Hard Sun's Agyness Deyn opens up on her first leading role
From catwalk to gritty police drama, Agyness Deyn is up for anything. She tells Pam Francis about her first big prime-time role.
As a supermodel, Agyness Deyn strutted the catwalk for Chanel, Versace and Dior and graced the cover of glossy magazines around the globe.
Today, as an actress, you are more likely to find her dressed down – no make-up, covered in mud, knocking seven bells out of her fellow actors in brutal fight scenes and skidding around in cars.
It’s obvious from her excitement as we meet to discuss last night’s exciting first episode of the pre-apocalyptic drama Hard Sun that she loves her blossoming acting career with a passion.
She’s dressed entirely in black with barely a hint of make-up and looks so understated and cool it’s hard not to think of her still as a supermodel.
Her last time on the catwalk was in 2016, when she made a surprise appearance at the St Laurent show.
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For me it was the perfect time. I really wanted to be able to communicate emotion
But it’s been nearly 10 years since she was a full-time model and has gradually made the crossover to film and TV acting.
The decision to retire from modelling came once she felt she had the right amount of life experience to make the change.
“For me it was the perfect time. I really wanted to be able to communicate emotion,” she says.
“I had this urge within myself to explore my own humanity. It seemed the next thing to do.”
Without traditional acting training, did she feel the need to prove herself?
ELECTRICITY - Official UK Trailer - Agyness Deyn
“I’ll always have to prove myself,” she admits.
“Not just because I was a model but I have always had that fundamental drive to do my best. I’ve been blessed to work with incredible film directors that haven’t even known I used to be a model.”
This time, Agyness is being watched by millions in the six-part series set in contemporary London as one half of a detective duo.
Agyness plays Detective Inspector Elaine Renko, who discovers evidence of a mysterious cosmic event while investigating an inner-city murder with her new partner.
As soon as Agyness read the script she was hooked.
Within minutes of the opening credits Elaine is in a frenzied fight trying to protect herself against a vicious knife attack as her deranged teenage son, who she had when she was very young, tries to murder her.
She says, “I was instantly gripped. Elaine has had a very difficult past which she has used to her advantage and become very self-sufficient. So she has become very strong and insular and a bit of an island. But when her son shows up she has to relate to him and she is not used to doing that.
“So that was an interesting parallel world to this woman who is very good at her job. She is also a super-introverted and very intelligent nerd. I just thought it would be fun to play.
“I am always drawn to women that have a strong point of view and this is that woman. It felt very genderless for me that it wasn’t about her being a woman or sexual or any of that. She could just be a human being and I found that very refreshing,” says the 34 year old.
Agyness is also physically strong, as her co-star Jim Sturgess found out to his cost when she punched him in the face during a fight scene between the two cops.
BBC One introduces crime thriller 'Hard Sun'
She is able to smile about it now, but at the time she was horrified.
“I burst his nose,” she exclaims.
“I was wearing a fake knuckle-duster made of rubber otherwise I think I would have broken it. Everyone rushed around him as I just stood there crying. I was horrified. I’d never punched anyone in the face before. And Jim was going, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine.’”
The fighting doesn’t stop there and Agyness reveals she did most of her own stunts. “I did some physical training for the role and with every kick, punch, block, run, serve and skid of the car I felt like I was filling Renko’s skin to its fullest potential. It was very exhilarating,” says the 5ft 8in actress who grew up in Rochdale in Greater Manchester.
Back then, she was known as Laura Hollins, karate-mad from the age of four to 13 and in her teens working at a fish and chip shop after school.
She then moved to London to join her friend, designer Henry Holland, and it was there she was spotted by a model scout.
Along the way she made the decision to change her name to something more eye-catching so opted for unusual spellings of her grandmother’s name, Agnes, and the family name of Dean.
She now lives in New York with her second husband of 18 months, hedge fund manager Joel McAndrew.
But despite her world travel, she has retained her broad Lancashire accent and remains close to her brother and sister, who have both recently become parents.
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“Yes I’m an auntie. I definitely want kids,” she reveals, “but I have to be in the same place as my husband. When I was filming he flew over at weekends. Sometimes we were working six days a week and doing 16-hour days and night shoots. The scenes were so exhausting and brutal.”
She is returning to work in the spring with a new movie in the States, which she can’t yet discuss, and in the meantime is enjoying spending time at home with her husband.
But would she put herself through such a demanding TV role again?
“Of course I’d do it again. It’s like what women go through when they have babies. My mum would always say you just forget what it’s like and have another one.”
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