23-year old Anglo-Scot actress-model Lucy Chappell [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Nude Debut (Brief T&A) in Rellik [S1E4]

Mega.Co.Nz

Hello! I’m Lucy. I am an actor and writer based in London. I am friendly, enthusiastic and love working in a team.

I have performed in a variety of projects on stage and screen including British and American TV and film projects such as Silent Witness, Genius and The Theory of Everything. I have also worked as a background artist since I was 16, and as a runner and 3rd AD on short films and larger productions including ITV’s Downton Abbey.

I have a degree in Anthropology from UCL and have worked in different part-time roles, primarily customer-serving or customer-facing. I have over two years of experience as a receptionist and box office assistant; I am competent in communicating with a variety of people, and have a friendly but professional telephone manner.

As a member of the National Youth Theatre I have volunteered in assisting the group leaders with intake auditions; I really enjoyed aiding them in the decision-making. Having worked both behind and in front of the camera I have a wide knowledge and experience of the casting process. I am currently developing both a short and feature I have written, and understand how important it is for a production or client to get the “right” casting for the best whole working experience. As a future filmmaker I feel passionate about finding new talent and would love to develop my skills in casting.

I have also worked with young people elsewhere – helping with showcases at The Hunt Academy For Young Actors and tutoring secondary school students in Drama and English.

I have a current DBS certificate.

In Her Own Words: Lucy Chappell

With the new season comes a new feeling. The overall mood becomes pensive, contemplating a summer enjoyed and the months ahead. After a spot of reflection, we decided it was time to refocus our goals, spurred by a little inspiration from women that we admire. Confident, elegant and intuitive, this season we’ll spotlight four muses whose achievements have captivated our minds. Firstly, there’s Lucy Chappell. If you don’t already know Lucy, we can guarantee you will—the actress’ star is on the rise. So far she’s earned screen time alongside Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything but with a belief in making her own opportunities, it’s safe to say she’s only just getting started. Join Lucy as she talks mentors, critics and solitary escapes.

When did you decide you wanted to become an actress and what was your journey?When I was 15. At that age, I hadn’t been to drama school, had no contacts in the industry, no agent and little experience, so it came as a surprise to people to hear me say I wanted to act. But once I knew it was what I wanted to do, I did everything I could to put myself out there. I wrote a lot of letters and did a lot of unpaid work. People thought the amount of money I was spending on train tickets going into London was mad — for auditions I would probably never get, for projects that would never get seen — and asked me why I was doing it. But I wanted to work for it. I did everything myself for about a year before I got an agent.

What impact did that struggle have on you?
I learnt so much through that process; about myself, the industry and who I want to be in it. And that you can make your own opportunities. Don’t wait for someone to give you one.

Which is more nerve-wracking — auditioning or being on set?
Both are — in auditions you’re nervous because you want the job and want to do well, and then on set you’re nervous because you’ve got the job and want to do well. But both are exciting too.

Who do you consider your mentor?
I don’t have one mentor. I’m lucky to have my team, my mum and sister, and other people in the industry that I look up to.

Who’s your biggest supporter?
My mum. She says she hates reading lines with me but secretly she loves it. She’s better than me now, and waiting for her call…

And your toughest critic?
Me. And my mum haha. I’ll only have succeeded when neither of us recognises me in a role.

What’s been the most exciting moment of your career so far?
There have been lots — I’m always excited by taking on a new character or project, and meeting or working with people I admire.

You played Stephen Hawking’s sister in “The Theory of Everything” — what was it like being on set with such renowned actors and actresses?Amazing. Felicity Jones is one of my favourite actresses and Eddie Redmayne’s characterisation of Stephen was mesmerising. Watching them rehearse was like watching a piece of theatre—they were so present and creative. I really learnt a lot from them.

You graduated with a degree in Anthropology from University College London. What’s the most interesting thing you learnt during your degree?
Probably that the study of humanity will never be finite.

What would people be most surprised to learn about you?
I go on hiking trips by myself. Last year I did the Tour Du Mont Blanc through France, Switzerland and Italy. I want to do the Pacific Coast Trail next.

Rumour has it you have a penchant for parkour—is that true? And what do you love about it?Yes. It makes me feel like Jason Bourne.

When you’re not working or traveling, how do you spend your time?
In a forest or exploring abandoned buildings. Otherwise I read, write and watch films compulsively.

If you could describe yourself in 3 words, what would they be?
Determined wolf girl

Do you have a motto?
If you never shoot, you’ll never know.

What’s next for you?
I’m going to LA for an adventure. I’m not sure if I’ll come back.

On The Up: Lucy Chappell

A second year at UCL, aspiring actress Lucy has started to land her first major roles

“I’ve been stabbed,” says Lucy Chappell, sitting opposite me in a Caffé Nero on Goodge Street, brushing her tousled brown-blond hair out of her eyes. “I’ve been shot in the chest. I’ve jumped in front a train, I’ve been drowned. The other day I was in a car crash.”

It would seem dying is becoming something of a habit for the second-year anthropology student. Remarkable then, as she sinks back into the comfy leather sofa, that there’s not a scratch on her.

The stabbings and shootings were for short films shot several years ago, and the crash was for her latest role, a young girl in a terrible accident on never-ending BBC hospital drama Casualty.

“I didn’t actually die in this one!” She squeals with delight. “I just got a broken arm.”

She tells me that her mother was overjoyed for the first role her daughter made it out of alive. However, the maternal joy soon gave way into her favourite topic whenever Lucy appears on TV: her posture.

“As long as that’s fine, we’re okay!” Laughs Lucy.

I say that most parents would be too blinded by pride to see their child on-screen to notice whether they were practicing good Alexander technique, but perhaps hers are merely becoming jaded; the part is one in a long line of impressive recent roles for the emerging actress, and possibly a very appropriate one. Shows like Casualty are part of a collection of rite-of-passage programs for aspiring British actors, popping up in Hollyoaks and Doctors before going onto bigger and better things.

For Ms. Chappell herself, the car-crash victim comes hot on the tails of a string of music video roles, most recently as the love rival to teen songstress Birdy in the video for her latest single ‘Words as weapons’.

The video sees Lucy and her boyfriend chased round a ruined house by a ghostly Birdy, ultimately becoming possessed by the undead ex-girlfriend. The creepy four-minute clip echoes another recent achievement, a starring role in John Newman’s video for ‘Losing Sleep’ (currently on 7.5m views on YouTube), which saw hundreds of Lucys standing deathly still behind windows at night, thrashing around Ophelia-like in a leaf-strewn bathtub and at one point eerily decapitated.

“The director said when we were filming that he want to cut my head out, but said he’d only do it on the edits that wouldn’t make it. Then I finally got round to watching the video, and there I was, completely headless!”

Decapitated or not, the 21 year-old’s roles reflect a very modern way of breaking into the industry. Eschewing the normal route of University Drama, waiting to be seen treading the boards and offered an agent, Emma Thompson-style, Ms. Chappell has instead opted to throw herself into the world of online short films, web series and modelling. And it seems to be working. Next year we can see Lucy in cinemas starring as the little sister to Eddie Redmayne’s Stephen Hawking in Theory of Everything, next to Felicity Jones and Emily Watson, where she gained valuable insights into the craft.

“Eddie’s dedication to his character was incredible to watch. He had an ipad and was watching playback of Stephen Hawking, constantly talking about him, the way he’d do things. He was so clever and funny at the same time.”

Learning directly from A-listers quite an accomplishment for someone who only started acting four years ago.

“I think I decided what I wanted to do when I was fifteen, when I was living in America. I moved back when I was sixteen. I just thought ‘right what do I need to do to make this happen?’ So I joined every youth theatre I could find, I researched a ton online and through various books and contacted everyone possible, through Facebook, people making short films and things like that.”

An extra role in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse cemented the dream.

“Me and my mum waited there for four hours, literally just to put my name down. I knew at that point that that was what I wanted to do.”

The ‘hit the ground running’ approach soon began to work. After writing a letter to the casting director of Tim Burton’s 2008 version of Dark Shadows, something that “rarely ever works”, she was offered an audition for the part eventually taken by acting wunderkind Chloe Moretz. She admits that at this point she felt “very, very lucky”.

Following a period of CV-building, appearing in Kleenex adverts and milling around on Downton Abbey, the proper roles only started appearing in the last couple of months.

“You will get rejection, so you have to learn not to expect things, not to assume things. For things that I really loved, it’s a shame but I always think it goes to the right person, and if that’s not you, it’s not you. If you love it you have to keep at it. You have to believe that someone will say yes to you.”

Of course, now that people have, it seems enough work in itself without having to worry about a fairly serious degree at UCL. Juggling filming and coursework sounds like a recipe for a meltdown.

Filming, for example, can be gruelling. For the John Newman video, Lucy spent a large amount of time submerged in a cold bathtub with crew members blowing leaves at her, before walking around Kingston barefoot in the middle of the night. Despite her striking modelling shots, in person Lucy is extremely petit, and the don’t-mess-with-me boots she kicks up on the side of my chair do nothing to dispel an air of vulnerability in the young actress, yet she seems to be on top of things.

“I haven’t been working a long period of time and I haven’t had any jobs yet that have taken me away from it. I’m determined to balance everything and I’m very lucky to do so.”

For the Casualty role she taught herself online during filming in Cardiff, band has even found time to explore other activities around Uni.

Lucy is an active member of UCL Parkour (she can often be seen jumping off the Portico steps on a Saturday or attempting to leap from the walls outside the Print Room) and although so far she’s shied away from traditional student theatre, she’d love to be more involved.

“Everything [UCLU Drama] have done has been so brilliant, but I haven’t had time. Everyone is just so cool. I do miss that. I love UCL and being at Uni. If I don’t get any more gigs that’s fine, there’s always my fisheries modules if I’m not working!”

It’s unlikely however that her future post-graduation lies in the intricacies of aquatic breeding.

“I hope to just continue with acting. I’ll do whatever I need to do to keep going, I’ll probably move back home for a while. I’d just to be working. Hopefully I’ll get lucky.”

Her track record so far seems to suggest that she’s willing to work hard enough to make sure she’s in the right place at the right time should that luck strike, whatever happens.

“When I first started out, I was auditioning for a youth theatre. They asked me to do a comedic monologue and I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I did a piece as Gollum from Lord of The Rings. The woman was just looking at me like ‘what the hell is she doing?’ They eventually let me in. You just have to keep trying.”

Lucy Chappell

Who was your first favourite actor?

Dakota Fanning. I watched Hide and Seek and War of the Worlds over and over when I was 12 and I remember thinking, “I want to do that’. Act twisted and run away from aliens. I wanted to experience those things. I made up a lot of my own stories when I was younger and would act them out by myself, but after watching her I realised you could do it on a much bigger scale, and it was a job. It was a done deal after that.

What was the last book you read?

A Life Inside by Erwin James, which is in diary-form about his life sentence in prison. I wrote my dissertation on male prison culture and am really interested in it. I’m about to start Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

Without picking anyone who is still alive, pick a director and a cast for any remake or adaptation of your choosing.

Stanley Kubrick directing Peter Pan with Heath Ledger as Peter, Alan Rickman as Hook, and Robin Williams as Smee. But I’d want to be Wendy.

Generally, what is your favourite mode of transportation?

Horse riding or really, really fast car. I’d actually love to be a racing car driver.

If you could be interviewed by anyone in history, who would you pick? (Let’s pretend I’m busy…)

Someone funny or who would challenge me, politically, academically or personally. Or someone I could just talk about dreams and passions with.

What is your favourite twist ending of all time?

The ending of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It’s so damn heartbreaking. But I also love when Bruce Willis’s character is revealed as a ghost in The Sixth Sense. Sorry if I ruined it.

If you could pick any creative outlet other than acting to be adept at, what would you pick?

The other things I’m trying do alongside acting – writing and photography. Otherwise, contemporary dancing.

You appeared in the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything. Would you rather have Hawking’s capacity for understanding of the universe or would you rather that you live to be 130 (for the sake of argument, lets say you would also age half as quickly in this option)?

I think I’d prefer to forever wonder about the universe than know everything about it, so I’d rather live a bit longer.

What is the hardest accent you’ve ever tried to imitate?

Scottish, though half my family is from Scotland and I was born in Aberdeen. We have videos of me singing when I was around three or four and I had the thickest Scottish accent. I should have it down, but no.

Would you rather have a live-in chef, or a live in masseuse?

I get way too restless during massages and I often have just sweet potato chips or vegan ice cream for dinner, so neither of them would have a fun job. I’d rather have a live-in person who can teach me whatever skills I wanted, like martial arts or sword fighting.

If you had to work at any museum or tourist hotspot to work, where would you pick?

Somewhere you can see the Northern Lights.

Would you rather get to go to the moon for three days or have an all-expenses paid trip anywhere on Earth for two months?

The moon.

With respect to contemporary society, what is one thing you love about it and one aspect that you don’t like?

I could write an essay about this, but one aspect that I love – people being able to express themselves in any way they like and put it on any platform for the world to see. Creativity is pretty limitless now. An aspect that I don’t like: people don’t go to libraries anymore. There’s something so nostalgic about it – I like actual books, browsing for them and getting them stamped. I actually have an overdue loan now I’m going to stretch out for as long as possible so I can keep saying I have an overdue loan. Another thing I don’t like is general over-sharing. About what you’re doing or where you’re going or how this movie or tv show is being made. Everyone wants to know the details, but there’s no mystery. I want to keep a little mystery.

Would you rather live above a great bakery or a great pub?

I’d be lying to myself if I said I didn’t want to live above a bakery. But a pub would be fun too, if it was really old and haunted and creepy. And I could help write the quizzes.