David Jonsson: 'I always say I’m an indie boy; those are the places I feel most safe’
David Jonsson is trying to be more present this year. ‘I’m aware my life is moving a bit too quickly to enjoy it,’ he says with a smile. We’re speaking the day his nomination for the Bafta EE Rising Star Award has been announced, and Jonsson reveals he cried ‘a little bit’ on hearing the news. ‘It’s an award about your work resonating with your people; that’s why it meant a lot to me,’ he explains.
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After training at Rada, Jonsson, 31, started his career on the London stage before his breakout role as Gus in Industry in 2020. Since then, a slew of screen hits have followed, including the rom-com Rye Lane and sci-fi horror Alien: Romulus. Up next is The Long Walk, an adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel. Among the blockbusters, theatre still holds a special place for Jonsson. ‘I always say I’m an indie boy – independents, the theatre; those are the places I feel most safe,’ he says.
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Now, the Londoner is turning to writing too, with his first television drama series Hype, about Black culture’s influence on British fashion, in development. It’s a subject close to his heart. ‘We’ve got so many amazing Black British designers,’ he says, citing Grace Wales Bonner and Bianca Saunders. ‘I’m really interested in that, because we’ve always been fashionable. We’ve always had something to say in art and fashion.’
You can vote for the EE BAFTA Rising Star Award here
Nabhaan Rizwan: 'I think it’s time to not be so individualistic'
Nabhaan Rizwan's phone is lighting up and he’s not used to it. ‘I feel like I’ve done something wrong,’ he says. Quite the opposite: they’re congratulatory messages: he’s just heard he’s been nominated for a Bafta for his role in In Camera.
Rizwan’s appearances on screen include the surreal BBC comedy Juice, written by and co-starring his brother Mawaan; independent film In Camera; and Netflix hit fantasy series Kaos, in which he played a modern reimagining of the Greek god Dionysus.
This year, the 27-year-old, who was raised in Ilford in a family of actors and writers, is mixing things up: ‘I’m a creative abolitionist: abolish your own creations and principles in order to rise again.’ He’s also set on his work not taking things too seriously. ‘I think British cinema needs to be able to laugh at itself. Otherwise, it all becomes very self-serious,’ he says.
Within the industry he admires Daniel Kaluuya, and he’s currently working with Aimee Lou Wood on her BBC series Film Club. ‘What links us all is that we came up doing a lot with a little. I think it’s time to not be so individualistic, and to make something exceptional together.’
You can vote for the EE BAFTA Rising Star Award here
Bella Maclean: 'Hold onto love and love what you have in life'
From the moment she was introduced to the Jilly Cooper universe, actor Bella Maclean was gripped by the novels. Her breakout turn as Taggie in the adaptation of Cooper’s Rivals carried high expectations. ‘It’s a beloved book, and these characters are really important to people. I think there were nerves about doing it justice,’ says Maclean.
The show’s reception proved its success; just six weeks after the first season was released, Disney+ announced a second. Maclean, 27, who grew up in Sussex, graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2020, and has since taken on critically acclaimed stage roles in Spring Awakening and London Tide, as well as in the final season of Sex Education.
There’s a palpable sense of fun and mischief in Rivals and Maclean says it reflects the atmosphere on set. That fearlessness and irreverence is what she most admires.
One piece of advice she has taken from the experience is to ‘hold on tightly, let go lightly’. She says, ‘Hold onto love and love what you have in life, but if it doesn’t go your way or if things change or the outcome isn’t right, let go of it. Something else amazing will come along.’
Ella Hunt: 'I’m now of the mindset that it’s no expectations, all possibility’
Ella Hunt never thought of herself as a comedic actor – until she took on the role of iconic American comedian Gilda Radner in new film Saturday Night. For actor and musician Hunt, the opportunity came at a poignant time, after the loss of her sister – a period in which she was questioning whether she wanted to continue acting at all. ‘Gilda’s joy was such an antidote to my grief, and felt like it stood in tandem with it in a really healthy, beautiful way,’ says Hunt, who grew up in Devon and is now based in New York.
The immersive experience of Saturday Night bore similarities with another one of Hunt’s projects: the epic four-part Western film Horizon: An American Saga, created by Kevin Costner. She still treasures his words of advice: ‘Trust that where you are is where you are meant to be.’
With previous appearances in Les Misérables, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Dickinson, Hunt, 26, is taking a new attitude into 2025: ‘I’m ready to shrug off the scripts I’ve written for myself about the things I do and don’t do in my career,’ she says. ‘I’m now very much of the mindset that it’s no expectations, all possibility.’
Photography: Lulu McArdle, Styling: Natasha Wray, Hair (Ella & Bella): Halley Brisker at The Wall Group, Make up (Ella & Bella): Lucy Burt atThe Wall Group using Lancôme, Grooming (David & Nabhaan): Liz Daxauer at Caren, Nails: Sabrina Gayle at ARCH, Styling Assistant: Sabrina Leina, Movement Director: Liam Hill atDust Bunnies.
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