Emily Vancamp is featured on the cover of Women’s Health US magazine for the January 2012/February 2013 issue.

MH: You grew up in show business, more or less, moving from Quebec to Utah to California in the process.
EV: What’s weird is that I did so much of my teenage development and growing up in front of the cameras on Everwood. You can watch that show and see me growing up, practically week to week sometimes. I came into show business through Park City, Utah, where we shot Everwood, and that was great. Utah wasn’t that different from where I grew up. It was all kind of normal, instead of the crazy world that is Los Angeles. I’m a country girl at heart. You can see where a lot of young women get really messed up in Hollywood. You need great, grounding forces in your life, or you can get lost so easily. I was really looked out for.

MH: After years of making us fall in love with your sweet stuff, you’re showing audiences a very different side of yourself on Revenge. It’s like you’ve suddenly come of age, right?
EV: Emily Thorne is definitely—and purposely—very different from any other character I’ve ever played, but it’s that thing: acting makes you feel free. It makes me feel so free to play this dark, complicated, totally sociopathic character. It’s therapy in a sense. (Laughs) Live out the dark side on screen and go back to being a nice girl at home. I’ll leave it at the office.