An act of fate

Actress Lily Collins believes in fate. Although she doesn’t exactly put it that way, she says when she was just starting out at 16, she made a vow.

‘‘I decided to make the conscious decision that when I’m told ‘no’, it’s ‘No, not right now’,’’ she says.

‘‘I just made a commitment to myself that I loved acting so much that It wouldn’t fall victim to the deterrent. It was definitely intimidating. And I went for so many things I got told ‘no’ on. But I also believe that things happen for a reason.’’

She often found destiny had a better plan than she did.

‘‘And the projects that I thought I really wanted or needed either ended up being ones I was glad I wasn’t a part of, or they would’ve taken me on a totally different trajectory. And I wouldn’t have been able to do projects that actually had a lifelong effect on me.’’

One of those lifelong projects is her role as the tragic young seamstress Fantine in the BBC’s latest production of Les Miserables. The six-part, nonmusical version of Victor Hugo’s novel marks a complex task for Collins, who was born in England but grew up in California.

‘‘I tend to pick characters that require a lot and don’t have the easiest time and go through some sort of transformation,’’ she says. ‘‘My friends always say, ‘Great, when’s the comedy coming?’

‘‘Part of the process of picking what I want to do comes with the question: Is this character going to challenge me and am I afraid of it? Sometimes those are the ones I want to turn away from because it would be much easier if I wasn’t as terrified to go into a project,’’ she says.

‘‘But I know that when I give my all – and hopefully at the end of the day once it’s done to the best of my ability – those are the ones that are the most meaningful,’’ says Collins.

At 20, she was already wise beyond her years. She left her studies at the University of Southern California to become a fulltime actress. That was especially brave of Collins, because as the daughter of British musician Phil Collins and an American mother, she knew up close and personal the downside of showbusiness.

‘‘I think it just gave me great insight into what to prepare for. I think my love of storytelling and being different characters, all that transcended what could be in terms of the negative,’’ she nods.

‘‘I know that the entertainment industry can be

because I knew more of what to expect.’’

What she didn’t expect was it took her four years to capture her first substantial role. Then she landed parts in Mirror Mirror, Blind Side and Abduction. But when she accepted the role of the young anorexic in Netflix’s To the Bone, fate stepped in again.

Collins, 30, had suffered an eating disorder herself and was writing a book about that experience.

‘‘It was an honour for me to play a young woman who was going through that in the film at the same time I was writing about it in my book,’’ she says.

‘‘Because both experiences helped aid the other . . . I felt that was the universe putting these two things on my plate at the same time and going: ‘This is important’.’’