Mckenna Grace hopes she never loses her enthusiasm for acting.

The 20-year-old actress began her career as a child, starring in Disney XD's Crash and Bernstein, and Mckenna hopes that she sustains her love of acting into her 30s.

Asked where she wants to be when she enters her 30s, Mckenna told Cosmopolitan: "I hope to still be as excited waking up for work every day, even though it's tiring and I get bruised and half the time people may hate me for things I can't control.

"I'm thankful to still be feeling that way 15 years in, so I hope that 25 years in, I feel the exact same way."

Mckenna portrays Maysilee Donner and her sister Merrilee Donner in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, and she's thrilled to be part of the film franchise.

The actress - who stars in the new movie alongside Joseph Zada, Jesse Plemons, Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, Maya Hawke, and Kelvin Harrison Jr - shared: "I was very invested in all of it -- the headcanons and the fan base.

"I had this huge Hunger Games poster. I got a bow and arrows so that I could be like Katniss.

"I told [director] Francis Lawrence when I got to set: 'Dude, I've watched these movies and read these books a million times. I've edited these cornucopias. To be running off my own podium toward the cornucopia, this is not real to me.'"

Mckenna also believes the character of Maysilee is misunderstood.

The film star said: "She does get a bad rap, and she has that snark to her, but she has a kind heart. She cares about the people she loves."

Mckenna spent weeks preparing for her role in the new movie. However, she was surprised that it took such a heavy toll on her.

The actress recently told People: "I was also unprepared for the amount of cardio I was doing every day on set.

"I trained for a few weeks for Hunger Games in the gym. I had a whole workout regimen and I was like, 'There's no way I'm ever going to be needing to do this much cardio,' to my trainer. I was like, 'This is ridiculous' ... it was not ridiculous."

On reflection, Mckenna now suspects she might have been underprepared for the role.

The movie star said: "If anything, I felt underprepared. It was insane. I felt like I was in the Hunger Games for real with how physical that arena stuff was."