Created by Rob Thomas Nickname(s) Mac Occupation Student Creator Rob Thomas Movie Veronica Mars | Portrayed by Tina Majorino Gender Female Played by Tina Majorino First appearance "Like a Virgin" TV show Veronica Mars | |
 | ||
Family Natalie Mackenzie (legal mother)
Sam Mackenzie (legal father)
Ryan Mackenzie (legal brother)
Mrs. Sinclair (biological mother)
Mr. Sinclair (biological father)
Lauren Sinclair (biological sister) Last appearance "The Bitch Is Back" (TV series) Veronica Mars (film) Similar Wallace Fennel, Eli "Weevil" Navarro, Keith Mars, Dick Casablancas, Stosh "Piz" Piznarski | ||
Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars played by Tina Majorino. She was a recurring character during the first two seasons, and turned into a regular character for the third season.
Contents
Mac uses her computer hacking and cracking skills to help Veronica with her cases; the two joke that she is a kind of Q to Veronica's James Bond. Coincidentally or not, Mac (a common nickname for "Mackenzie") has shown preference for Apple Macintosh computers, which share her nickname.
Background
In the episode where Mac is introduced, "Like a Virgin", she helps Veronica find out who has stolen her password and has created a false score under her name on a purity test that had become a brief fad at Neptune High. However, Mac is the person who created the test in the first place, making it possible for the "sex crazed 09ers" to access other people's purity tests. Veronica has no resentment towards Mac for this, only caring about those that took tests for others.
Mac has always felt like an outsider in her family, having completely different tastes and views. While digging for dirt on Mac's parents, Veronica discovers that Mac was switched at birth with Madison Sinclair. Since the mistake was discovered four years after the births, the parents decided to keep the children. Each family received a cash arrangement from the hospital. While Madison's family invested and flourished, Mac's started a business and went bankrupt. Years later, Mac's birth mother wants to get to know her, and she partially indulges her before watching her drive off into the distance when her family decides to go camping with her. ("Silence of the Lamb")
She formerly dated Cassidy Casablancas, but the relationship ended when Cassidy refuses to become sexually intimate with her (Plan B). In "Not Pictured", they are back together in time for graduation. In the same episode, however, Veronica discovers that Cassidy had been responsible for (among other things) the bus crash that occurred in "Normal Is the Watchword". Cassidy, intercepting Veronica's message, robs and abandons Mac while she is in the shower. He then attempts to kill Veronica, and, later that night, commits suicide.
Mac attends Hearst College along with Veronica and she initially is uncomfortable with male attention (Welcome Wagon). A series of rapes on campus brings up bad memories. However, she is eventually able to move on and have successful relationships. Though she at first feels uncomfortable with her new roommate, Parker Lee, Parker's rape helps Mac to see her as vulnerable. When Parker's parents come to take her home, Mac tells her that she should stay, confirming Parker's presence for the rest of the series (My Big Fat Greek Rush Week).
At Hearst, Mac falls for and dates an animal-rights activist, Bronson Pope. (Show me the Monkey) They date for a few episodes until Mac meets Max, a student who sells copies of exams. After the two connect, Mac breaks up with Bronson and begins dating Max, whom she dates until the end of the series.
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Majorino filmed scenes for 3x04 Charlie Don't Surf, but they were deleted.