, manipulative in the name of justice and sexy when I’m feeling sexy… and none of that inhibits me from being excellent at my job.
I want to honour how multidimensional the high-achieving women in my life are, and put as much of my own DNA into her experience as possible. The FBI part comes naturally when you’re stomping around in a quarry and there’s a well-written mystery to solve.
The Hollingsworth family is at the centre of so much of the series. What was it like creating that family dynamic with the cast, and did that chemistry develop naturally?
Eerily so. We all get along like a family! I have two brothers IRL and, so far, projecting that dynamic onto Tommy and Taylor is working for me. My family is actually super engrossed in the show, and they keep texting me and asking if I was thinking about our real-life drama in certain scenes. The answer is usually yes. Most sets have at least one bad egg but, damnit, I love these people. I was scared to meet Hope and Pete just ’cause you never know how more established actors will be in person, but they both love the work and don’t waste a second diving into it, familial encouragement included. The script was the handshake, and the way we all show up is the hug.
What kind of preparation went into playing someone who works in law enforcement? Did you find yourself approaching the physical or technical side of the role differently than previous characters?
A little gun training, moving differently in more clothes than I’ve ever worn on screen, and a lot of new words to Google set it apart from my roles as a burlesque dancer, rapper, rock star and bombshell. I also had to be rigorous with the lines because I had never handled exposition… at all, really… (I’m generally the person who needs the plot explained but can recreate my favourite scenes from memory years later; more of an emotional-life kind of audience member, lol).
Was there a particular scene or moment during filming that changed your understanding of Clare or challenged you in an unexpected way?
Yes! No spoilers, but learning Clare’s relationship to love is interesting. As Kat, if a person I was dating for six months had a hissy fit about something I hadn’t told them, I would immediately have the ick. Like, you’re lucky if you get a morsel of my truth, sir. That being said, you get what you’re open to, and I think saving the world is her main kink for now. I do hope we get to see her meet her match — someone with a dark, capable intensity who sweeps her off her tired, crime-solving, superhero feet.
Without giving anything away, what do you hope audiences discover about Clare as they spend more time with her — and what do you hope they take away from her story?
I’m excited to add to the legacy of women on screen who show rage as a tool, tenderness as a strength, and curly hair as a perfectly neutral option for work. I hope people are inspired by her ferocity, and I hope it makes people rethink what curly hair means on screen. People always told me it was beautiful but that I’d have to change my hair if I wanted to be on TV. It’s led to me being typecast as either oversexualised or crazy or dirty, and I think all of those tropes are rooted in racism. Natural textured hair isn’t unserious. It’s the more serious option for a person with a job to do.
My favourite pilot moment is when she stomps into the gala looking like she just came from Jurassic Park and doesn’t flinch about the people staring at her. As my brilliant friends from the circus reflected back to me, “I’ve seen you show up in worse.”
bomber jacket + trousers. The Frankie Shop
button-down shirt. Dolce & Gabbana
ring. Alexis Bittar
photography. Tugcan S Temizkan
fashion. Ana Paula Cervera
talent. Kat Cunning
hair. Sarah Potempa
make up. Vincent Oquendo
production. Cassidy Cocke
editor. Kelsey Barnes
photography assistants. Sabrina Palko + Sara McLaughlin
fashion assistant. Isabella Pesina
location. AGX Studio
