Lee is intense and ambitious. Zoe Barnes, your character on House of Cards, was both as well. Do you see that in yourself?

"I definitely am ambitious, for sure. I guess that I related to that aspect of Zoe when I was in House of Cards. But this character is certainly very different than I am. You don't always connect to every character that you play. Sometimes it's more interesting to me to play somebody that I'm like, 'Oh, I don't get it. I don’t get her.' It's enjoyable for me to play those kinds of characters, because I also just love those kinds of movies. I like high-tension dramas and thrillers."

You have been in the business a long time now, foregoing college and moving from New York to pursue your Hollywood dreams at 19. In the last couple of years, a lot of actresses have spoken out about unequal pay and finding themselves in sexist situations at work. Have you ever had a bad experience over the course of your career?

"Nothing that I can really think of. I don't really have anything necessarily that I could share specific to that, but I feel lucky to be able to say that. I'm aware of all these things that have happened to other actresses, and they are certainly not okay, and the unequal pay thing is wrong. I'm sure little things have happened to me that I just can't think of right now or that I was not made aware of."

There is also the question of ageism. You’re only 33 now and getting a ton of work, but do you worry parts will dry up, or have you seen improvement? Do you feel pressure to stay skinny and young-looking or do you welcome getting older?

"I wasn't brought up to be concerned with that. Like my mom never made a big deal about getting older. She still doesn't, and my grandma never did. I have a huge family, and the women in my family have never put a great deal of energy into that in a negative way. So even though I'm in this industry where that is a huge part of the discussion, and ageing is seen as a negative, ageing, to me, so far, hasn't been a scary thing. I do find it interesting that people never lie about their age in the opposite way. They never say they're older than they are. It's always the opposite.

"I get excited about getting older because the women that I look up to typically are much older than me and doing much more interesting things than I'm doing. And yeah, I know younger women that are amazing as well. To me, it's just something that I look forward to. But I do think a lot of that has to do with my upbringing, so I know I'm lucky in that sense. I also just try not to focus on it, because it's just fear. And I don't know when fear really helps anybody succeed. So I'm trying to keep a check on that because I know that it is a big deal in our industry."

Maybe it helps that women are making some strides in creating the work behind the scenes as well. I know you just announced that you plan to produce your first film — a drama about the death penalty with Ellen Page called Mercy.

"I have to say in the past year, I have worked with two female directors. I've been acting for more than half my life and I've only worked with one other. So two in the past year is a fucking massive deal. So it has to be getting better unless that's just a coincidence, which I just don't think it is. I'm planning on working with another female director in this next year. I think that it's rare, but maybe, hopefully, it's becoming more normal."