American actress Constance Zimmer originally turned down her starring role in TV show Unreal.

It was the idea of travelling away from her young daughter which led her to that decision, but she also wasn't entirely convinced of the project.

"The pilot was going to shoot in Atlanta and I really didn't want to leave my daughter, and I wasn't really into being in a show on Lifetime, which is the network that it's actually on in the States," Zimmer told AAP.

But the show's creators were insistent that she was the actress they needed for the role of Quinn - the ballsy producer/director of fictional reality TV show Everlasting.

"They said 'we're going to shoot it now in Vancouver' which is closer to home for me. And they said 'we just can't imagine doing this without you' those are things you dream of hearing in the business," she said.

Zimmer was then convinced, without even seeing a script, that she could be a part of the show but was later stunned to see just how full-on her character was.

"When I read the first script I was in shock. And I had no idea that that was what I had signed on for, and I didn't know I was going to be able to talk like that, and be like that, and be that vicious. I was terrified," she said.

The show's straight-talking female leads, played by Zimmer and her co-star Shiri Appleby, have proved a massive hit with the third season of the show now airing on Stan in Australia.

Much of the behind-the-scenes manipulation on Everlasting is rooted in real life as Unreal's creator, Sarah Shapiro, worked on The Bachelor. However, Zimmer says she's never met anyone like Quinn.

"I really don't know what I would do if I came across someone that was like Quinn. I'm not good with aggression at all which is why it's so funny that I play women that are so aggressive," she said

"I was very nervous that people were going to hate her and they were going to think that she was just this classic bitch, and I needed her to be so much more than that. So working with the writers and creators it was all about making sure she's not just that, that she is almost the audience ... She's just saying what we all are thinking."

Ultimately Quinn is a strong woman in power, a woman who in real life might be labelled "bossy", but Zimmer says it's time people celebrated those qualities.

"People are afraid of women who know what they want and we have to stop being afraid of showing that for fear of what the reaction is because we all have to do this together. We all have to not be afraid of our strengths," she said.

*Unreal season three is airing on Stan