Who is Hanna star Esme Creed-Miles? Meet the lead of Amazon's new TV thriller
The young actress stars in Amazon Prime Video's reboot of the 2011 action movie
Amazon Prime Video's Hanna hasn't even been released yet, but the long-anticipated series from The Night Manager's David Farr is already generating hype thanks to its adrenaline-fuelled Super Bowl trailer.
The trailer showcases teenage killer Hanna's killer skill set, as she leaps onto moving trains, wrestles her father Erik into a chokehold, and jumps from a first floor balcony to take on a group of armed soldiers.
But the footage also shows Hanna's more vulnerable side, as she takes in brand new sights, sounds and emotions — in one scene we see her walking into a packed nightclub, the strobe lights illuminating her bewildered face.
But who is Esme Creed-Miles, the actress who plays Hanna? Here's everything you need to know about the rising star.
- When is Hanna released on Amazon?
- Hanna was the original modern 'action girl' – now she's back, says writer David Farr
- 15 books you need to read before they become TV series and movies in 2019
Who is Hanna star Esme Creed-Miles, and where have I seen her before?
This is the teenage actress's breakout role, but this could be just the beginning, if her parents' careers are anything to go by.
More like this
Creed-Miles is the daughter of Oscar-nominated actress Samantha Morton and actor Charlie Creed-Miles.
Creed-Miles previously appeared alongside her mother in Mister Lonely back in 2007: her mother played a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, while Esme played a Shirley Temple lookalike. She also starred in Dark River as the younger version of Ruth Wilson's character Alice.
"Esme... is a complete newcomer and is going to blow everyone away," David Farr, the show's writer and creator, told RadioTimes.com.
How similar is she to original Hanna star Saoirse Ronan?
Farr, who also co-wrote the original 2011 film starring Saoirse Ronan as Hanna, and on which the Amazon series is based, says that Esme's approach to the role is "totally different".
"I think Saoirse's performance was completely iconic in one way, and Esme's is totally different and that's very exciting," Farr said. "Physically they're completely different, and the way in which they approach the role: Esme I would say approached it in a way that is kind of more vulnerable, and then explodes into action.
"Given it's her first thing and she was only 18 [at the time of shooting], she's a remarkable young woman to be able to just do these long shoots and keep handing out the performance that I'm seeing."
How old is Hanna's Esme Creed-Miles?
Born 5th February 2000 according to her IMDB page, Creed-Miles will be 19 years old when Hanna is released.
How did Esme Creed-Miles prepare for the role of Hanna?
Asked how she trained for the physically demanding role of Hanna, Creed-Miles told RadioTimes.com, "I did three months of training and martial arts training. I train whenever I have free time and often at the end of shooting day."
She added that her co-star Joel Kinnaman (Suicide Squad, Altered Carbon), who plays her father Erik Keller, advised her on balancing training with shooting: "He knows about the long days and the tough schedules and making sure you work out."
"She's such an unbelievable talent," Kinnaman says of his co-star. "It's a complicated relationship between the characters [Hanna and Erik], so to have a young actress that can really go deep but also not deep in the way that you would first imagine. She's creating a complicated character that's really interesting."
On set in Budapest, Creed-Miles and her co-star Mireille Enos, who plays a CIA operative named Marissa Wiegler, also shared a stunt and martial arts trainer. "She's [Mireille] been doing martial arts for 20 years and she's a legend, she's like a black belt," Creed-Miles said. "She's insane."
"Hanna is on this very strange and incredible journey," Enos told RadioTimes.com, "and Esme, as well, is on a strange and incredible journey as her first big job. So much is required of her, and she is allowing herself to share all of that and so her performance is super interesting, heart-breaking.
"[Esme had] never done any sports and she has thrown herself into that, so she's sore and sometimes grumpy, and sometimes wants to tear down the building – and does so! Which is perfect."
Hanna will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in March 2019
