Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

On Rachael Bristow’s advice, I thought about the idea of making my films, and I set about writing my first short film, Not Enough Time, which featured actors from my class as well as experienced actors. The film was selected by many international film festivals and received many awards. It was a semi-finalist in a festival in St Petersburg and was also streamed online in a US annual film festival in 2020.

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What has been the biggest challenge in your career so far? How did you overcome it?

Learning my lines! I have a range of techniques now, for example, writing, hearing, seeing to repetition and using the app Line Learner, which is handy. The main thing is to work hard. If you know your lines, you can relax into the part. If you don’t, you stress, and that is not a comfortable position to be in. So, whatever you do, know those lines!

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What are your ‘‘5 things I do to prepare for the role” and are you able to share a story or example of each?

1. I break the scene into no more than five sections. Then I decide on the main objective for my character for that scene.

2. I assign a strong verb to each line of my dialogue on the left side of the page. It tells me what I want to do to the other actor, for example — to question, confront, etc. Next, I assign a strong verb against each of the other actor’s line on the right side of the page. Those represent how I feel when I hear what the other actor says.

3. I develop the characteristics, their two main personality traits, then identify a negative personality trait they are hiding from us all under the iceberg.

4. I decide on something that is not in the script that is going on with the character, something that is driving me that is not my scene objective, to get the audience wondering what I am thinking. This objective is not to be known to the other actor, and this thought is usually completely different from what I am playing in the scene. I could be driving my best friend or husband somewhere, but secretly I am thinking about how could I kill her/them, this makes something interesting happen in my eyes to fascinate the audience and make them wonder.

5. I imagine a portrait of my character in my imagination and see it. I see posture, attitude, imagine the sights, sounds and smells of the genre, and how the character behaves. It sets the tone for my character and how I play it. I never start the scene until I am ready, I wait 5–7 seconds before I begin and always let the scene continue even after I have finished my dialogue.

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What methods or techniques do you use to find truth in your character’s behaviour?

I try to put myself in that character’s shoes. I do a lot of research on films and YouTube clips on similar characters. I try to emulate how they behave, understand how they feel, and discover what is important to them. I try to find some of their characteristics in myself that I can use. I close my eyes and try to imagine them and let their character into my being. I experiment in that character style and voice, for example, read something aloud in the way they would.