# Taylor Hickson
**Taylor Delaney Hickson** is a Canadian actress from Kelowna, British Columbia, known for playing witch Raelle Collar in the Freeform series *Motherland: Fort Salem* (2020-2022) and for supporting roles in *Deadpool* (2016) and *Bad Genius* (2024).[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/118091/taylor-hickson) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1997, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada[3](https://www.fandango.com/people/taylor-hickson-769791/film-credits) |
| Breakthrough | Meghan Orlovsky in Marvel's *Deadpool* (2016), in a scene opposite Ryan Reynolds[4](https://www.syfy.com/people/taylor-hickson) |
| Signature role | Raelle Collar on *Motherland: Fort Salem*, a queer lead and witch soldier, 2020-2022[5](https://popwire.net/freeform-motherland-fort-salem-taylor-hickson-interview-acting-craft-queer-community-50590/) |
| 2016 on-set injury | About 70 stitches to the left side of her face while filming *Incident in a Ghostland*; production company fined CAD 40,000 in 2019[6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview) |
| Second career thread | Singer-songwriter who performs on guitar and piano and produces music[7](https://glittermagazine.co/2020/04/21/interview-ashley-nicole-williams-taylor-hickson-jessica-sutton-demetria-mckinney-from-freeforms-new-drama-motherland-fort-salem/) |
| Recent work | Grace Simon in *Bad Genius* (2024); Summer in *Untamed* (2025); Alexis in *North of North* (2025-2026)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/) |
| Highest-rated film | *Giant Little Ones* (2018) at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/taylor_hickson) |
## Early life and start in acting
Hickson grew up in Kelowna, British Columbia, in a musical family. Her father, a rock musician who sang and played guitar in several bands, put her in singing lessons when she was about 12 years old; she began performing alongside him at local competitions, festivals, and coffee shops, and later graduated from high school a year early to focus on music.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/) • [7](https://glittermagazine.co/2020/04/21/interview-ashley-nicole-williams-taylor-hickson-jessica-sutton-demetria-mckinney-from-freeforms-new-drama-motherland-fort-salem/) One industry profile places the start of her stage work at age 11; her own accounts describe beginning to sing with her father at about 12.[4](https://www.syfy.com/people/taylor-hickson) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/)
Her entry into acting came through a relative. Her aunt, the Vancouver-based actress Leah Cairns, contacted her through Facebook to say that a new agent at her agency was looking for teenagers to add to his roster and asked for a photo. Hickson was around 16, had no experience, and lived about four hours from Vancouver; after a meeting arranged during a family trip, the agent signed her the same day she auditioned.[9](https://localwolves.com/lifestyle/conversations-taylor-hickson/) • [6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview) She then made repeated four-hour drives each way from Kelowna to Vancouver for auditions, working a retail job to cover the trips.[9](https://localwolves.com/lifestyle/conversations-taylor-hickson/)
## First screen roles
Hickson's earliest credit is a minor part in the psychological thriller *Blackway* (2015), which starred [Anthony Hopkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/anthony-hopkins), Ray Liotta, and [Julia Stiles](https://www.edgepedia.org/julia-stiles).[4](https://www.syfy.com/people/taylor-hickson) After a couple of silent roles, her first speaking part came as Meghan Orlovsky in *Deadpool* (2016), opposite [Ryan Reynolds](https://www.edgepedia.org/ryan-reynolds).[6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview) The same year she starred in *Aftermath*, SYFY's apocalyptic series, as Brianna Copeland, and in the Canadian indie *Hunting Pignut* (2016), based on writer/director Martine Blue's true-life story, playing Bernice, a 15-year-old runaway investigating her father's disappearance.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/) • [9](https://localwolves.com/lifestyle/conversations-taylor-hickson/)
She followed with Kayra in MGM's *[Everything, Everything](https://www.edgepedia.org/everything-everything-film)* (2017) opposite [Amandla Stenberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/amandla-stenberg) and Nick Robinson, Angelina Harding in the indie thriller *Residue* (2017), and a lead role as Natasha Kohl in the acclaimed indie drama *Giant Little Ones* (2018), which premiered at the 2018 [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival).[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/) On Rotten Tomatoes, *Giant Little Ones* is the highest-rated film of her career at 93 percent.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/taylor_hickson)
## Incident in a Ghostland and the injury
In 2016, on her last day of filming Pascal Laugier's horror film *Incident in a Ghostland*, in which she plays the teenage Vera, Hickson was seriously injured. According to the lawsuit she later filed against the production company, she was shooting a scene in which her character pounds with her fists on a glass door pane with her face near the glass; the glass shattered and her head and upper body fell through, cutting the left side of her face.[6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview) The cuts required about 70 stitches along with laser and silicone treatments, and permanent scars remain.[6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview) She sued Incident Productions in March 2018 over lost work resulting from the incident.[10](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/185168/1/WRAP_Theses_Goodall_2023_Redacted.pdf) In November 2019, [CBC News](https://www.edgepedia.org/cbc-news) reported that the company had pled guilty to failing to ensure the safety and welfare of a worker under Manitoba's Workplace Safety and Health Act and was fined CAD 40,000.[6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview)
Hickson has said the experience left her with trust issues toward producers and directors and made her an advocate for on-set safety. In a 2020 interview she urged other actors to know their rights and to say no when they feel unsafe, even under pressure in fast-paced environments.[6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview) • [7](https://glittermagazine.co/2020/04/21/interview-ashley-nicole-williams-taylor-hickson-jessica-sutton-demetria-mckinney-from-freeforms-new-drama-motherland-fort-salem/) Working on the SYFY series *Deadly Class* afterward helped rebuild that trust; executive producer Adam Kane told her before filming that production would halt immediately if she ever felt uncomfortable.[6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview) On *Deadly Class* (2018-2019), executive produced by Joe and Anthony Russo, she played Petra, a goth student at a late-1980s high school for assassins, appearing in eight episodes.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/)
## Motherland: Fort Salem
Hickson's most prominent role to date is Raelle Collar on Freeform's *Motherland: Fort Salem* (2020-2022), created by Eliot Laurence and set in an alternate America where witches, spared from persecution through the Salem Accord three centuries earlier, serve as the nation's military. Raelle is a reluctant recruit with authority issues whose mother, also a witch, recently died in the line of duty; she has the power to heal, even when fixing others causes her physical pain.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/) • [6](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview)
The series ran three seasons over 30 episodes, and Raelle's romance with Scylla Ramshorn (Amalia Holm), a relationship fans call "Raylla", became one of the show's central love stories. Hickson has said playing Raelle "changed the trajectory of [her] career and what's important in her life," and that the show carved out a home for queer fans through its women-led world.[5](https://popwire.net/freeform-motherland-fort-salem-taylor-hickson-interview-acting-craft-queer-community-50590/) In a 2021 Backstage interview she described spending years with a single character as new ground for her, saying Raelle "feels like an extension of myself," and she noted that much of her screen work draws on her own truth.[11](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/taylor-hickson-freeform-motherland-fort-salem-73693/)
## Later work and music
After *Motherland* ended, Hickson played Grace Simon in *Bad Genius* (2024), J.C. Lee's American remake of the 2017 Thai heist thriller, alongside [Callina Liang](https://www.edgepedia.org/callina-liang), Benedict Wong, and [Jabari Banks](https://www.edgepedia.org/jabari-banks). Reviewers singled her out among the supporting cast; RogerEbert.com wrote that "as the thoughtful schemer Grace, Hickson stands out," showing her character's thinking on screen rather than playing the part as simple villainy.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_genius_2024) • [13](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bad-genius-2024-film-review) Her subsequent television credits include Summer in the Netflix series *Untamed* (2025) and Alexis in the CBC comedy *North of North* (2025-2026).[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/)
Music remains a parallel pursuit. In interviews she has described writing her own material, playing guitar and piano, singing, and producing, and during the 2020 pandemic lockdown she wrote a screenplay and a poetry book alongside her music.[7](https://glittermagazine.co/2020/04/21/interview-ashley-nicole-williams-taylor-hickson-jessica-sutton-demetria-mckinney-from-freeforms-new-drama-motherland-fort-salem/) • [11](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/taylor-hickson-freeform-motherland-fort-salem-73693/) She has also supported the charities International Justice Mission and Free the Children, which work against child slavery and on relief for children living in extreme poverty.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/)
## References
1. [Taylor Hickson, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/118091/taylor-hickson)
2. [Taylor Hickson, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883785/)
3. [Taylor Hickson Filmography, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/taylor-hickson-769791/film-credits)
4. [Taylor Hickson, SYFY](https://www.syfy.com/people/taylor-hickson)
5. ["Motherland: Fort Salem" Exclusive: Taylor Hickson Talks the Craft of Acting & Her Promise to the Queer Community, PopWire](https://popwire.net/freeform-motherland-fort-salem-taylor-hickson-interview-acting-craft-queer-community-50590/)
6. ["Motherland: Fort Salem" Star Taylor Hickson Is Ready to Rebel as Raelle Collar, Teen Vogue](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/motherland-fort-salem-star-taylor-hickson-raelle-collar-interview)
7. [Interview: Ashley Nicole Williams, Taylor Hickson, Jessica Sutton + Demetria McKinney From Freeform's New Drama MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM, Glitter Magazine](https://glittermagazine.co/2020/04/21/interview-ashley-nicole-williams-taylor-hickson-jessica-sutton-demetria-mckinney-from-freeforms-new-drama-motherland-fort-salem/)
8. [Taylor Hickson Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/taylor_hickson)
9. [CONVERSATIONS: TAYLOR HICKSON, Local Wolves](https://localwolves.com/lifestyle/conversations-taylor-hickson/)
10. [Goodall, Andrew, PhD thesis on Pascal Laugier, University of Warwick repository](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/185168/1/WRAP_Theses_Goodall_2023_Redacted.pdf)
11. [Taylor Hickson on What She Loves Most About Freeform's 'Motherland: Fort Salem', Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/taylor-hickson-freeform-motherland-fort-salem-73693/)
12. [Bad Genius (2024), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_genius_2024)
13. [Bad Genius movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bad-genius-2024-film-review)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Canadian actors › Surnames G to I*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license