Kaya Scodelario has opened up about the prejudice she faced in the British film industry.
Having become famous thanks to her role as Effy Stonem in the teen television series “Skins”, alongside Nicholas Hoult, Kaya Scodelario has long found it difficult to land other roles in the United Kingdom, due to specific social barriers in the country, as she told the Guardian.
Raised in a council estate in Islington by her Brazilian mother, the actress explained that she encountered fewer obstacles to her career in the United States than in England, where her origins often confined her to stereotypical roles, such as that of 'a maid in historical dramas. “I think things have changed for the better. It seems the film industry has finally understood that a British actor does not necessarily fit a specific look or voice,” she said.
A return to success
Airing from 2007 to 2013, “Skins” follows the lives of a group of teenagers attending the fictional Roundview Sixth Form College, located in Bristol, in the southwest of England. The series addresses various, sometimes controversial, themes such as homosexuality, single-parent families, personality disorders, pregnancy, anorexia, drug addiction, autism and bullying.
With the exception of a few characters, the soap used young, unknown actors, spotted in teenage drama clubs, in open auditions, and by inviting talents like Nicholas Hoult, who had previously appeared in “About a Boy” alongside Hugh Grant, to present himself for a role.
After “Skins,” Kaya Scodelario played Cathy in Andrea Arnold’s acclaimed 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights, before moving on to major Hollywood franchises like “Labyrinth” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” In recent years the actress has returned to the UK in the hit series 'The Gentlemen', alongside Theo James and Daniel Ings.
