“Samuel L. Jackson is not scary at all – it’s all for show,” laughs Alexandra Shipp. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that. But one thing I can tell you, is he is on his shit. He is so prepared and I respect that. I like to think I’m also on my shit.”

Whether she’s examining gender relations in the upcoming Shaft reboot (alongside Jackson), shaving her head to play weather-swirling superhero, Storm, in the X-Men franchise, or committing to a gruelling 12-hour-a-day training regime to portray R&B icon Aaliyah in the biopic of her life – you have to give her that. Shipp is on her shit.

“That’s what drew me to the movie,” she elaborates on the Shaft sequel, out next year, “it has a conversation about how we treat women in society. Instead of viewing them as things or sexual objects, it’s about identifying them as equals. When I think about the movies and jobs that I want to take, I don’t want it to be just popcorn. I want it to actually mean something.”

Take one look at her portfolio so far, and she’s true to her word. But these type of roles don’t fall into the lap of just anyone. She has the steely Terminator-like work ethic of someone who really wants it. “When I was younger, I would stare at the TV screen, like a blank switched-off television, and make up my own shows,” she tells me. “My parents were like, ‘okay this kid needs to get into storytelling,’ so they put me into theatre when I was about 10 years-old. And that was it.” The Arizona native then moved to LA at the age of 17 to pursue acting full-time and caught her first big break in 2009’s family-friendly Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Next she scooped the lead after American actress Zendaya dropped out of Lifetime’s Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B. In 2015, she played Ice Cube’s wife in N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton. Recently, she shone as the unflinching, supportive best friend in the critically-acclaimed, touching coming-out comedy, Love, Simon. That’s her way. Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger.

But ultimately, it’s her interpretation of mohawk-toting, lightning-summoning Storm (a role previously helmed by Halle Berry), that has heads 360° swivelled. She joined the cast in 2016 for X-Men: Apocalypse, and returns in next year’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The dream of every little kid, Shipp is well aware that playing a superhero (and a badass one at that) comes with big responsibility. So, if you thought that a quickie dye-job and latex costume was going to suffice, you’d be sorely mistaken. Her hair was the first to go. “I gathered a group of all of my closest friends, did vodka shots and we shaved it all off. And of course, it looked terrible. But then, my kid brother who’s obviously been wanting to shave my head his entire life, evened it out. It was a beautiful, cathartic moment – a moment where I could become the character, but also rediscover and redefine my own femininity.” Next came the training and the meal plans, all instrumental in the actress’ master plan to recreate the physical prowess true to the comic book version of Storm. “It wasn’t necessarily something that the studio or the director asked from me, but I wanted to show up and look like this ultra-thicc Storm,” explains Shipp. “I wanted to look like the character that fans grew up with. I’d do anything to achieve that… Apart from darken my skin!”

She is referring to the Twitter storm following her initial casting as the superhero, with digging claims that she wasn’t “dark enough”. Looking back, Shipp is understanding, but indignant. “Colourism is a real shame – not only in my industry, but also in my culture. I understand the privilege that comes from being mixed or light-skinned, but at the same time it’s not a direct definition of my blackness and I refuse to see it that way. I am not more black than white. I am not more white than black. I would never do a role where I had to darken my skin or make my lips bigger. It’s inappropriate, and I think there are plenty of incredible, talented black actresses who can do that justice. But Storm is a cartoon. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, I am playing a cartoon.”

That’s the thing about Alexandra Shipp: equal measures opinionated and self-assured, she’s also razor-sharp precise and a devoted storyteller. “I’m at the point of my career where I want to tell stories that wouldn’t usually be told,” she muses. “Like a female fight club that actually means something! Stories that studios would be afraid to touch. I want to touch those stories, so they can go on to touch others. That’s my goal.”

Hold on tight now. This is very much the calm before the storm.

Taken from the Autumn 2018 Issue; out now and available to buy here.