Mercedes McNab

And not many people know this, but she is the daughter of former Huddersfield Town player and Arsenal Double-winning full back Bob McNab.

The 22-year old actress is best known for her semi-regular appearances in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

She plays Harmony Kendall, bitchy friend of Cordelia Chase (played by Charisma Carpenter), and she has also made a guest appearance in sister show Angel.

I caught up with her at the Norwich Arts Centre where she appeared courtesy of local hobby store Kulture Shock.

She is keen to straighten up Internet reports about her being an only child.

"I have two older half-sisters from my dad’s first marriage but I’m the only child of my dad’s second marriage." She says.

"Dad has pretty much retired from soccer, he’s into real estate now. Mom doesn’t do anything!"

She has always wanted to act and started acting classes at eight when her family moved from Vancouver, where she was born, to Los Angeles.

Her teacher was also an agent and when she was 10 she was encouraged to audition for parts in TV and film, landing early roles in The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values movies.

She went to a Performing Arts High School in Los Angeles and still attends acting classes from time to time.

"My mom and dad are very supportive." she smiles. "My dad thinks everyone in Hollywood is so busy writing scripts!"

Besides acting, two of her favourite pastimes are dancing and yoga.

She doesn’t watch much television, but her favourite show on TV at the moment is Law and Order.

"I like that show so much!" she says enthusiastically.

Mercedes has been back to Huddersfield several times over the years to visit family who still live in the area but one trip sticks in her mind:

"I spent 2 weeks in Yorkshire when I was 6 and I went back to Canada with a thick Yorkshire accent!"

She has not had much contact with football, one trip to England years ago saw her watching triallists playing for Arsenal with her dad and various Arsenal scouts and management watching.

"I made fun of them and was never invited back!" she joked.

She has never seen the Terriers play but her dad has met one of Huddersfield Town’s best known fans - Patrick Stewart - now a famous TV and film star who is also based in Los Angeles.

She has also heard of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Dad Bob was interviewed by Examiner sports writer Doug Thomson in May of 2002 and she was mentioned in the article.

But her TV claim to fame is as Harmony in Buffy.

"I’ve been on the show since I was 16 but I’ve known Sarah [Michelle Gellar] since I was 14 - we have the same acting teachers." Says Mercedes, "I auditioned for Buffy originally but they brought me back to play Harmony."

"Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and I were written as two bitchy girls. I played Harmony as an airhead, a follower rather than a leader - it became a way of distinguishing us."

Her character has undergone a lot of changes over the years - she became a vampire at the end of season 3 when the Mayor of Sunnydale was despatched by Buffy.

The following year she returned in a beefed up role as charismatic bottle blond vampire Spike’s girlfriend.

"The vampire makeup used to take 3 hours, but it now takes 90 minutes.

"It’s not the nicest feeling to wear a vampire ’face’ - you have glue all over you and you can’t move your face much." She says.

Her favourite Buffy episode is called "Harsh Light of Day" - her first episode as a vampire playing opposite James Marsters, although she enjoyed her later guest appearance on Angel.

It may seem glamorous appearing in a TV series but everything is run on a budget.

"They let you borrow clothes but you can’t keep them in case they are needed for re-shoots. They did have some nice leather trousers which I would like to have kept," laughs Mercedes.

Her favourite moment in Buffy is her ’catfight’ with Xander (played by Nicholas Brendon) in season 4, which involved slapping and hair-pulling.

"We had to wear pads because the director thought we were going to hurt ourselves - Nick was scared of me!" she recalls. "I try to do as many stunts as I can."

Inevitably one question which is most often asked by the female fans of the show is what’s it like acting opposite James Marsters?

"James is awesome! I love him! Kissing is so difficult as everyone on the set is watching you and I know my parents will be watching the show later!"

Aside from performing as an actress, Mercedes is a shy girl really.

"My worst nightmare is to sing in front of people! I’m mortified!" she explains. "I find it hard to watch myself on screen and I don’t like the sound of my own voice."

Mercedes has made appearances in Dawson’s Creek (the episode has aired recently on satellite channel E4) and a US TV series called Boston Public, which has not made the trip over the Atlantic yet.

"Dawson’s Creek was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, a really boring place to be!" she joked. "I worked with Katie Holmes and the girl who was supposed to be my 5-year old daughter."

She might also return towards the end of the latest season of Buffy (season 7, which has just started on Sky One) in which Buffy’s sister Dawn (played by Michelle Trachtenberg) enrols at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High.

So what does the future hold for Mercedes?

"I’ll be appearing in Buffy towards the end of season seven." She says "But nothing has been filmed yet and I haven’t seen a script."

"I’m producing my own [tv] pilot, I got a writer to do a treatment." She adds. From her description it appears to be a mix between Charlie’s Angels and Tomb Raider - sounds like an interesting premise.

Although she says that: "I have my blonde moments!" Mercedes wants to tackle a greater variety of acting roles.

"I’d like to perform more meaty roles - playing a bitch can become one dimensional."

Does she ever think about doing something else besides acting?

"I have doubts and think about it all the time but I wouldn’t want to do anything else!"

Mercedes ends the interview with a promise that she will be back in Huddersfield sometime in the future. Watch this space...