This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
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The 28-year-old stars as investment banker Yasmin Kara-Hanani in finance drama Industry.
She also recently played Amy Winehouse in the film Back to Black and appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag.
How does it feel to be nominated?
I found out the news on set while filming Industry, so it felt like a win for all of us. Getting a third series of the show was such a triumph. I’m currently filming series four and I’ll still be filming when the BAFTAs happen, so to take the win back to everyone would be really fun. It’s definitely validating. It feels great that people appreciate your work.
Are the best roles in TV now female?
No, but I don’t think men’s parts are necessarily better, either. There is much more equity than there was, but there’s that quote: “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” There was always this idea that people didn’t want to sit down and watch a show about women, but [the HBO drama] Big Little Lies changed the game.
Marisa Abela. Photography: Rachel Louise Brown, Set Design: Penny Mills, Stylist: Rachel Fanconi, Sponsor: BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises, Shoot Location: Sea Containers London, Lancôme
Does working with female directors make a big difference?
I was 22 when I did the first series of Industry and it was incredibly exposing in a lot of ways. The way the public deal with women’s bodies on screen over men’s will always be different and when women are asked to do a lot on screen, they need a woman guiding them through that process. There were lots of articles about how naked I got, so having Lena [Dunham] talking me through that was really important. It was the same working with Sam [Taylor-Johnson] on Back to Black, because that story was told through a very specific female lens.
With the arrival of intimacy coordinators, do you feel like you have more agency?
Yeah, definitely – I’m fluent in intimacy coordinator language! There are people now starting out on Industry who are as young as me when I joined and I can say, "If you don’t know what you want to ask for, I’m more than happy to talk to you about what helped me." It’s always good to help others navigate that process.
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Laura Rutkowski is the Junior Commissioning Editor at Radio Times magazine, where she looks after a column called "What it's like to…", which spotlights behind-the-scenes roles within the TV and film industry – from stunt coordinators to costume designers. She loves finding out how productions are made and enjoys covering a wide variety of genres. Laura is half-American and half-British and joined Radio Times in 2022. She has a degree in Psychology and a Master's in Magazine Journalism.
