Anna Cathcart feels like a friend Gen Zers grew up with. For the better part of a decade, viewers have watched her iconic Netflix character, Kitty Song-Covey, evolve from a witty middle schooler meddling in her sister’s love life in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before films into a leading lady in the spinoff series, XO Kitty (among many other roles in between). But when Cathcart sat down with Her Campus ahead of her keynote speech at Her Conference 2026, it became clear that the most impactful transformation fans have gotten to witness wasn’t Kitty’s — it was Cathcart’s.
Cathcart first stepped into the role of Kitty Song-Covey in 2018’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and has consistently played this character over the years, across three movies and three seasons of XO, Kitty. Cathcart views Kitty as a companion through her own coming-of-age journey.
“Kitty has been a great friend to me,” Cathcart says. As a self-described perfectionist, Cathcart believes Kitty’s free-spirit energy has rubbed off on her, at least a bit. “She’s somebody that I can use as a reminder that it’s OK to not have it all figured out. It’s OK to be messy sometimes and be imperfect. That’s part of growing up.”
Cathcart’s acting career took off when she was just 12 years old, meaning she first experienced Hollywood through the eyes of a child. “I think it was a hobby for so long and it wasn’t seen as a career, and I didn’t put that pressure on myself,” she says about acting. “I loved red carpets. I loved everything about it. It felt like such a dream come true.”
But as she entered adulthood and a new level of fame (she started XO, Kitty around the time she graduated high school), that relationship began to shift. XO, Kitty brought in a larger audience — and, as the star of the show, more attention and scrutiny for Cathcart. She found herself navigating pressures she’d never experienced before. “People are starting to care and starting to say things about me they never would’ve said to a 12-year-old,” she says of that time in her life. “All of that was so overwhelming; the learning curve was very steep, like, ‘Oh, maybe this is what it means to be a woman in this industry. Maybe this is what it means to have people comment on your body and care about what you’re wearing and care about what you say,’ and all of these new things that I never faced when I was a young teenager.”
Instead of pretending the transition was painless, Cathcart learned to lean on her friends and fellow actors while giving herself permission to admit that adulthood is complicated. “There’s a lot of stress involved, and there’s a lot of things that aren’t going to be easy on my mental health, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it,” she says.
After high school, Cathcart did a thing that a lot of people wouldn’t expect of a successful young actor: She went to college. Despite already having built a successful career, Cathcart says attending the University of British Columbia was “the best choice” she could have made. “I met all of my best friends there,” she says. “My whole community came from college.”
“It was honestly the most impactful thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “I loved all my classes. I met all of my best friends that I’m now friends for life with.”
As a college student, Cathcart found something she hadn’t always experienced while surrounded by adults on film sets: the chance to figure out life alongside people her own age. “All of those important things that I don’t get to experience as an actor, because you are pushed to grow up really fast, were so pivotal for me, to just have that space and to gain independence,” she says. “You are messing up and don’t know what you’re doing; you’re exploring yourself and having fun.”
As she’s grown more comfortable living in the spotlight, Cathcart has also become increasingly open about her mental health. “I’ve had severe anxiety since I was a kid,” she says. “I think about ‘little me’ and know how impactful it would’ve been to see someone in my position talk about it.” She hopes speaking more openly about mental health helps make those conversations feel less intimidating for others. “It’s brave to talk about what we might see as weaknesses.”
Having just celebrated her 23rd birthday, Cathcart is a few steps ahead of the 18-year-old character she plays. So while Kitty is still in the midst of high school chaos, Cathcart’s goals for the year ahead are a bit more grounded. “I hope I can find a little bit more mental peace,” she says. “I think it’s very helpful and very healthy to have a little bit more room and space just to be.” And maybe that’s exactly what growing up is all about.
Interview by Lexi Williams.