#TakeNote: 8 women in Tinseltown changing the game, one creative endeavour at a time

'How far we have come, how far still go go' can be an apt description to describe the strides made by women in cinema. Be it in front of the camera or behind it, the world of film has witnessed countless pioneers break new ground. This fascinating read that sheds the light on eight outstanding women and their journey, accomplishments, and challenges sees us take a deep dive into their life skills and the sheer perseverance needed to make a mark in Tinseltown. It surely Involves more than just grit.

Emily Beecham, actor

Being cast with Scarlett Johansson and Sienna Miller as siblings in Kristin Scott Thomas’ directorial debut My Mother’s Wedding felt like ‘a lot of pressure’, admits Emily Beecham. The film, which comes out this year, draws on Scott Thomas’ real-life experiences of losing her father and then her step-father, ‘so we all wanted to do the story justice.’

Luckily, the actor has a natural ability to bring complex characters to life with authenticity. After appearing in the Coen brothers’ blockbuster Hail, Caesar!, Beecham swapped the sheen of Hollywood for something altogether grittier. In the titular role of 2017’s Daphne, her performance as a troubled thirty-something revealed the gentle humanity of a character hell-bent on self-destruction. Other career highlights have included Netflix’s mind-bending mystery 1899 and her thoughtful depiction of Fanny Logan in the 2021 BBC adaptation of The Pursuit of Love, starring opposite Lily James as her volatile cousin Linda Radlett. ‘We all have people who bring out different qualities in us,’ says Beecham. ‘The girls had kind of a push and pull in their friendship, but always this real love for each other.’ With her intelligent take on emotional relationships, she’s sure to live up to the promise of Scott Thomas’ story

Marisa Abela, actor

As the spoilt trainee banker Yasmin Kara-Hanani in the BBC/HBO series Industry, Marisa Abela was utterly magnetic. No wonder we will be seeing more of her this year, in Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated film Barbie, and in the title role of Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Amy Winehouse biopic.

Nicôle Lecky, actor, writer, producer

Dark yet glitzy, Mood was one of BBC’s most original series last year, addressing the subjects of sex work and social media through the medium of musical drama. The London-born writer and actor Nicôle Lecky stars in the show, which she adapted from her one-woman play Superhoe, and also composed its unforgettable soundtrack, featuring songs that punctuate the episodes in the form of music videos. She has drawn comparisons with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Michaela Coel, and credits her ‘East End wheeler-dealer mentality’ with getting Mood off the ground. She is now working on new material, including a debut feature film.

Ellie Bamber, actor

Celebrated for her harrowing performance as a kidnapped teen in Tom Ford’s 2016 film Nocturnal Animals, Ellie Bamber has had a varied career that has also seen her appear in musicals (she played Cosette in the BBC’s Les Misérables), true crime (The Serpent) and, most recently, fantasy, with the Disney+ TV series follow-up to the 1988 film Willow. This year is set to be a memorable one: Bamber will take the leading role in the psychological thriller The Seven Sorrows of Mary, before starring in The Sniper’s Daughter, and joining Maxine Peake in Mother Russia, the timely story of a journalist’s fight for freedom under Vladimir Putin.

Isobel Waller-Bridge, composer

Lauded for her versatility across electronica, jazz and classical music, Isobel Waller Bridge has created original scores for films including Emma, television series from Black Mirror to her younger sister Phoebe’s Fleabag, and productions such as Woyzeck at the Old Vic. She has also collaborated with Alexander McQueen and Simone Rocha on fashion shows, and released two EPs of string pieces. With an instinctive ability to tell stories through music, Waller-Bridge recently wrote the soundtrack to the screen adaptation of Charlie Macksey’s beloved tale The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, and compose for the dark drama Embers and the thriller The Tutor.

Ambika Mod, actor

In the BBC’s This Is Going to Hurt, which was filmed in the throes of the pandemic, Mod appeared as an overworked junior doctor facing emergency C-sections and exams. Her performance as a young woman at breaking point was deeply affecting, although she has said that ‘comedy was definitely my way in’. With a deft ability to make audiences both laugh and cry, Mod will take the lead in the Netflix adaptation of David Nicholls’ novel One Day.

Tamara Lawrance, actor

The Rada-trained actor Tamara Lawrance has already graced our screens in several ambitious projects, such as Mike Bartlett’s BBC drama Charles III, the adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel The Long Song and Small Axe. She recently starred in the film The Silent Twins, about June and Jennifer Gibbons, who, from the age of three, would only communicate with each other; her performance has earned her a British Independent Film Award, along with her co-star Letitia Wright. She will next be seen as the protagonist in Marlon James’ detective series for HBO/Channel 4, Get Millie Black. 

Naomi Ackie, actor

‘I’ve got an eye for off-kilter projects, probably because I feel quite off-kilter as a human being,’ says Naomi Ackie. While she is now best-known for portraying Whitney Houston in I Wanna Dance with Somebody, the big-budget biopic is but the latest in a fabulously varied line of career choices from the London-based actor, ranging from Hollywood franchises such as Star Wars to TV projects including the excellent left-field black comedy The End of the F***ing World, Steve McQueen’s powerful British drama Small Axe and the queer love story Master of None. 

Casting her net wide is deliberate, for both professional and personal reasons. ‘Each character I play pushes me into a deeper understanding of myself,’ Ackie says. ‘Plus, I’ve been acting since I was 11. For the first 20 years, I made so many rules for myself, but I’ve realised recently, it’s just about playing and trying.’ That experimentation will this year see her take the lead in Zoë Kravitz’s silver-screen directorial debut Pussy Island (‘so joyful to work on!’), produce her own television projects—in which she explores magical realism and workplace power-play—and draft her first feature-film script.

This piece originally appeared in the February 2023 print edition of Harper's Bazaar UK