Ella-Rae Smith still has a DVD of her first acting gig: a primary school musical adaptation of Twelfth Night. Strange as that may sound, this memento records the moment the young British actor got her first buzz from performing. Now far from sing-a-long Shakespeare, Smith finds herself building an acclaimed and diverse repertoire: her most recent project being the sophomore season of Apple TV sci-fi series Foundation, which casts Smith as Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion, an unassuming female powerhouse on a quest for revenge. 

Ella Joyce: Hey, how are you doing? You’re very bubbly for a Monday morning! 
Ella-Rae Smith: I’ve got a new morning routine at the moment. I wake up, make my coffee, and listen to a podcast. I’ve been listening to Louis Theroux all morning [The Louis Theroux Podcast], it’s been lovely. 

EJ: The series he did over lockdown was a lifesaver.
ERS: It was so good. I’m such a fan, he’s a national treasure.

EJ: Did you have a good weekend?
ERS: I had a chilled self-care weekend. I was meant to go to a party but I just wanted to lie in bed and read my book, which is really lame but I think it’s just as important to have a moment to yourself instead of trying to be social and do everything. My agent always says to me, “What makes an actor is how they spend their downtime.” That’s one of the most important things I try and live by because doing my job is what makes me the happiest but I’m not always going to be on set. That’s not how the life of a working actor goes, and finding joy in your normal life is so important. During lockdown, I was fantasising about getting a pottery wheel. I was like, “Why not?” [laughs] 

EJ: I was buying all sorts of nonsense in lockdown, I even bought a Tamagotchi. 
ERS: No way! What a blast from the past. It’s actually quite stressful trying to keep those small, inanimate objects alive. I think I had two or three back in the day, not to brag or anything. [laughs] I wish I’d made a treasure box when I was a kid and buried it. We’d have Groovy Chick, we’d have Polly Pockets. Big question for you, did you have a pair of Lelli Kelly’s? 

EJ: I didn’t! 
ERS: My mum would never buy me Lelli Kelly’s, I wanted a pair of Heelys too but I wasn’t allowed them! I grew up in Bristol and it’s so hilly, it would’ve been a death wish. 

EJ: How long have you lived in London for now? 
ERS: I moved here when I was seventeen, then I spent two years in Brighton and came back. I’ve been living in this place for four years now. The best thing about Brighton was having the beach to yourself on sunny days when it’s not kids’ holidays. 

EJ: And when did you realise you wanted to start acting? 
ERS: I was twelve and we did a year six leavers play, for some reason we always did Shakespeare turned into musicals. We did Twelfth Night, I still have it on DVD. I tease some of my friends about their roles in it but we can all still sing along. I’d never thought about acting before and suddenly I’m cast in a play. I was quite shy when I was younger so I never thought about performing, I wasn’t the person standing up in class singing and dancing. All through my life, I’d had people telling me I should be a model because I looked unusual and very tall. [laughs] So that had always been in my mind as something which was worth following, but acting was my goal. I got scouted by a [modelling] agency and around the same time I was doing my first movie – which I applied for through an open casting and somehow managed to get – then I met my acting agent. I found myself in a situation where I was seventeen years old working on my first ever movie, just signed with a new modelling agent, and an acting agent. So I moved to London and the rest is history. 

EJ: It was clearly a moment of serendipity. 
ERS: It was everything I’d been hoping, wishing and dreaming of. It just magically happened. Opportunities like that are so rare. I’d been working towards it and putting myself out there as much as I could. When I’m older, I’ll look back and think, “Wow, I was crazy. I just left school and dived headfirst into a completely unknown world.” Sometimes you just have to take chances when they’re in front of you, you don’t want to look back and see missed opportunities.

EJ: I imagine modelling prepares you for acting in a way because you’re well-equipped to take on someone else’s vision. 
ERS: Definitely. Modelling is also incredible preparation for acting in terms of dealing with rejection, separating what you look like from the person you are and the skills you have.

EJ: Your latest project Foundation is nearly out, are you excited for people to see it? 
ERS: I am so excited but I always get a bit nervous. I love working on sci-fi, it’s so fun. To come into an existing show as a new character and bring a totally new energy is such an exciting thing to do and it was an incredible opportunity for me as an actor.

EJ: What is it you love about sci-fi? 
ERS: Every world is so different – that’s the beauty of it. Everyone’s imaginations can go so far in terms of set, costume, hair and make-up, it’s otherworldly. I really enjoy going to set and stepping into a beautiful space that looks like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

EJ: Do things change as an actor going into an established series compared to something completely new? 
ERS: When we started shooting, the first season was still coming out so we were going to set and then in the evenings catching up on Foundation. It was quite exciting to be starting whilst the world was experiencing the first season, knowing you’re already building the next steps. Now the world has been built, we get to play in it. We’re pushing the limits in season two.

EJ: What’s coming up next for you? 
ERS: The writer’s strike is happening and I think it’s completely necessary, I’m in full support of them. I’m excited for all the scripts to start coming through again. Everything feels on pause at the moment and rightly so, I’m just focusing on living my life, walking my dog, doing bits of my own writing and enjoying my time off while I have it.

EJ: Is writing something you’re hoping to explore more? 
ERS: I don’t feel like I can say I’m a writer, but writing was my first love before acting, it’s more of a compulsion than a hobby. In the last few years I’ve started thinking about writing scripts. I’m in a place where there is no pressure, I’m just doing things because I love doing them. I’m just cooking up my ideas – typing them up feels really exciting in itself for now. Film is the most accessible form of art, it’s many things rolled into one and it’s so interesting to think about storytelling in that way.

This feature was completed prior to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Interview originally published in HEROINE 19. 

hair ROM SARTIPI using ORIBE;
make-up JIMMY OWEN JONES at JULIAN WATSON AGENCY using DIOR FOREVER FOUNDATION and CAPTURE TOTALE LE SERUM;
photography assistant BRUNO McGUFFIE