In 2010 Nathalie Emmanuel left Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks looking for her next big break.
It took three years but she got it, with a starring role in one of the biggest TV shows of all time, Game Of Thrones, and roles in blockbusters including the Fast & Furious series and The Maze Runner.
But just because the British lass has gone all Hollywood that doesn’t mean she’s forgotten just how important a start in soaps can be, as seen most recently with an Oscar win for her former co-star Rachel Shenton and success for the likes of Ricky Whittle and ex-EastEnders actor Ben Hardy.
‘I won’t have anyone slag off soap actors, not on my watch,’ she laughs as she winds up a long and impassioned rant about how soaps can change an actor’s life.
‘Everyone talked down about Hollyoaks, especially within casting – there’s a stigma that actors aren’t very good or they’re just hired for their appearance, and that gives you a fire to prove something,’ she admits.
It’s similar to what Ben Hardy told Metro.co.uk in 2016 as he promoted his superhero blockbuster X-Men: Apocalypse, suggesting that working on soaps is a real ‘baptism of fire’, and Nathalie agrees.
‘It was my learning ground, it was my drama school. It’s where I learnt how to be on a set… it let me stretch out and spread my wings. People don’t realise it’s full time, you shoot every day all day, and the turnaround is so quick,’ she says of her time on the award-winning programme; Nathalie played Sasha Valentine who was involved in several high profile storylines including heroin addiction.
‘The amount they shoot is huge, and sometimes they just change the schedule and so you have to be able to just adapt and that is such a skill.’
Those skills helped Nathalie to adapt to life in Hollywood with a recurring role as Missandei, Daenerys Targaryen’s interpreter and handmaiden, in Game Of Thrones.
On the big screen she has appeared in two Fast & Furious films and The Maze Runner series, and next is The Titan, a science fiction thriller film also starring Sam Worthington.
The film follows the story of a military family who are relocated so the father can participate in a groundbreaking experiment which aims to change the genetics of humankind so that the population can live in space.
The film battles many moral and ethical issues, and Natalie admits she was stunned to realise how much real research there was on the topic.
‘I looked at actual research in terms of space travel and how possible it was, and I was unaware of how much research there is,’ she says, ‘the script drew from real science that existed and I found that fascinating.’
‘I was trying to find connections to the real world, and how this science fiction film applies to the world we live in now and environmental issues we are battling, and it doesn’t surprise me someone wrote a film about how we may have to relocate.
‘All of that was terrifying but fascinating.’
With research taking place around the world looking into the evolution of human beings and the possibilities of leaving Earth for other planets, Nathalie suggests that ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should’.
‘At the end of the day I take a holistic approach to things; the prevention of such extreme actions [such as those in the film] is to do more to save the planet,’ she believes.
‘It’s such a simple solution and I think if we’re getting to the point where we have to genetically change people to not be humans anymore so we can move planets? That is crazy when the solution is already possible.’
Nathalie may only be 29 but she is already thinking about what’s next and looking into more behind the scenes challenges including producing her own work.
Working with Sam Worthington on The Titan helped her to learn more about being an actor in Hollywood and ‘how difficult it can be’ but she says she was mostly inspired by Rachel Shenton’s ‘cool’ Oscar win for Best Live Action Short Film.
‘I recently produced my first short film so it was so inspiring and for me, as someone who is also starting out on that journey, someone I worked with on Hollyoaks has won an Oscar!’ laughs Nathalie.
‘It’s amazing and she rocks!’
The Titan is in cinemas and on digital HD from Friday 13 April.
