INTERVIEW
Surrey’s Premier Lifestyle Magazine
Sweet Charity
After spending her earliest years in Spain, Sussex-born actress Charity Wakefield is the stunning English rose. She’s had a very successful acting career to date and talks to essence about her current role in Sky One’s action comedy ‘Bounty Hunters’, co-written by Jack Whitehall.
PHOTO COPYRIGHT: ALBERTO TANDOI. STYLIST: JENNIFER MICHALSKI-BRAY, MAKEUP: NATHALIE ELENI, HAIR: CRAIG PURVES
Q Charity, your latest work, Bounty Hunters, begins screening shortly on Sky One. You’re no stranger to action having played Cassandra next to Wesley Snipes in NBC’s The Player. Bounty Hunters is billed as an action comedy. Is comedy an attraction for you and do you want to do more?
A I love comedy, both to play and to watch, so yes, I’d kill to do more of it. Bounty Hunters is a really exciting show, it’s a thriller, but also terribly funny, especially as we play it for real. Often there will be a very dark or scary scene, and then a killer funny line. It’s really just the best kind of material to play: brilliant characters, fantastic story lines and just that hint of absurdity.
I absolutely adored and cherished playing Leah, it’s a diamond role. She’s wild, funny, reckless, fearless, hedonistic and very witty. She’s a brilliant foil to Jack’s character, Barnaby, and we had a lot of fun bringing their brother/sister relationship to life. Jack – along with Freddy Syborn who co-wrote the show – were so brilliantly available on set, adding improvisation ideas, or new lines as they occurred to them. I have a tendency to get the giggles, so it kept me on my toes!
One of my first scenes was to be hiding, squeezed in the back of a teeny tiny G-Wiz car with Jack and Rosie Perez, whilst our characters scope out a massive country mansion, planning a heist. Bradley James had to run past through the undergrowth – twice, because he is playing twins. The scene itself sort of resulted in slapsies with Rosie, and then between takes Jack and Rosie were full of bonkers’ banter... I had so much trouble not laughing during that scene.
I have to say there were some amazing locations in Bounty Hunters, and our huge journey to unravel the case of the dodgy stolen antiquities. We filmed a Mexican cartel deal scene inside one of the pods on the London Eye. We only had two ‘flights’ round to get the scene in, and we could only fit about five people and the camera and sound in there. We spent longer in the queue for the Pod than actually inside it! Also, Jack attracted quite a lot of attention from the crowds, so the pressure was on. It was particularly funny being directed from the next pod, via a sort of list of charade movements. Fingers crossed it turned out OK!
I loved filming that show, and can’t wait to watch it. It starts October 25 on Sky One.
Q Peter Kosminsky cast you as Mary Boleyn in Wolf Hall, based upon Hilary Mantel’s multi award-winning books. Did you enjoy playing ‘the other Boleyn girl’?
A It was a real honour to play Mary Boleyn opposite Mark Rylance (Cromwell) and Claire Foy (Anne Boleyn). My read of her from both Mantel’s writing and our adapted screen play is that she was such an enigmatic character, at once so joyful and care free, whilst so intensely aware of her threatened position at court.
Peter Kosminsky is an extraordinary director and it was a very exciting project. I think most people on series knew it would be excellent, and everybody working on it was so respectful of the work, and of Peter. He is so thoroughly well researched and prepared, and yet able to be so mobile as to integrate other ideas in such a compassionate and organic way. Each scene felt precious: like we were uncovering a secret from the past. Peter really wanted the characters to be real, living and breathing, warts and all. I think we all relished that we weren’t playing a storybook version of the past, that we could use the incredible, vivid, textural world Hilary had created to infuse our characters’ world; that they were all, in their own ways, fighting for their lives, in very difficult times.
Mary Boleyn was a survivor, and one of the very few women in Henry VIII’s court that evidence suggests managed to forge a life away, independently, in a relationship of her choice. I admire her greatly. I’d like to see more films made about women like that. Catherine of Aragon was pretty incredible also. It’s important to start telling these stories!
A I love comedy, both to play and to watch, so yes, I’d kill to do more of it. Bounty Hunters is a really exciting show, it’s a thriller, but also terribly funny, especially as we play it for real. Often there will be a very dark or scary scene, and then a killer funny line. It’s really just the best kind of material to play: brilliant characters, fantastic story lines and just that hint of absurdity.
I absolutely adored and cherished playing Leah, it’s a diamond role. She’s wild, funny, reckless, fearless, hedonistic and very witty. She’s a brilliant foil to Jack’s character, Barnaby, and we had a lot of fun bringing their brother/sister relationship to life. Jack – along with Freddy Syborn who co-wrote the show – were so brilliantly available on set, adding improvisation ideas, or new lines as they occurred to them. I have a tendency to get the giggles, so it kept me on my toes!
One of my first scenes was to be hiding, squeezed in the back of a teeny tiny G-Wiz car with Jack and Rosie Perez, whilst our characters scope out a massive country mansion, planning a heist. Bradley James had to run past through the undergrowth – twice, because he is playing twins. The scene itself sort of resulted in slapsies with Rosie, and then between takes Jack and Rosie were full of bonkers’ banter... I had so much trouble not laughing during that scene.
I have to say there were some amazing locations in Bounty Hunters, and our huge journey to unravel the case of the dodgy stolen antiquities. We filmed a Mexican cartel deal scene inside one of the pods on the London Eye. We only had two ‘flights’ round to get the scene in, and we could only fit about five people and the camera and sound in there. We spent longer in the queue for the Pod than actually inside it! Also, Jack attracted quite a lot of attention from the crowds, so the pressure was on. It was particularly funny being directed from the next pod, via a sort of list of charade movements. Fingers crossed it turned out OK!
I loved filming that show, and can’t wait to watch it. It starts October 25 on Sky One.
Q Peter Kosminsky cast you as Mary Boleyn in Wolf Hall, based upon Hilary Mantel’s multi award-winning books. Did you enjoy playing ‘the other Boleyn girl’?
A It was a real honour to play Mary Boleyn opposite Mark Rylance (Cromwell) and Claire Foy (Anne Boleyn). My read of her from both Mantel’s writing and our adapted screen play is that she was such an enigmatic character, at once so joyful and care free, whilst so intensely aware of her threatened position at court.
Peter Kosminsky is an extraordinary director and it was a very exciting project. I think most people on series knew it would be excellent, and everybody working on it was so respectful of the work, and of Peter. He is so thoroughly well researched and prepared, and yet able to be so mobile as to integrate other ideas in such a compassionate and organic way. Each scene felt precious: like we were uncovering a secret from the past. Peter really wanted the characters to be real, living and breathing, warts and all. I think we all relished that we weren’t playing a storybook version of the past, that we could use the incredible, vivid, textural world Hilary had created to infuse our characters’ world; that they were all, in their own ways, fighting for their lives, in very difficult times.
Mary Boleyn was a survivor, and one of the very few women in Henry VIII’s court that evidence suggests managed to forge a life away, independently, in a relationship of her choice. I admire her greatly. I’d like to see more films made about women like that. Catherine of Aragon was pretty incredible also. It’s important to start telling these stories!
Charity as Leah in Sky One's Bounty Hunters PHOTO COPYRIGHT: BSKYB.CO
Q Wolf Hall was meticulously produced using a variety of different historical locations. Did you enjoy travelling around the country?
A It was wonderful to have been able to film in the original locations. It was an enormous privilege to be able to walk around these places in our Tudor costumes, and I am sure it contributed to the work immensely. My favourites were Winchester Cathedral, Penshurst Place and Lacock Abbey. The scenes in Penshurst Place will be forever embedded in my mind as they were the first time you see Anne Boleyn and Mary and the ladies in waiting in the story. It was just so extraordinary, after all the rehearsal and fittings and anticipation, to see us all together. I think being in the ancient buildings added to our ability to play these scenes truthfully.
Q Is it true that once, when filming finished for the day, Damian Lewis (Henry VIII) jumped into a moat and invited everyone else to do so?
A Yes, that’s absolutely true, and we did swim around that moat. It was Broughton Castle in North Oxfordshire! It was a glorious summer’s day and a lot of the cast were around all on the same day: it was an amazing thing to do!
Q Are you interested in history and all things vintage?
A I studied history at ‘A’ Level and I guess I am extremely lucky in my job because I often work on filming productions set in the past. I’m always learning, whether it be etiquette, dancing, horse riding and what life was like in 1810 as Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, or about the very first women to go to university in the 1920s playing Land Fothergill in Any Human Heart... to playing Einstein’s German secretary in the thirties in Genius, during the build up towards World War Two. It’s just fascinating and we can learn so much by delving into the past.
I love collecting ‘vintage’ clothes and objects for the same reason. They can tell us our history. Clothes, for example, tell a very clear story of the evolution of women’s status in society when looking back through the ages. From corsets, hooped skirts, crinolines, and then the ditching of them so that women could be free to move and work in World War One, to wearing trousers, and then taking charge of their own freedom of expression in the sixties... I am also interested in recycling and fixing as opposed to buying everything new.
I think we need to start taking responsibility for the mark we are making on the environment... every little decision helps. I’ve abolished plastic bags in my house, I almost never take them from shops, I always try to bring my own. I try not to use plastic cups at events like the theatre or concerts. It would be great if all packaging was compostable wouldn’t it? I actually put my money where my mouth is a few years ago and ran a small vintage shop with some friends, so I have some practical experience of the business. I’d like to do more...
A It was wonderful to have been able to film in the original locations. It was an enormous privilege to be able to walk around these places in our Tudor costumes, and I am sure it contributed to the work immensely. My favourites were Winchester Cathedral, Penshurst Place and Lacock Abbey. The scenes in Penshurst Place will be forever embedded in my mind as they were the first time you see Anne Boleyn and Mary and the ladies in waiting in the story. It was just so extraordinary, after all the rehearsal and fittings and anticipation, to see us all together. I think being in the ancient buildings added to our ability to play these scenes truthfully.
Q Is it true that once, when filming finished for the day, Damian Lewis (Henry VIII) jumped into a moat and invited everyone else to do so?
A Yes, that’s absolutely true, and we did swim around that moat. It was Broughton Castle in North Oxfordshire! It was a glorious summer’s day and a lot of the cast were around all on the same day: it was an amazing thing to do!
Q Are you interested in history and all things vintage?
A I studied history at ‘A’ Level and I guess I am extremely lucky in my job because I often work on filming productions set in the past. I’m always learning, whether it be etiquette, dancing, horse riding and what life was like in 1810 as Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, or about the very first women to go to university in the 1920s playing Land Fothergill in Any Human Heart... to playing Einstein’s German secretary in the thirties in Genius, during the build up towards World War Two. It’s just fascinating and we can learn so much by delving into the past.
I love collecting ‘vintage’ clothes and objects for the same reason. They can tell us our history. Clothes, for example, tell a very clear story of the evolution of women’s status in society when looking back through the ages. From corsets, hooped skirts, crinolines, and then the ditching of them so that women could be free to move and work in World War One, to wearing trousers, and then taking charge of their own freedom of expression in the sixties... I am also interested in recycling and fixing as opposed to buying everything new.
I think we need to start taking responsibility for the mark we are making on the environment... every little decision helps. I’ve abolished plastic bags in my house, I almost never take them from shops, I always try to bring my own. I try not to use plastic cups at events like the theatre or concerts. It would be great if all packaging was compostable wouldn’t it? I actually put my money where my mouth is a few years ago and ran a small vintage shop with some friends, so I have some practical experience of the business. I’d like to do more...
PHOTO COPYRIGHT: BSKYB.COM
Bounty Hunters, Sky One
When his antiques dealer dad winds up in hospital following a rather mysterious accident, book-smart Barnaby takes it upon himself to save the family’s cash-strapped business.
What could go wrong?
A dodgy deal masterminded by his father leaves Barnaby £50,000 down and lumbered with a looted treasure. Determined to reclaim his money, he needs help… enter Nina Morales, a tough New Yorker who Barnaby’s sister met while travelling. She’s a gun-toting Brooklyn Bounty Hunter wanted by a Mexican cartel, while he drives a smart car, lives in Wimbledon and is doing a PhD in Flemish textiles. They team up, but Barnaby’s quiet life soon spirals out of control.
Bounty Hunters is on Sky One and NOW TV Wednesdays at 10pm.
When his antiques dealer dad winds up in hospital following a rather mysterious accident, book-smart Barnaby takes it upon himself to save the family’s cash-strapped business.
What could go wrong?
A dodgy deal masterminded by his father leaves Barnaby £50,000 down and lumbered with a looted treasure. Determined to reclaim his money, he needs help… enter Nina Morales, a tough New Yorker who Barnaby’s sister met while travelling. She’s a gun-toting Brooklyn Bounty Hunter wanted by a Mexican cartel, while he drives a smart car, lives in Wimbledon and is doing a PhD in Flemish textiles. They team up, but Barnaby’s quiet life soon spirals out of control.
Bounty Hunters is on Sky One and NOW TV Wednesdays at 10pm.
Q Your maternal grandfather was actor James Hayter, the voice of Mr Kipling cakes. Was his acting career an influence on your decision to enter the profession?
A Indirectly, yes. He passed away when I was four, so I never knew him really, but sometimes one of his old black and white films will pop on to BBC2 in the afternoon, and it’s very comforting. He always played fantastic characters and worked extremely hard in his career, never taking it for granted. He had a wicked streak and used to play practical jokes. I think the stories that filtered down about him travelling and all his work helped me understand that a career in acting was a possibility. I think that was helpful when I started out. A lot of young people aren’t supported in the risky choice to be in creative arts and I was very lucky that I was.
Q After college you studied at The Oxford Drama School, which was, (and remains) a small, but highly regarded school. How did you choose it?
A I had a gut feeling that it was the right place for me. It is located in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, the teaching is excellent and the small classes meant that you get a lot of quality time with tutors. Claire Foy also went there incidentally. It focuses on being really honest with yourself and each other. It encourages actors to be collaborative and generous, I can’t praise it highly enough.
Q You play the violin and have a strong soprano voice. Was a musical career ever an option instead of acting?
A I love to sing (the violin is just for fun – I can just about get away with it!), but I would need to commit a serious amount of time to training if I were to attempt a musical part. I’m not ruling it out, but I am so respectful of the talent, energy and work ethic of musical theatre singers, and I just haven’t ever trained for it. Yet!
Q What do you find to be the most relaxing thing to do during time off?
A Going for a really long walk with my family and our dog and then a soak in the bath with scented candles. Bliss!
Q Hablas bien espanol?
A Si! Un pocito porque tengo familia en España! Gracias por las preguntas y dos besos, jaja!
A Indirectly, yes. He passed away when I was four, so I never knew him really, but sometimes one of his old black and white films will pop on to BBC2 in the afternoon, and it’s very comforting. He always played fantastic characters and worked extremely hard in his career, never taking it for granted. He had a wicked streak and used to play practical jokes. I think the stories that filtered down about him travelling and all his work helped me understand that a career in acting was a possibility. I think that was helpful when I started out. A lot of young people aren’t supported in the risky choice to be in creative arts and I was very lucky that I was.
Q After college you studied at The Oxford Drama School, which was, (and remains) a small, but highly regarded school. How did you choose it?
A I had a gut feeling that it was the right place for me. It is located in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, the teaching is excellent and the small classes meant that you get a lot of quality time with tutors. Claire Foy also went there incidentally. It focuses on being really honest with yourself and each other. It encourages actors to be collaborative and generous, I can’t praise it highly enough.
Q You play the violin and have a strong soprano voice. Was a musical career ever an option instead of acting?
A I love to sing (the violin is just for fun – I can just about get away with it!), but I would need to commit a serious amount of time to training if I were to attempt a musical part. I’m not ruling it out, but I am so respectful of the talent, energy and work ethic of musical theatre singers, and I just haven’t ever trained for it. Yet!
Q What do you find to be the most relaxing thing to do during time off?
A Going for a really long walk with my family and our dog and then a soak in the bath with scented candles. Bliss!
Q Hablas bien espanol?
A Si! Un pocito porque tengo familia en España! Gracias por las preguntas y dos besos, jaja!
Profile: Charity Wakefield
Charity’s resumé boasts a colourful spectrum of critically and commercially acclaimed work that illustrates her considerable talent.
Since playing the romantic Marianne Dashwood in the BBC mini-series of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, adapted by Andrew Davies, she has appeared in some noteworthy productions. She was unforgettable in the critically acclaimed Channel 4 drama Any Human Heart, a stunning series made up of a stellar cast including Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen, Hayley Atwell and Gillian Anderson. It deservedly won Best Miniseries at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2011.
Wolf Hall, based on the Man Booker prize-winning novels by Hilary Mantel, won major accolades both in the UK and USA. Taking a television BAFTA and Golden Globe in 2015, Charity played Mary Boleyn among a stunning line-up of the UK’s best acting talent.
Working both in the UK and America, Charity starred alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the Susanne Bier-directed Serena set in depression-era North Carolina. She appeared in crime thriller The Player for NBC with Wesley Snipes and gave a stand out performance in supernatural feature Mockingbird Lane, also for NBC. This was a re-imagining of the classic 1960s’ comedy The Munsters, directed by Hollywood filmmaker Bryan Singer.
Charity was Julia in Close To The Enemy for BBC Two, written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, and ended last year as the guest star in one of the highest rating TV shows in the calendar, the Doctor Who Christmas Day special.
Earlier this year, Charity played the glamorous, bold and beautiful Charity Lambert in ITV’s drama The Halycon.
She was most recently seen in Ron Howard’s Emmy nominated Genius produced by Fox21 with Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn in which she plays Betty Neumann, a romantic interest of Albert Einstein.
Her significant theatre experience includes a “beautifully executed” (LA Times) performance in The Cherry Orchard at the Olivier, National Theatre, directed by the late, great Howard Davies; Semina, The Blackest Black and No Naughty Bits, all at the Hampstead Theatre, and Candida at the Theatre Royal Bath.
Charity’s resumé boasts a colourful spectrum of critically and commercially acclaimed work that illustrates her considerable talent.
Since playing the romantic Marianne Dashwood in the BBC mini-series of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, adapted by Andrew Davies, she has appeared in some noteworthy productions. She was unforgettable in the critically acclaimed Channel 4 drama Any Human Heart, a stunning series made up of a stellar cast including Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen, Hayley Atwell and Gillian Anderson. It deservedly won Best Miniseries at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2011.
Wolf Hall, based on the Man Booker prize-winning novels by Hilary Mantel, won major accolades both in the UK and USA. Taking a television BAFTA and Golden Globe in 2015, Charity played Mary Boleyn among a stunning line-up of the UK’s best acting talent.
Working both in the UK and America, Charity starred alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the Susanne Bier-directed Serena set in depression-era North Carolina. She appeared in crime thriller The Player for NBC with Wesley Snipes and gave a stand out performance in supernatural feature Mockingbird Lane, also for NBC. This was a re-imagining of the classic 1960s’ comedy The Munsters, directed by Hollywood filmmaker Bryan Singer.
Charity was Julia in Close To The Enemy for BBC Two, written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, and ended last year as the guest star in one of the highest rating TV shows in the calendar, the Doctor Who Christmas Day special.
Earlier this year, Charity played the glamorous, bold and beautiful Charity Lambert in ITV’s drama The Halycon.
She was most recently seen in Ron Howard’s Emmy nominated Genius produced by Fox21 with Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn in which she plays Betty Neumann, a romantic interest of Albert Einstein.
Her significant theatre experience includes a “beautifully executed” (LA Times) performance in The Cherry Orchard at the Olivier, National Theatre, directed by the late, great Howard Davies; Semina, The Blackest Black and No Naughty Bits, all at the Hampstead Theatre, and Candida at the Theatre Royal Bath.
Quick five from Charity
Q Last book read?A Sweet Caress by William Boyd.
Q Favourite fashion designer?
A Valentino.
Q Stage or screen?
A Both – I’ll never be able to choose between!
Q Old or new?
A New, but only if it’s biodegradable.
Q What would be your motto?
A Be in the moment. There is only now.
“I wanted to portray the truth of a woman living in that situation at that time. It is much more dangerous, dark and cold in the Tudor court than it is now. Anybody could be killed at any time, you have to remember that.”
Charity Wakefield on playing Mary Boleyn in Wolf Hall