January 11

I thought I should try and bank some blogging time while I am not too busy. So this is just a basic update. I have taken my unit one module exams, which I hope went well. It’s hard to tell how well I did until I get the actual grades in March. I reckon I probably did best in Psychology, okay in Politics and worst in Religion and Philosophy, but like I said I can’t be certain.

The Skins Tour kicked off yesterday at Syndicate in Bristol, will be on again tonight in Swansea, then Hereford and Ashford (which I will be attending), London on the night of release and finally Brighton – my ‘home town’. It was an interesting evening and I expect will be incredibly enjoyable when with all my friends back home. I also did some ADR voiceover today for episode six, which is amazing. Will Merrick is a truly wonderful actor.

I have some art books to recommend; firstly, one which I got for christmas, Sittings by Christian Coigny who is one of my favourite photographers. I love the simplicity in his style and the openness displayed by his models. Another book which is really interesting, if not a little harrowing, is Strangeland by Tracey Emin. If you don’t know much about her, or whether you love her or hate her this book is worth a read. It gives incredible insight into her life and her work dispute not actually showing any of her art. It had me sobbing on the train from Temple Meads to Paddington today. I also love Ellen Von Unwerth’s Revenge. It’s just fabulous! I haven’t actually bought it on account of it being incredibly expensive but I would certainly recommend you look at her work.

Remember to tune in on Thursday, E4 at 10pm!

January 11

So lets summarise 2011 as it stands: firstly, Skins is over, but there’s no rest for the wicked as I have the first of my AS Level examinations this coming week. Christmas has also come and gone fairly peacefully, I spent two and a half weeks in Wales with my Mum, my dog Pete (who greatly enjoyed unwrapping his presents), and two family friends. It was lovely to have a bit of time to relax between the madness of shooting skins, and the madness of it’s release. I got some wonderful presents, including a digital camera for my photographic endeavours, which was amazing!

New Year’s Eve was really fun. My boyfriend and I got to spend time with some of my favourite people in the world at the Eve of Tomorrow Ball hosted by White Mischief and Boom Boom club. I’d never been to one of their events before but it was really fun; definitely something I would recommend. It was a 20′s-40′s themed night so everyone had crazy outfits. The entire evening was visually sensational.

I have been back at school pretty much full time for a while now which has been lovely as I have been able to make some really lovely friends as well as having a chance to catch up on my studies. I really hoped that I would make at least one friend at school before skins came out and I couldn’t have found anybody better so I feel really blessed for that. Wish me luck for my exams, I’m pretty sure I’ll be relying on it!

I’m sure many of you will be wondering about Skins. For anybody who doesn’t already know, the advert is already playing and can be seen on the Skins official website (http://www.e4.com/skins/index.html) and youtube. The first episode (‘Franky’) will be on E4 on Thursday 27th of January 2011 at 10pm and the following episodes will air on every consecutive Thursday at the same time.

My character is called Franky Fitzgerald. She’s probably one of the most unusual and individual characters Skins has ever had. She’s definitely the ‘different’ one of the group, but not in the same way as Cassie or Pandora were different. If I had to compare her to characters from previous series I would have to say either Sid (played by Mike Bailey in series one and two), or Naomi (Lily Loveless in the most recent series) who were coincidentally my favourite characters. More information about Franky and the other seven characters can also be found on the Skins website. There is also a wonderful feature on the coming series in the latest copy of FHM.

I’ve been getting back into reading recently and so I have a couple of books to recommend. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon was phenomenal, I laughed and cried and absolutely loved every second of it. I have now started on The Testimony of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. I am not very far through it yet but it is showing a lot of promise and is particularly interesting to me as I am studying Religion and Philosophy at college. On that subject, anybody who is studying a similar subject, or who is mildly interested in it might want to read the Philosophy Gym by Steven Law. It’s very interesting, educational and coherent.

I really hope that all of you have had a happy and peaceful Christmas and a fun New Year and I wish you all the very best for 2011!

September 10

I’m still alive incase you were worried. I’m so sorry that I haven’t been blogging for the last four months. I really did want to keep to the once a month routine but I guess that’s all gone out of the window now. I suppose you’ll want to know what I have been doing all this time. I finished my last exam on Friday 18th of June. I started work for my latest project on Monday the 21st. My exams were not too hard, so if any of you have GCSEs coming up in the next couple of years or so, there’s not as much to worry about as they all make out. There were a couple of more difficult subjects but on the whole I found them fairly manageable.

I was really excited about my results, I think I did pretty well considering I was balancing my school and my career. I got A*s in Art and Photography, 8 As in my core subjects (English Language, Literature, Maths and Sciences), Drama and History. I also got a B in Citizenship and a C in French. I was really happy with these grades. I had to get 12 points to secure my place at college. I scored 23 which made me proud.

I have been really, really busy over the last few months working on my new project. Incase you haven’t heard I am a member of Skins Generation 3. If you are familiar with the programme then you will know that it is TV Drama about a group of roughly 8 young people and it follows them through their two years at Roundview College. Every two years when the cast move on to go to University they get a new cast. This will be the 5th series (and hopefully the best!). I have always been a massive fan of Skins and so I am incredibly excited to be a part of it. Due to the nature of the show I cannot really reveal anything about my character or the story line but I think that this series is going to be very funny and interesting. I really believe that this series has a lot of potential based on the scripts alone and if we put our all in it will be amazing!

I hope you are all well and thank you so much for putting up with my unreliability. I will try to make sure to write again soon but I wont make any promises. Take care.

May 10

Hello everyone, I’ve been insanely busy the last few weeks so there is a fair bit to tell you about. I’ve started my GCSE exams which has been quite stressful. I took my Drama practical exam not too long ago, which was very exciting. Our piece was about the effects of driving under the influence of alcohol and how it can really be hard for people to recover from the experience. In my opinion it was a really strong piece, and I’m glad that we did something with such a poignant message. I’m really hoping I did well in it – it would be quite embarrassing if I didn’t, right? I’m supposed to be good at this! I’ve also taken a few other exams; Art and Photography (which are ten hours long each), and a French oral exam, which I think all went fairly well. Fingers crossed!

I’ve also been quite busy with auditions recently. It’s all a bit hectic, but there are a couple of projects which I’m really excited about, so fingers crossed for those too. Hopefully, I’ll find out how they went soon, and I’ll be able to let you know then.

I went to see The Temper Trap live recently, which was fun. I wasn’t aware of a lot of their music, but having seen them live, have discovered that I really love them. If you don’t know much of their stuff, I would recommend Fader, Love Lost, and their most famous song Sweet Disposition, which featured in the film 500 Days Of Summer.

Last night I went to the theatre with my mother to see Macbeth. It was amazing. It was done in a really unusual way, and the acting was wonderful. I had such a good evening.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently, and have finally settled on what subjects I want to take for my A Levels; I have chosen to continue with Art, as I really enjoy it. I also want to take Psychology, Philosophy and Politics. I’ve always shown an interest in these subjects but I’ve never really had much of a chance to explore them properly and learn about them so I am pretty happy to be taking them next year.

I noticed there were a few comments on the last blog asking about Rain so I’ll try to answer them for you. I honestly don’t know when it will be released. We’ve only shot the interior scenes (the ones inside the house), and we haven’t set dates for when the rest of it will be filmed but I reckon it will be some time this summer, so hopefully the film will be all finished by the end of the year.

No, Rain isn’t based on a book, so I can’t provide a title or an author. It’s a very modern and original story, which despite having a beautifully written script, is very visual. I couldn’t really imagine it working as a book.

Again, no, I can’t post any photographs from the making of Rain. Partly because I don’t think I’m allowed to, but also because I forgot to actually take any. I’m sure that you’ll be able to find some behind-the-scenes stills soon, but they wont be coming from me. Sorry.

I am frequently asked where to find auditions, and I will have to be honest to you: I have no idea. I fell lucky when I got the part in The Golden Compass. I had never been to any proper auditions before that. Since GC, I’ve had a great agent, who finds work and sends me to auditions. All I can suggest, if you cant find a good agent, is to google open auditions, lots of other ‘unknown’ actors will audition for those and so it’s a good way to start. The only other thing I could suggest is to join a drama group such as the National Youth Theatre. Good luck.

Somebody also asked if I can play any instruments. I think I may have mentioned before that I have never been blessed with musical talent, and am unable to play any instruments at all.

I’m sorry if I am a bit quiet over the next few weeks, but I will be busy doing the rest of my exams. I’ll write again soon. Take care.

April 10

Hey everybody, I’m really sorry that I’ve been so quiet. It’s because I’ve been filming recently and revising for my up coming GCSE exams so I’ve not had a lot of time to myself.

I was working on a short film called Rain. It’s about a girl called Heidi. We were shooting for a week in a lovely house in Essex. It was really fun and I met loads of great people. All the crew were really kind and the director, David Mahmoudieh, was incredibly lovely and supportive. I’ve seen some of the rushes (bits of un-edited film) and they are really beautiful. I’m so excited about this project! We’ve only shot half of it, and we’re going to film the rest in summer, after my exams.

I wanted to thank everybody for all the birthday messages. That was really sweet of everyone. I had a nice birthday. I chose not to have a big party, so instead I went to dinner with a couple of friends and some family. I got lots of really lovely presents. I got bath/pamper stuff, a box of Ben’s cookies – quite possibly the nicest cookies in the entire world, some clothes, The Age Of Stupid on DVD, tickets to go see Chicago, tickets to Wireless Music Festival, and – my favourite – tickets to see Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour at the O2 in London. I’m so excited, it’s going to be absolutely amazing.

I’m also going to Reading Festival again this year with a small group of friends. I’m excited about that too. The bands which are playing on the main stage are not really my thing, but some of the bands playing on the smaller stages are really good.

I haven’t been reading anything other than revision books recently but I have some music which I’ve been enjoying recently. I love Jack Penate’s Be The One – okay, so I know it’s not very new but I heard it the other day and really liked it again. I also like Marina and the Diamonds’ I Am Not A Robot and of course Telephone by Lady Gaga.

I also love all the music off Pendulum’s new album Immersion, especially Watercolour and Set Me On Fire. I’m really excited that they’re playing at Reading this year, as I’ve wanted to see them for a while now.

I’ll try and keep to the once a month routine, but it might be hard what with everything that’s going on. I’ll keep you posted on what I’m up to, and feel free to ask any questions.

February 10

Hello again everybody. I’m really sorry that I missed a month but I’ve been pretty busy recently. I went on holiday to Marrakech, in Morocco, with my mother. Since being back I’ve been working really hard at school but seeing as it’s now half term, I thought it would be a good time to blog again.

I had a really good christmas, although it was somewhat lacking that ‘christmas feeling’. I had a family christmas with my mum, some aunts and uncles, a couple of cousins and my boyfriend. I got loads of great presents including a new set of earphones for my iPod; a Holga lomography camera which I love even though I haven’t used it properly yet; a new phone, after I lost my last one and tickets to go and see Mika and the Temper Trap live (they are separate events incase that wasn’t clear). I am really excited about these last two as I know I will love both shows.

To update you on my current interests, I haven’t really been reading a lot recently as a result of having so much school work. The only book I’ve read fully is An Inspector Calls, and that was as an English assignment. I have, however, been listening to music and I have a few favorites to list for you: Owl City – Fireflies (I adore this song, it’s really catchy!), Marina and the Diamonds – Hollywood (this is probably my current favorite), Plan B – Stay Too Long. I am also a fan of the cover of Everybody Hurts, I hope that it really helps the victims of the awful earthquake in Haiti.

There are some albums which I would also like to recommend: Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster (of course! I love her!), Paulo Nutini – Sunny Side Up (quite possibly the ultimate feel-good album), Florence and The Machine – Lungs (track four, Drumming Song, is the best in my opinion) and Iron and Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days (the sweetest most melodic of the bunch; very relaxing).

I’m sorry about the pictures of Pete. It seems I’m not as good at using this website as I thought I was. I will send them to Holli and hopefully she’ll be able to upload them for me, then everyone will be able to see just how darling he is. He’s sitting next to me as I write, curled in a ball, snoozing. It’s adorable. He is tired after my mother and I took him for a five mile walk in the country today, he loves going for country walks and covering us with mud. He is a very well behaved dog and doesn’t rip things apart. He sleeps either with me or my mum and keeps us warm in the night.

Edit: Photos of Pete are now below – click the thumbnails to see the images in full size.

In reply to your comments:

As far as I know Rain and Lovely to the Last have both have been put on hold indefinitely, which really is a shame, so don’t expect to hear anything about either of those projects for a while. I will update you as soon as anything is signed and ready to go.

I have been going to quite a few auditions recently, and will post information on them if I get any new roles. The scripts are all very interesting and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

On the subject of upcoming films, I’m afraid to say that I haven’t heard anything about the second two in the His Dark Materials trilogy since the end of all the Golden Compass hype. I’m sorry to anybody who was expecting them to begin soon, but as far as I know, there is no plan to make them anytime soon.

There were three dogs who played Wrolf in the Secret of Moonacre, I’m not sure what type of dog they were, but I know that they were all male and at least one of them had to have his hair dyed black for the role, which I found quite amusing.

I have tried to play recorder, violin, guitar and piano (in that order) but I seemingly have not been gifted with any musical talent whatsoever. I was never particularly good at any of these instruments, and haven’t the patience to learn them properly. I sing sometimes, but that’s about the closest I can get to being musical. As a consequence, I have a lot of respect for people who can play instruments and I love listening to my friends.

My grandmother is from Prussia, which, as far as I understand, was a part of Germany before the Second World War, but is no longer a country as it has become a part of Russia (if this is wrong, and anybody wants to correct me, please do).

Where werewolves are concerned, I must admit I am not a fan. They are quite disgusting both in appearance and habit.

It was suggested that a book I recommended a while back, Out of the Dust, should be made into a film. I’m not sure I fully agree. I think what makes the story really unique is the simple yet extraordinarily effective way in which it is written. It is such a beautiful, fragile piece that it would be too easily broken by the weight of Hollywood. Obviously, I’m all for book adaptations, but I think making a movie out of this book would require a truly remarkable group of people and until these people have been identified, the book should not be tampered with.

Lastly, I would like to thank John for his generosity. It was awfully kind of you to send me those gifts. Pete loves his jumper, and the attention he gets from all my friends when he wears it. It has also been very useful what with all the snow recently so thank you very, very much.

December 09

I guess it would be appropriate to start by saying Merry Christmas! It’s here already and I’m hoping I haven’t forgotten anything I needed to buy. I’m so excited about Christmas. As my Grandmother is German it is traditional for us to celebrate on the night of the 24th instead of the morning of the 25th. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

I have my dog! His name is Pete and he is a rescue dog so we’re not exactly sure what type he is. We think he’s a Collie cross. Hes about three and a half years old and he’s very, very lovely. I will post some pictures of him with this post.

Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties I will no longer be filming in January which is a shame as I was excited about this project. Better luck in 2010!

Now, in answer to your questions and comments:

It was wonderful to work with Nicole Kidman. She is a really spectacular actress and I learnt a lot from her. She did talk to me about acting and I think the best advice she gave me is whatever happens during a take just carry on and be confident because sometimes what feels wrong in your mind looks right on the camera.

I do have braces at the moment but if I do any work then they will be taken off for that. I’ve grown used to them now, but you will never understand what it’s like to have braces until you’ve had them!

I don’t give my school any of my earnings, I keep my school as searate as possible from my work life.

I have seen Paranormal Activity, I didn’t think it was quite as good as Fourth Kind, but I liked it. I didn’t find it particularly scary but the end freaked me out a bit.

Just to make it clear, I am absolutely TEAM EDWARD.

And, as requested, I would like to say a special hello and merry christmas to all my fans in Brazil!

November 09

So I wasn’t expecting such a big reaction, thank you all very much for the comments that you have left.

In answer to a couple of your questions; I used to be a vegetarian, yes, however, I have recently started to eat some meat again as it can be very hard trying to find interesting vegetarian meals for somebody who is as fussy an eater as myself. Also, I like to keep my socialising to my friends. I do not give out my phone number or home address. If you want to contact me, please feel free to write to my agency ARG who are happy to forward any letters to me, otherwise, I hope you feel able to use this blog as a method of contacting me. I am happy to answer any questions you have for me.

Now, I said I was going to see Fourth Kind at the cinema. I also said I hoped it wouldn’t be too terrifying… It was. It’s a really good film and I would definately recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have a problem with aliens, but it is very scary (although, your all probably a lot better with horror films than me).

I still haven’t seen New Moon! I never really got around to ordering tickets and now it seems I’ll have to wait until there is a free seat at the cinema. A couple of ‘twihard’ fans in my year went to see it on the opening night and said it was really good, which only makes it worse for me. The anticipation is killing me.

On the subject of films, I’m hopefully set to be filming again in January which is a really exciting prospect. I really do miss working when I’m at school. I don’t think I can reveal what the project is until everything is signed and sealed, but hopefully I’ll be letting you know soon!

Some of you might know about my constant campaign for a dog. If you haven’t heard me moaning about why my mother wont let me get one then this probably isn’t as exciting for you as it is for me. In short, after a long and tedious battle, I have won the war. We will be travelling to get the puppies next weekend, and I’m very exited.

I don’t know how you judge it, but my rule has always been that Christmas officially starts when you first see the Christmas Coca-Cola advert. So it seems that all my friends have seen it already, and I haven’t… Maybe, it just means I watch less television, but I find that quite hard to believe. I think I’ve just been very unfortunate not to have seen it. Despite this, however, I have already started my christmas shopping. I know it’s a bit early, but I only have two weeks left of school and we do Secret Santa every year so I have a few people to buy for.

I guess I should be rounding things up now, I don’t want to go on forever. I just wanted to say – which I really should have said before – a really big thank you to Holli for all her work on this website as well as the Dakota Blue Resource. She’s been very busy getting everything sorted and I think we can all agree that it looks amazing. Thanks Holli!

November 09

Hi everybody, welcome to my first official blog post. I’m going to try to keep these regular and update you on what I’ve been doing once a month. So here goes…

I’ve been busy in the first week back at school after half term, trying to catch up on all the coursework I have pending. I’m still managing to fit school work around auditions; I was at spotlight yesterday recording some scenes for a recall. I am really excited about this project but unfortunately I cannot reveal what it is until I know for sure whether or not I will be a part of it.

Something else that was quite exciting, I got my results for the first exam for my Science GCSEs. I’m taking triple science, so these results aren’t my overall grade, just the results for the first set of exam papers.. In Chemistry and Biology I got an A and in Physics I got an A* which I am really proud of.

I am going to the cinema tonight with a friend of mine, to watch Fourth Kind. I liked the look of the adverts but I’m hoping it’s not too scary. I’m not very good with scary films, I’m far too squeamish.

I thought I might mention a couple of things that I am enjoying  at the moment. My favourite songs at the moment are Chase & Status End Credits, Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap and Lady Gaga’s latest Bad Romance. I read a short book recently that was really moving, it’s called Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. It’s very, very sad, I was in tears for hours after turning the last page. Another really good read that I would recommend is the Hunger Games series. They were the best books I’ve read since the Twilight franchise. I’m really hoping they get made into films as I would love to audition for them.

Speaking of Twilight, I’m almost short of breath what with all the anticipation for New Moon. I adored the books and I think Kristen Stuart and Robert Pattinson were great examples perfect casting. I am going to see it in London hopefully, with a few of my other fanatical friends and relatives. I can’t wait, it’s going to be amazing.