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Mckenna Grace may have played dozens of characters over the years, but every role begins the same way.

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE at the premiere of PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie — in which she returns as the voice of fearless cockapoo pilot Skye — the 20-year-old actress revealed the creative ritual she never skips before stepping into a new character.

“I always make playlists for my characters,” Grace tells PEOPLE while making her way down the Los Angeles premiere carpet.

Mckenna Grace in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (2025) — Mckenna Grace in ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’.Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

It’s a tradition that’s followed her throughout a career that began when she was a child.

Since making her screen debut in 2013, the Texas native has built one of Hollywood’s most impressive resumes for a young actor, appearing in projects including Gifted, I, Tonya, Captain Marvel, The Haunting of Hill House, The Handmaid’s Tale — which earned her an Emmy nomination — and Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

McKenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor and Isabel May in Scream 7 (2026) — (L to R): McKenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor and Isabel May in ‘Scream 7’.Jessica Miglio/Paramount Pictures

Mason Thames and McKenna Grace in Regretting You (2025) — Mason Thames and McKenna Grace in ‘Regretting You’.Jessica Miglio/Paramount Pictures

Now, Grace is entering her twenties with one of the busiest schedules in Hollywood. In addition to her recent roles in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Scream 7 and the Colleen Hoover adaptation Regretting You, she’s set to star in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping as Maysilee Donner and her twin sister Merrilee Donner. Her upcoming slate also includes the Blumhouse horror film Kiss of Death, survival thriller The Nowhere Game, YA romance Everything I Never Did and Netflix’s live-action Scooby-Doo: Origins, where she’ll play Daphne Blake.

Even with a packed acting schedule, music has remained a constant throughout Grace’s life.

“I play so many characters, but I feel like music is just more of a personal thing for me,” Grace previously told PEOPLE about balancing acting with her singing and songwriting career.

Grace has described herself as someone who has “been a really musical person my whole life,” explaining that she began taking songwriting more seriously during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, she’s released the EPs Bittersweet 16 and Autumn Leaves, and recently returned to music with her solo single “Ugly and Rotten” and the rock collaboration “Twisting the Knife” with Ice Nine Kills.

“It’s way different than hiding behind a script or character,” she previously told PEOPLE. “All my songs have elements of my life because I don’t want to write a song and sing it if it didn’t happen… all of my songs are very specific and true to me.”

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie stomps into theaters on Aug. 14, 2026.