You’d be forgiven for not knowing that Zoë Kravitz is an actor. While the 22-year-old beauty has appeared in a string of independent films, she’s best known as the daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz and actor Lisa Bonet, and as a budding fashion darling on New York’s party circuit. It’s an association she’s working hard to reverse. “It’s a compliment, I guess, that people think I dress cool, but I think I dress like a fuckin’ weirdo,” Kravitz says. “I don’t want to be ‘the daughter of... ’who wears cool clothes and goes out. I want to be known as an actress—hopefully that will happen soon.”

It might happen sooner than she thinks. This summer, Kravitz will make her big-budget film debut as Angel Salvadore, a sultry mutant in X-Men: First Class, a part for which she almost didn’t audition. Given her credentials—supporting turns in festival fare like Twelve and It’s Kind of a Funny Story—Kravitz considered the part out of her reach, an attitude that actually worked in her favor. “My agent had to make me go because it was such a big movie, so I thought there was no way I was going to get it,” she says. “Oddly, whenever I just go for shits and giggles, I end up booking the part. It’s exactly how I got Mad Max: Fury Road.” Kravitz is referring to the long-in-gestation reboot of the Mel Gibson-starring post-apocalyptic classic, which finally starts filming early next year, with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron as the leads.

Despite her sudden embrace of greenscreened projects, Kravitz—who dropped out of the acting conservatory at SUNY Purchase after one year—insists there’s no master plan; she just wants to act. Proof of that is Yelling to the Sky, a gritty and poetic story about a struggling teenager in urban New York. The film, which costars Gabourey Sidibe as a bully, recently screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, and Kravitz was more than disheartened by its reception. “A lot of people started comparing it to Precious,” she says. “It really freaked me out and made me kind of sad. It made me feel like people weren’t watching the film. They see Gabby, artistic shots, and brown people, and suddenly it’s Precious.” It’s the actor’s first leading role, but screen time isn’t her main concern. “I don’t care how much I’m in the movie, as long as I care about the character.”

Photography by Billy Kidd. Styling by Christopher Campbell. Hair by Leonardo Manetti for Ion Studio. Makeup by Rebecca Restrepo @ The Wall Group. Photo Assistant: Max Bashanko. Stylist’s Assistant: Jaclyn Konopka. Location, Shangri-La Studio, New York City.