Taylor Hickson

Taylor Delaney Hickson (born 11 December 1997) is a Canadian actress and singer-songwriter. Raised in Kelowna, British Columbia, Hickson began singing at talent shows at the age of 11. After graduating from high school, she was granted an acting audition with a casting agent, who signed her the same day.

Following a minor part in the movie Blackway, Hickson had another minor part in the 2016 feature Deadpool. In addition to several subsequent parts in films, she later starred in the television series Aftermath. She currently stars as Raelle Collar in the Freeform series Motherland: Fort Salem.

Taylor Hickson was born in Kelowna, British Columbia, the oldest of four siblings. At age 11, she began singing folk tunes alongside her father at talent shows, and soon developed an affection for guitar and piano. In a 2016 interview, Hickson discussed her fondness for performing music, noting, "you go to another place and you just can't find that adrenaline anywhere else."

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. In 2015, she won a silent part in the film Blackway, opposite Anthony Hopkins, as a troubled teenager.

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."

Hickson was then cast as Brianna Copeland, a headstrong teenager in the 2016 post-apocalyptic show Aftermath. She labeled Brianna "a dream role", citing similarities between herself and the character. "She's very outspoken, sarcastic, social. She's the combative version of me," she said. "We definitely share her impatience, her stubbornness and her temper. She might have a hardened exterior, but she loves with all she is. She loves hard and unconditionally, much like myself." She summed the character up as emotionally driven, impulsive, and fun.

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'd bonded with co-stars Levi Meaden and Julia Sarah Stone, who play her siblings, 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.

She won roles in subsequent films throughout 2016, including G.L.O.; Everything, Everything (2017); and Incident in a Ghost Land. Hickson gained the lead role in the independent dramatic film Hunting Pignut, based on a true story about a girl searching for a man. She also stars in the 2017 feature Residue, in which she plays the daughter of a private investigator. Her work in the film Giant Little Ones earned her a nomination for Best Female Lead at the 2019 Leo Awards.

In a 2016 interview, Hickson noted that she'd had issues with self-esteem during her upbringing. "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." She also revealed that performing had helped her gain more confidence in general. She grew up admiring director Tim Burton and novelist Nicholas Sparks.

In December 2016, while filming Ghostland, Hickson was told to bang her fists against a glass window, which she was told was safe to do. The window then shattered and she fell on the glass, cutting the left side of her face. The wound required 70 stitches, which left her with permanent scarring.