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LA STARS OF TOMORROw Chris Vance and Daisy Lewis LA Stars of Tomorrow 2014 Profi les by Elbert Wyche. Photography by Frazer Harrison at Viceroy Santa Monica hese days it is diffi cult to watch Rightly so. The talent that comes from Screen was looking for actors, directors, your favourite TV show or visit across the pond has always been fi rst-rate writers, producers and composers from T the cinema without being and it seems that US audiences, not to Ireland and the UK who spend much of reminded of the proliferation of estab- mention the movers and shakers in Hol- their time in Los Angeles and demon- lished or up-and-coming talent from the lywood, cannot get enough of our pecu- strate a promising track record and/or a British Isles. liar accents and quirky charm. tantalising slate of upcoming projects. Exports like Downton Abbey and Doctor This year’s LA Stars feature boasts nine In short, entertainers who are about to Who and stars of the big screen such as individuals whose names emerged from a pop. Screen wishes all the LA Stars the Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knight- diligent trawl of agents, managers and very best in their careers. ley have become household names. publicists on both sides of the Atlantic. Jeremy Kay, US editor » www.screendaily.com November 2014 Screen International 25 LA STARS OF TOMorrow Chris Vance (previous page) ber, has Vance as lead actor and executive the director was Marc Forster and I des- producer. perately wanted to work with him. Cut to Chris Vance’s route to acting and produc- “My capacity is to oversee the produc- 10 years later and I get another Marc ing was far from traditional. Born in Pad- tion shooting. Pushing the writing team Forster script and a great role but I get it dington, London, and raised in Bristol, as far as they can go to improve the this time,” he says. Vance attended Newcastle University scripts and make sure we get production Morris, who resides in Los Angeles, and moved back to the capital to work as done every day. Sorting out the logistics can be seen in a recurring role on the Fox a civil engineer — a job he held until he of everything. It’s quite a big undertak- series New Girl in which he plays Zooey was 30 years old. ing. It’s something that I want to do Deschanel’s love interest, Ryan. “Somewhere in my late 20s I decided much more of. Agent Nate Steadman, Gersh to have a change in direction because I “I’d love to explore the feature film side (310) 205-5839 saw my whole life in front of me. I knew I because it’s not something that I’ve done Manager Jai Khanna, Brillstein Entertainment needed to do something else, to experi- much of. Right now, I still have so much Partners (310) 275 6135 ence something else before I committed to explore in terms of producing, direct- entirely to a life of civil engineering,” ing and writing as well as acting.” Vance recalls. A strong work ethic is at the centre of Giles Matthey So he went to London to take creative everything he touches, an attribute he writing and screenwriting courses. That credits to his father, who worked in the Giles Matthey’s family moved from Syd- led to drama training at the UK branch construction industry. ney to London when he was eight years of The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film “Success often doesn’t come easily in old, and he knew very early on that acting Institute. this business and you really do have to was what he was meant to do. Looking Vance dove into acting with all the keep on top of your game, be patient and up to actors such as Philip Seymour Hoff- enthusiasm and energy he could muster. pursue it with an open heart.” man and Daniel Day-Lewis led Matthey Leaving the comfort of a steady paycheck Agent Jim Dempsey, Paradigm to venture far from home to New York, for the uncertainty of the entertainment (310) 288 8000 studying drama at The Lee Strasberg industry required a huge leap of faith. Manager Erwin More, More/Medavoy Theatre and Film Institute. “It was a breath of fresh air for me. It Management (424) 298 2300 While there, Matthey formed a strong wasn’t always easy at times but I was bond with his acting instructor. “Robert fully committed. I was willing to try any- Ellermann, who was a fantastic teacher, thing. It was more than just the acting; Daisy Lewis (previous page) got me to think in a deeper way. He it was the writing and directing and changed my whole outlook and approach producing. I was trying to put plays on. Daisy Lewis knew unequivocally that act- to acting. Although he was a teacher, he So I really embraced the whole thing; the ing was her destiny. Her huge personality became more of a mentor in acting. I felt whole storytelling aspect. Through a led those that knew her to ask when she like the connection was a bit stronger combination of trial and error, things sort would make it happen. “It’s the only than just teacher-student.” of worked out.” thing I’ve ever loved,” she says. His first acting job was a single epi- He got his first acting job through Born in London, her family moved to sode of The Good Wife in which he played school connections in a version of Romeo the Dorset countryside when she was a Dutch rapist, uttering a mere three And Juliet at Oxford University. seven. Lewis trained at the National lines. Next he had a role on the Kiefer But the actor-producer does not Youth Theatre from the age of 15 to 22. Sutherland series 24. believe in the notion of big breaks: he That is when her acting was on hold He got his big breakthrough audition- views success in this industry as a pro- for a while. Her parents were very clear Giles Matthey (left) ing for the role of Claude Crane, a faerie, gression of learning from every role or that if she wanted to pursue it, she and Julian Morris on the HBO series True Blood. “I had no position held. needed to complete her academic studies idea what the part was. It turned out to be That said, he pinpoints his stint in the first. Professional acting was out of the nine episodes. It was a great character. Australian television show All Saints as question. Lewis participated in the Royal My first American role is playing a acters that have a controversial edge to Julian Morris Arthur. “The pilot was never picked up to His role as Victor in Kieran Evans’ dark The show’s creator Alan Ball was in the the moment he was able to walk away Court Theatre’s young writers pro - woman who is attempting to free her them. She’s naturally inclined to people series, however it did get me to America. romance Kelly + Victor is one that remains room during my audition. I had no idea completely from engineering. Following gramme and wrote for The Sunday Tele- country from the shackles of England. and stories on the margins. “People who Julian Morris was a shy kid. As much as I started getting other offers. I never went one of the actor’s favourites. “That was a who he was and then I researched the All Saints, Vance — who lives in Los graph. She also studied English literature That was really fascinating.” are neither one thing nor the other. I he wanted to be, he wasn’t very good at to university but I did end up having that character that I thought would be a huge whole show and I was just wowed and Angeles — has appeared on US television at King’s College London. She credits the role of Sarah Bunting think every character, like every human, sports, so acting was what he did after career I always dreamed of in acting.” challenge. Victor was very unlike myself; knew it was a big deal.” series such as Prison Break, Mental, Burn This year she came to the US, where on Downton Abbey as her big break. “The is complex.” school, just to have fun and make friends. Morris may have managed to bypass a this sort of young working class lad in Matthey followed his stint on the Notice, Dexter and Rizzoli & Isles. she has an apartment in Los Angeles, and auditions, oh my god! It was so brutal,” She continues: “At the movies I like to While growing up in Muswell Hill, college education but learning is Liverpool. The idea of playing him was smash series with feature work alongside When approaching a new project, sold her first show to the CW network, on she remembers. “They told me to get on have sweet and salty popcorn together. north London, Morris went to an after- ingrained in his approach to everything enticing because there was so much for industry veterans and actors he holds in Vance says he looks at it in its totality which she is co-creator and executive a train with one other girl who had been So I like sweet and salty characters school acting programme run by Anna he experiences. “Part of the reason why I me to explore.” the highest esteem. He co-stars alongside rather than focusing on the character he producer.