Kiernan Shipka grew up before our eyes as Don Draper’s daughter on Mad Men — now she is revamping a '90s icon for Netflix’s must-watch new show

Fiona Morrow meets an 18-year-old star ascending to the next level
CARVEN dress, POA
Fiona Morrow18 October 2018

Netflix is backing Kiernan Shipka big time.

The streaming service cast the 18-year-old — who is still best-known for playing Don Draper’s young daughter Sally in seven seasons of Mad Men — as the lead in their next big launch, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. So confident is Netflix in both Shipka and this new teen horror show, it shot two seasons back to back.

"Netflix has been really frickin’ supportive and awesome," Shipka beams. "And it’s global — this show hasn’t even come out yet and I’m seeing Instagram fan pages from all different countries. There is the odd, 'Oh my God, this is so crazy' moment, but everything has been so incredibly positive and the energy on set is so good, the pressure really just adds to the excitement."

This isn’t the first TV outing for Sabrina Spellman: in the 1990s Melissa Joan Hart played her as the sweet and sunny Sabrina the Teenage Witch. But this reboot is a much darker affair, beginning on the eve of Sabrina’s 16th birthday party, when she is expected to sign her name in blood and give herself to the devil.

Written and created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (who was also the force behind Riverdale), the show revels in the same gothic territory as those original teenage vampire-slayers Buffy and Bella, but has much more of an edge.

"I read the script and I was 10 times as obsessed as I thought I’d be, because it was 10 times as dark and feminist and had these really scary moments, but it was also funny," says Shipka. "I think if I had to be trapped in a room with someone for eternity — after my family and dog — I would choose Roberto, because he is so fun and wonderful and smart."

The pair bonded over their love of classic horror films. "You can really feel that foundation, that love of movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street or Rosemary’s Baby," she explains. "It’s such an homage, and the throwback references are so cool that I think true horror fans are really going to dig it." She was so desperate to get the part: "I was a bit of a mess for a few days. And then I’m at the podiatrist and I get the call telling me I’m going to be Sabrina and I just started completely crying."

Cover photograph by Arianna Lago. Styled by Sophie van der Welle. Cover artwork by Hattie Stewart. ACNE STUDIOS dress, POA; knitted top, POA (acnestudios.com)

Shipka may only be a teenager herself, but she has been in the business a very long time. She shot her first commercial at five months old and by the age of six she was already plotting her career. Born in Chicago in 1999, she is the only child of John, president of a real estate company, and Erin, president of an asbestos removal firm. Her parents signed her up for everything, from martial arts to Irish dancing, swimming to drama. And the acting stuck hard and fast.

"I just grabbed onto it and was completely obsessed and just loved it," she says in a breathy rush. "I think early on my mom could just see it brought me so much excitement. I don’t know how to explain that at the age of six I was just hell bent on doing this for the rest of my life, but I was." The Shipkas struck a deal with their daughter that if she booked 10 commercials, they would take her to Los Angeles to try her luck in Hollywood. She did, they honoured the bargain and Shipka bagged the role in Mad Men aged eight. She laughs as she remembers her father driving her back from a costume fitting, telling her mother: "I think this might be a big deal, it seemed kinda legit."

Shipka in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Diyah Pera/Netflix

Though they upended their lives for her, Shipka says her parents have never been pushy about her work. "My parents are wonderful and amazing and supportive," she says. "I could quit acting tomorrow and they would be fine, they would support me whatever. To them it’s just my job." She still lives at home with them in LA, and her mum stays in Vancouver with her while she’s shooting Sabrina. "I never plan on moving out," she laughs.

The family home was just 10 minutes’ drive from the Mad Men set. "This was my first big experience and I was so happy," she recalls. "I wasn’t working every day, and I wasn’t doing other jobs. I felt like I had this wonderful balance growing up. I was really excited to go out with my friends at the weekend and do silly things and be a kid, and then a teenager." She ended up working on the show from the age of eight to 15, racking up 64 episodes in the seven-year run: the child actor playing her brother was recast each season.

"I felt like they really grounded Sally and presented her as the age she really was," she says of the Mad Men team. "I don’t think I even started wearing make-up until the fourth season. Not even concealer, nothing. They were like, 'No, you’re seven'." When the show ended, Shipka "had been on Mad Men longer than I hadn’t. It wasn’t scary until the finale actually aired. That’s when it sunk in that it was actually over. There was definitely a moment of, 'Oh my gosh, what’s next?' All I knew for sure was that I wanted to continue acting."

She remains close to January Jones, who played her screen mum Betty, but it is John Hamm, who played Don Draper, who she credits with teaching her to tackle a lead role with humility and generosity. "He set such a good tone on set," she recalls. "He was always so nice, so grounded, so fun. He managed to command the ship and make the energy light and funny, but also completely serious and respectful when the scene called for it. I really admire him for that."

January Jones, Christopher Stanley and Kiernan Shipka in Mad Men
TCD/VP/LMKMEDIA

Mad Men was also when she discovered fashion, and that "clothes can tell a story, be a character of their own. I was literally a kid in a candy store, walking through rows and rows of the most amazing vintage clothes. And I started flipping through magazines and checking out runway [shows] and just lusting after stuff. And then Gossip Girl started and I became utterly obsessed with the clothes on that show."

Her own personal style emerged in 2013, aged 14, when she saw a Delpozo dress online and asked her stylist if they could get it for her to wear to the Emmy Awards. "It was super weird, super out there," she says. "It was unique — I guess you would call it polarising — and I remember thinking that there is no point in playing it safe. I felt really free after that. I spent the whole night loving that I was wearing it and not caring what anyone else thought." These days, while she still has an eye for a fun, quirky outfit, she has little time to shop for clothes. "And when I’m working, I show up to set half the time — who are we kidding? 80 per cent of the time — in pyjamas or sweats."

She’s worked steadily since Mad Men and is rightly proud of the independent horror movie The Blackcoat’s Daughter (directed by Anthony Psycho Perkins’ son, Oz) that also turned out to be a favourite of Aguirre-Sacasa. And she loved playing Bette Davis’s daughter BD Merrill in the FX series Feud because it gave her the opportunity to work with Susan Sarandon. "That was a dream, an absolute dream. Susan is just wonderful."

CARVEN dress, as before

She brings up the #MeToo movement unprompted. "I feel so hopeful about the future of Hollywood right now," she says. "There are some incredible voices out there standing up for what’s right and I am incredibly grateful to them and that it is happening now, because it makes me feel so much better about going forward in my career."

Sabrina is set to make her a big star. Is she worried about the scrutiny that level of fame brings? "Privacy is a big deal to me," she responds seriously (her romantic life is not up for discussion). "It’s easy to feel like you have to share everything but you don’t. If you’re not really careful it can become toxic. I am a big believer in protecting yourself from the comparison trap. I like to keep my private life private, and that’s not to say I don’t enjoy Instagram, I do."

Her feed is full of fun and flirty photos of herself with her friends and co-stars. But she also recently featured 10 teachers and their classroom wish lists, encouraging her followers to help them.

Shipka in Feud
Allstar/FOX 21 TELEVISION STUDIO

There are also many, many snaps of delicious looking dinners. I tell her I saw one follower begging her to stop posting so many photos of pasta and she looks horrified. "Oh no! This will never be a carb-free feed," she screams. "Unfollow immediately."

‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ is on Netflix from 26 October.

Photographs by Arianna Lago

Styled by Sophie Van Der Welle

Illustrations by Hattie Stewart

Hair by Dritan Vushaj using Sachajuan by David Pirrotta

Make-up by Lauren Gott using Chanel

Photographer’s assistant Jennifer Latour

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