Thomasin McKenzie on new film Last Night in Soho, Target and tall poppy syndrome

Thomasin McKenzie stars in Edgar Wright's psychological horror Last Night in Soho. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand actress Thomasin McKenzie has starred in hit films from Jojo Rabbit to Leave No Trace and been named one of Vogue's rising stars.

And she's now made her talk show debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week ahead of the release of her new film Last Night in Soho, a thriller directed by Edgar Wright.

It's her first foray into the world of horror films, but the actress says working on the film was similar to being on the set of any other movie.

"I don't usually gravitate towards horror films ... it definitely helps that I don't get scared watching Last Night in Soho because I know every single thing that happens."

She's achieved a lot in her 21 years, but the young actress likes to stay close to home in New Zealand.

"I never usually want to leave New Zealand," she told Colbert. "Until I get overseas and I see people that I love again."

Colbert, who famously visited Aotearoa a couple of years ago and spent time with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as well as Kiwi actors Bret McKenzie and Lucy Lawless, said he "wouldn't want to leave New Zealand either".

"When you go back do you realise what a special place you're from?" he asked.

"Yeah I really do. Actually that interview that you did, that day that you had with Lucy Lawless and Bret McKenzie - I remember you were on the crocodile bike in the harbour and there was a lady that you guys came across who was not interested at all, she just did not care.

"That's very New Zealand."

And she explained that it was all down to a very typical Kiwi attitude.

"It's just very grounded. In New Zealand you don't get a chance to get too big for your boots, there's something called 'tall poppy syndrome' - people in New Zealand don't tolerate people being a**holes, basically."

The actress went on to reveal what she was most interested to see in the US that we don't have available in New Zealand.

Thomasin McKenzie stars in Edgar Wright's psychological horror Last Night in Soho. Photo / Getty Images

"I'd see everyone going to Bath and Body Works and Target so that's kind of what I associate with America," she told the talk show host.

"My little sister is 14 and she's TikTok obsessed, and when she found out I would be coming to America she didn't say 'oh I'm going to miss you', she said 'ok, can you go to Target for me?"

But McKenzie said Target "isn't her place".

"It's just not an environment in which I would feel comfortable, I don't think.

"I get overwhelmed very easily, even going to the supermarket, it's too much. So I think Target would just be a little bit too far."