Rising star Simona has Faith in her own ability
AT just 22, Simona Brown has made a barnstorming start to her acting career.
She has had roles in big shows not just here but also in America and worked with some of the hottest names in the business.
As she takes time out to talk to iN10 about her latest screen appearance, new ITV drama, Him, which started last week, she seems remarkably calm and composed – until conversation switches to The Night Manager.
The BBC spy series has been one of the hottest things on TV this year and Simona admits being in the cast was a massive deal for her.
“I thought it was a good script but I don’t get too excited,” she said.
“But as soon as my agent told me Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman were involved, I screamed my head off.
“My first question was whether I had scenes with any of them and I did have stuff with Olivia, which was great.
“I didn’t make it to Istanbul, unfortunately, I was in London. But even if you are cold, Olivia’s presence warms you right up.
“She was so great and inspiring, I felt like I learned such a lot from the scenes.
“Pretty much anything with any of them in it turns out to be a hit. So I had a good feeling. I knew I was riding with the big boys.”
Him is a three-part drama which has been described as “a domestic horror” and which Simona says mixes thriller, psychology and otherwordly elements.
It centres on a 17-year-old boy with a supernatural power who is drawn to Simona’s character Faith when she moves into the family home after the death of her mother.
Former Corrie star Katherine Kelly and Patrick Robinson, from Casualty, are among the impressive cast.
“I was filming at the time so I couldn’t go to a physical audition,” explains Simona.
“I had to do the dreaded self-tape. If you look a certain way you think, ‘ Why did I look like that? Let’s do it again’.
“They were really hush-hush about the story but there’s tension and the relationships are strained when Faith has to move in.
“She is very quick-witted, quite precocious, but there’s the pain of losing her mum to cancer.”
Simona says inheriting her mum’s youthful looks made it easy to pass for a teen in the drama.
And she credits her mum with noticing her performing drive from an early age.
“The stories I’d tell with my Barbie dolls were very extravagant,” laughs Simona.
“My mum saw that I was creative and imaginative and I’d always sing and dance and I got into drama clubs outside of school.
“I think the moment I decided to really pursue it was when I was nine and saw The Lion King on stage.
“I was blown away. I loved it and thought, ‘I want to do that!’”
Simona has been in hot demand from American producers, too, including Guilt, about US youngsters studying over here, one of whom is brutally murdered.
“I play the roommate who doesn’t die,” says Simona. “She was an interesting, manipulative, controlling, sharp-tongued character. It was fun.
“It was great to do an American show but also come home to mum’s grub at the end of the day. It was the perfect set-up.”
Simona also got the call for a new version of slave drama Roots. The original ’70s mini-series won nine Emmy’s and has now been remade for the History Channel, starring Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburn and Jonathan Rhys Myers.
“I remember the original when I was about nine,” adds Simona.
“My parents sat all the kids down, my family and the cousins, and we all watched. We were horrified and gobsmacked that it was real.
“At that age, sometimes ignorance is bliss, and it was blissful not knowing.
“But it was important and I feel Roots is such an integral part of history.
“I was playing a slave and as you can imagine it was a lot to shoot.
“It was a real insight and I’m very proud of it.”
Him, ITV, 9pm, Wed.