NADIACATHERINE

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12.11.17

What lies beneath the glitz and the glam? What is it really like to be an actor?

In a world working with Harry Styles and David Mitchell, what’s there to hate about being an actor? The scrutiny, the 6am wake-up calls and the unsecure line of work can all be found in the T&C’s. 

Already sitting and waiting for me, in a small cafĂ© just outside of South Kensington station, is Bobby Lockwood. As he rises from his chair, he greets me with a warm hug, apologising in the sincerest manner for having cancelled on our first arrangement to meet. Lockwood had previously had an audition earlier that morning, and sits promptly as he drinks a cup of fresh coffee to fuel himself for his busy day ahead. 

Bobby Lockwood has been in the professional acting industry since the age of 10, where he landed his first role as the voice of Patch in 101 Dalmatians. Soon after, he was landing almost every role he auditioned for. “I didn’t really have any inhibitions, I was able to just sort of go out there and pretend,” he reflects, “funny enough that led me to then when I was in my early-teens, and it got the stage where people were doing more than just pretending. They were starting to actually learn the craft and they were being trained as an adult.”

Never at the start of his career did 24-year-old Lockwood think that he would get work with the likes of Harry Styles, David Mitchell, and Christopher Nolan. “I did Dunkirk in May of last year,” he proudly reveals, “an incredible experience, just the whole audition process.” Making friends with Harry Styles in the audition room, and later getting to work alongside the renowned director Christopher Nolan, Lockwood was grateful to work on such a successful film: “to be a part of it was incredible.”

Another occasion where Lockwood hadn’t quite got his head around with the names he was working with, was while on set of CBBC’s Up All Night Friday Download Movie.Someone who I got really start struck around was David Mitchell,” he admits gleefully, “I had so many questions about Peep Show and I could only talk to him about pencils.” Disappointed about the topic of conversation, at least he can proudly say he worked with Mr Mitchell.

As well as these household names, he has also worked with some of the world’s leading production companies such as, Disney, the BBC and Nickelodeon. But at the age of 12, Lockwood was soon cut from Disney Channel’s ‘As The Bell Rings’. I remember at first I was fine. Then after chatting for a few minutes, suddenly I felt myself tearing up a little bit,” he tells me, vividly recollecting his memories from the day it happened, “I remember going home and I was gutted.”

It’s harder than it looks: acting is a creative art form. It requires a lot of emotional, mental, and more often than not, physical capabilities. One particular role that Lockwood says he found challenging, was when he played a young serial killer in the BBC series Lewis.I did a lot of work on that, trying to understand why and what pushed him to do it,” he admits. As well as this, despite having danced all his life, Lockwood admits another challenge he encountered was while filming the dance movie Honey 3.I was out [of dancing] for five years, so I struggled pick up the choreography,” he says, “I felt like a robot and that I couldn’t dance.”

Before securing the role, actors have to take part in the dreaded audition process. One of Lockwood’s unsuccessful castings was while he was out in America. “They’re brutal out there,” he reveals, “you’d be waiting outside with 20 dudes who are just 20 different versions of you.” A coping mechanism for these pressures Lockwood finds useful is meditation: “I’ve learnt to meditate before auditions just to sort of calm my nerves and make my head a bit clearer.”

When shooting, a typical day for Lockwood can start as early as 6am and end when the days’ work is complete. “I’ll get up and go to set. You’ll either have breakfast straight away or you’ll be chucked in the make-up chair, or costume,” he says, at the thought of how tedious it really is, he lets out a yawn and soon apologises for his tiredness. “You’ll hang around and then you get on set, and then you hang around and then you shoot, and then you hang around and then you wait for lunch, and then you hang around.” He shares one reference about the acting industry that he was once told and agrees with completely: “I act for free, they pay me to wait around.”

If not acting, Lockwood admits that he would see himself in either the fitness or food industry. Fitness has become a passion of the young actor’s, having already ran three marathons to help raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. “Food and fitness, and friends and family: all the f’s,” he says fondly, listing all the things he cares about.

But Lockwood’s love for chocolate is another path that he could potentially see himself wandering down in the future. “One day when I’m older, I think I will actually like to make my own chocolate. Genuinely. As a way to sort of make money on the side,” he ponders, “If I could make my own chocolate, that would make me happy.”

Laid out on the coffee table he has a journal and a set of old school over-the-ear headphones. The two perfect necessities for escaping from the shallow, judgemental world one lives in. The journal is “a way for me to not even express how I’m feeling, but it’s a way for me to understand what’s going on in my head,” he explains, starring into his coffee, stirring his spoon endlessly around in circles. “I overthink a lot of stuff anyway,” he admits, “what’s in that book is personal.”

People seem to forget about the knock-backs, the cut-throat audition processes, and the scrutiny actors face. “I try to keep positive as much as I can, but I feel like in this industry if you take things personally, I don’t know how you would survive,” Lockwood sighs, reflecting on the challenges he himself has faced over the years. “If I don’t get a job, it’s because I’m too tall or too funny or too good looking,” he says jokingly, laughing at the realisation of what he’s said. “I never get a job because my acting isn’t good enough. If I’m going to take every rejection personally, I wouldn’t cope.”


26.7.17

My First Time: Flying Solo

At 19 years of age, I finally ventured off on my first solo adventure to a different country. Although this trip was only a short haul flight; from London to Glasgow, it was definitely filled with a few bumps along the way.

So what did I think about traveling alone? It was definitely a lot quieter, that's for sure! But I also enjoyed it. I'm quite an independent person but this experience has enabled me to become more self-reliant and organised. However, the waiting around did become a bit tedious, as classic me had used up all of my 3G and the airport Wi-Fi was only free for an hour, so I was sitting around waiting like a lemon for the majority of the time. Although, for once, I had come prepared and brought along my book and had downloaded my music on Spotify so I didn’t need really any internet, it’s not like people were blowing up my phone either, clearly not very popular .

Landing in Glasgow was straightforward as I didn’t have any luggage to collect and my cousin and aunty were already waiting for me. So, it’s safe to say that the outwards journey was a walk in the park.

After spending the weekend getting some final bits for our bridesmaid’s outfits and of course the dress fitting, it was now the Sunday, and I was due to fly home. This didn’t go quite as planned. Originally, I would catch my 21:00 flight from Glasgow, get home, go to bed, and go to work in the morning. But of course, nothing for me is ever that simple.



My flight gets cancelled. Not only this, but the alternative flight that was provided by EasyJet for free then sold out, meaning I was technically stuck in Scotland… Thankfully, my uncle managed to find me a flight with British Airways for the following morning but this was an extortionate price and it still meant that I wouldn’t make work, but at least I would be home.

The flight back was, again, fairly straightforward. Basically the same as the way there, apart from the fact that BA were playing operatic music as everyone boarded the plane, I suppose there’s a first time for everything.

I actually managed to make it back in one piece, with all of my belongings, who would’ve thought! Not going to lie, but I’m slightly dreading flying to America on my own now…

Until next time,

Nadia


xo

12.7.17

Beauty | Fake Tan Tips

Whenever the sun makes an appearance, I don’t know about you, but I just wish I had a permanent tan. Thank god for fake tan, eh! Being bronzed, whether it be real or fake, honestly makes me feel and look 100% more confident and comfortable. So, with the weather being so nice recently, and having started fake tanning again, I thought I would share some of my favourite fake tans and tanning tips with you.


I’ll start off by sharing some of my favourites. Now, I’m not going to lie but my all-time favourite tan is actually Superdrug’s own make; Solait. The one that I use is the medium/dark mousse tan, this is honestly so easy to apply and no matter how badly you may think you’ve applied it, it doesn’t rinse off streaky. However, if you like to splash your cash, then the Bondi Sands Tanning Mousse in Dark is perfect. 


My second favourite tan was the Garnier Summer Body Milk, but it turns out that I’m now allergic to it, so to replace this I found the Bondi Sands Everyday Gradual Tanning Milk. This gives you such a natural glowing tan and it also smells amazing which is a bonus.


Moving on to a few tips…

1.     Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate!!!
I cannot stress this enough. I normally do this the day before I’m about to fake tan, as it helps to get rid of any dry patches, meaning that your tan will go on smoother and look a lot more natural and less patchy.

2.     Moisturise
Again, I tend to do this the night before I apply my tan, as it just helps to soften your skin, making application a whole lot easier. I also moisturise after I've wash the layer of tan off as I find this helps make it last longer and leave your skin smoother.


3.     Use a mitt!
As obvious as it sounds, make sure you use a tanning mitt when you’re applying your tan, otherwise you’ll end up having orange hands, which you deffo don’t want, and it means you're less likely to become streaky.  

4.     Tan your whole body
I know some people only want the parts of their body that will be on show to be tanned, but it is a lot more effective and practical to tan your whole body. This way you won’t end up with white and brown patches, and it also means that you’re not restricting yourself to certain items of clothing as you only tanned your arms or just your legs etc.

5.     Apply Vaseline to your eyebrows and hairline
As weird as it may sound, to stop your eyebrows and hairline turning that awkward orangey tone, apply some Vaseline to these areas and you’ll find that your tan will come out looking flawless.

That’s all the steps that I take when fake tanning and I hope you enjoyed the post and found some of it useful.

Until next time,

Nadia 

xo