Popular Girl: Annie Hägg

Meet Popular Girl, Annie Hägg straight from the set of Amazon’s new kick butt series ‘Hunters’. The New York native and Yale School of Drama alumna is breaking down character barriers taking the scene as Young Ruth in the series. The breakout star not only shaved her head on camera for the role but also had to learn to speak Polish and Yiddish!

Thankfully, she sat down to speak with us about the struggles of her role, studying history in college, her most memorable memory of growing up in NYC.

Keep reading to get to know more about Annie!

1. Tell us about Hunters and your role as Young Ruth.

Hunters takes place in 1977 and is about an elite group of Nazi Hunters led by Al Pacino who track down former Nazis living under false identities in the United States. At the start of the series, the protagonist Jonah Heidelbaum (played by Logan Lerman) discovers that his recently murdered grandmother Ruth Heidelbaum (played by Jeannie Berlin) was in fact one of the of Nazi Hunters, and decides to take up arms himself in her memory. I play Young Ruth Heidelbaum, Jonah’s grandmother in a series of flashbacks. Ruth’s story begins the night her parents were murdered during the Nazi raid of the Lodz ghetto. We track her during her imprisonment at Auschwitz where she meets and falls in love with the young Al Pacino character Meyer Offerman (played by Zack Schor).

2. How are you and your character similar/different?

We’re both very defiant when it comes to authority figures, but she’s a lot braver than I am.

3. I heard that you learned to speak Polish for this role! How challenging was that?

Polish is super challenging! It’s without a doubt the hardest language I’ve ever studied. Seriously, it makes Russian seem easy. Polish has sounds that we actually can’t hear the difference between as Americans. They’re called alveopalatal fricatives. Luckily, I was able to get a handle on them with the help of our incredible dialect coach Doug Honorof.

4. You were a history major in college. What led you to that and did it help you in this role?

The past has always had a sort of mystical fascination for me. I love reading history because it’s fun for me to time travel in my imagination to different eras. It’s also interesting to see how people have been dealing with different versions of the same issues for millennia. And yes, having studied history in college–specifically the Holocaust and WWII– was very helpful for me in playing Ruth.

5. What is a timeless piece of clothing for you?

My leather jacket. I have a brown leather jacket that I bought at a thrift shop in San Francisco when I was 18. It is absolutely my favorite piece of clothing and it is 100% falling apart.

6. What did you love most about growing up in New York?

Shakespeare in the Park.

7. What is your favorite food?

Chocolate ice cream.

8. An embarrassing moment?

I was convinced that Hagrid in Harry Potter was played by Oliver Platt and lost a bet over it.

9. Your proudest moment?

I won the Blue Ribbon in the NYC Road Runners Pee Wee Run, which meant that at that point I was the fastest child in New York City. I was two years old and ran one block.

10. What is your dream?

I would very much like to write and direct a play one day.

11. Do you ever get mistaken for any other actresses? If so who? (We think your blond resembles Margot Robbie)

Yes! I used to get Margot Robbie all the time when I was blonde, especially when I, Tonya came out. Now, with the short brown pixie I’m getting more Anne Hathaway. Both are extremely flattering!

12. If you weren’t an actress, what would you be doing right now?

I would definitely be an international spy.

13. What is something you wish more people would ask you about?

My time spent in the institution. Just kidding, Swedish cinema.

14. What does Popular mean to you?

Me in 1997.

Follow Annie on Instagram @anniehagg to keep up with all of her upcoming projects and hair changes! Go on… it’s clickable.