PHOTOGRAPHS BY YULIA GORBACHENKO, STYLING BY CHARLES VARENNE
Emma Corrin is often in a state of grappling, whether we’re talking about 2am whiskys or reckoning with something altogether more fraught (‘What am I doing? Do I want to give it all up and do something else? What does this mean? Who am I?’). The 29-year-old actor is thoughtful and introspective, while their piercing gaze often seems to be reading my face for a reaction as they answer my questions with more questions.
Corrin is speaking to me from their hotel in Paris after a much-needed 11-hour sleep and a rare day off from being onstage for The Seagull, the classic Chekhov play they are starring in. Director Thomas Ostermeier’s modern adaptation at the Barbican features an all-star cast (Cate Blanchett is Arkadina, the fading leading lady), with Corrin portraying the ingenue Nina, an aspiring actor who dreams of fame.
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While one role we’re here to discuss is in a play from 1895, the other is set in a dystopian future. In the new season of Charlie Brooker’s sci-fi satire Black Mirror, Corrin and Issa Rae play lovers in ‘Hotel Reverie’, an episode that explores a baffling but eerily plausible AI advancement allowing vintage films to be remade by inserting present-day actors into the original worlds. ‘Walking onto the set for the first time, which had these incredible, hand- painted black and white backdrops, was so special,’ says Corrin. The scenes between them and Rae are infinitely watchable; their chemistry is so tender that it blunts the sense of dread that so often accompanies a Black Mirror episode. ‘She’s brilliant,’ Corrin says of their co-star. ‘Her comic timing is unreal. It’s a love story at the heart, which I think is going to be surprising for people. It’s not this big horror warning.’
Still, as conversation inevitably turns to the use of AI in cinema – one of the reasons for the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes – Corrin grows quiet. ‘I’m not a fan.’ They pause. ‘I think it’s terrible, actually. It terrifies me. The loss of original, organic creativity and [not] having to be in a room with a group of people to create something is terrifying. God, in the wake of everything that’s going on with the world, surely the one thing you need to hold on to is being in a room with other people creating something from the ground up. That’s the source of everything, isn’t it? The source of hope.’
Theatre – people creating something from the ground up – is Corrin’s first love, though committing to their current role took some mental gymnastics and a big leap of faith. ‘Did you actually love The Seagull?’ they ask me, half smiling, head tilted. I feel as if they can see into my soul. ‘Because I didn’t! I think I just didn’t get it. I read it at school and found it so dense… And I thought Nina was a bit of a wet wipe.’
During their first meeting with Ostermerier, Corrin admitted they weren’t sure about the role. ‘I know what it’s like to want to be an actor, and I’m on the other side of that. I didn’t have much interest in going back to the person I was at 16,’ they explain. The director allowed them the freedom to mess around, to truly play with the character and find their own way in. As a result, Corrin’s Nina is the antithesis of a wet wipe. ‘What if she was actually incredibly knowing?’ Corrin asked. They’re animated when they tell me about a rehearsal of a scene with Trigorin [Tom Burke], a middle-of-the-road writer whom Nina sees as her ticket out of obscurity. Instead of hanging onto his every word, Corrin’s Nina ate a banana, subversively and suggestively. ‘The room was in hysterics – it felt kind of confrontational and flirty.’
The vibe made it through to the production; the banana didn’t, but getting to be playful clearly paid off. On stage, Corrin is completely magnetic. There’s something so human in the messy contradictions they bring to the character; Nina pines for Trigorin while also wielding a quiet, youthful confidence, and she holds her own around him and his lover, Blanchett’s imperious Arkadina. It makes the show’s overlapping love triangles even more hilarious – and even more heartbreaking.
Before The Seagull, Corrin says they hadn’t worked in such a collaborative way. ‘Cate is incredible at it. She’ll chuck random shit in and we’ll just go with it. I’m in awe of her imagination and creativity. Thomas creates this atmosphere where you could pretty much do anything. It’s an amazing way of working. We’re a complete family,’ says Corrin. ‘I’ve never felt closer to [a cast].’ The feeling is mutual. On working with Corrin, Blanchett later tells me: ‘Emma’s interior life is so rich and mysterious. Working with them is like trying to hold mercury. As a performer, they are quicksilver.’
Corrin shot their ELLE cover on a quick trip to Paris between performances. Wearing new-season Miu Miu with rare archival Cartier jewellery dating as far back as the 1920s – soon to be displayed as part of an upcoming exhibition at the V&A – makes perfect sense to them. ‘The pieces made me think of the Titanic. They have lived so many lives. Who are the people who wore them? And when did they wear them?’ they ask. ‘It was so fun to style this jewellery with a collection that’s androgynous and playful. There’s a lot of joy and freedom to be found in fashion.’
The cover shoot feels like a fitting clash of aesthetics for an actor who is both a defining talent of their generation and one who refuses to be defined. Corrin fell in love with acting at school in Surrey and while studying education, English, drama and the arts at Cambridge University. Their meteoric rise is the stuff of legend: after graduation, Corrin landed a job as a Princess Diana ‘chemistry reader’ during auditions for the part of Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown. Preparing with their mum, Corrin treated the role as their own secret audition, perfecting Diana’s signature inflections and doe-eyed head tilts. The rest is history. Five years on, Diana feels like a close friend: ‘There’s a fondness there. It’s like I knew her a bit. As time goes on, it’s so weird to think about how much it changed my life. It’s almost too big to think about.’
Corrin’s beloved interpretation brought them widespread acclaim, a Golden Globe win and an Emmy nomination. Naturally, there was a thirst to see them back on screen in period pieces, playing stifled women in unhappy relationships. My Policeman opposite Harry Styles and Lady Chatterley’s Lover with Jack O’Connell followed, but Corrin was keen to escape the mould. ‘I choose roles very instinctively,’ they say. ‘I don’t have specific things I look for – it’s more based on a feeling.’
In the years that followed, they have well and truly proved their dexterity as an actor. In 2023, Corrin played an amateur sleuth in A Murder at the End of the World opposite Harris Dickinson, before taking on a Marvel villain: the cold, calculating Cassandra Nova in Ryan Reynolds’ satirical superhero flick Deadpool & Wolverine. Next, Corrin starred alongside Lily-Rose Depp in the deeply disturbing remake of cult-horror classic Nosferatu. Enigmatically shapeshifting between genres, Corrin instils a humanity in every role they take on. As their friend and collaborator Little Simz tells me (Corrin made an unexpected appearance on the musician’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert album): ‘Their gift is undeniable. The first time we met, I knew this was somebody who truly cares about people and how we can use art to change this world for the better.’
Being back on stage, with the unpredictability that every show brings, feels like a reminder of Corrin’s impressive capacity for metamorphosis. Still, the adrenaline is taking its toll, and Corrin, who likes to be in bed by 10pm, often finds themselves awake in the early hours of the morning. Their new post-show routine – ‘a whisky and a slice of toast’ – helps.
There’s something precious about Corrin’s brief moments of solitude, late at night in their kitchen. I get the sense that decompression doesn’t come easily. The actor is at the top of their game, but they’re certainly not sitting back and enjoying the view. ‘Last year, I really felt like something was off,’ they say. ‘Maybe it’s age. The end of your twenties, when you’re outgrowing a period of your life and going into your thirties, is a weird in-between space. I felt all over the place in terms of, “What am I doing career-wise?”’
It’s no coincidence that Corrin’s existential musings marked the first time in a long while that the actor was afforded some headspace. The SAG-AFTRA strikes forced a pause in work that Corrin hadn’t experienced since the pandemic. ‘I’m not good at not working, and I felt a bit at sea. I hadn’t had that amount of free time since before The Crown came out. It was just me alone with my thoughts – a f*cking nightmare.’ They found themselves looking back on the past few years, wondering whether they’d enjoyed them and thinking about what really makes them happy. ‘It’s easy to be on the conveyor belt. I’m very lucky to be getting work and doing what I love, but when there’s one thing after another, you don’t have time to ask, “Is this really fulfilling for me?”’
Then there’s fame. After being cast as a person with such a prominent place in history, it didn’t take long for Corrin to join Diana in becoming a figure of extreme public interest. ‘It’s a very weird aspect of this job. I find it really hard. I’m grateful, obviously, for everything my work brings my way, but as you get older and you think about what you want for the rest of your life… I’m trying to find a balance of liking the work I’m doing and the choices I’m making, and distancing myself from [the rest].’ The loss of anonymity and intense scrutiny have been overwhelming, especially after Corrin came out as non-binary in 2021. ‘I think playing Diana was, in a way, the greatest warning,’ they say.
Being forced to take time off during the strikes turned out to be an important reset. ‘I realised I wanted to do more theatre, because it brings me a lot of joy. I want to say yes to less and I want to give myself more time between jobs to explore other stuff, such as writing, and to just feel my feet on the floor, be around family and not get on a plane every second day. Being able to articulate that was huge.’
Thinking about their wellbeing feels especially important given the climate we find ourselves in. Weeks before I speak to Corrin, Donald Trump signed an executive order essentially dismantling the rights of transgender and non-binary people in the US. From erasing trans history in schools to withholding funding over gender-affirming care, the bill ultimately seeks to eradicate the existence of the entire community. ‘It is truly terrifying to think of the generations of kids who are going to grow up with a permanent feeling of fear and an inability to express themselves,’ says Corrin. ‘That is really sad. It feels very hopeless.’
The actor hasn’t been to the US since the legislation was announced. ‘Going there will be strange. I’m lucky that on a day-to-day level, I feel safe, but the UK has its own host of problems. I’m worried that as these other countries go backwards, we will too’.
Being part of any minority group often comes with a pressure to play the part of both expert and spokesperson. I ask Corrin if they think the cisgender majority should be doing more to fight against the erasure of the trans and non-binary community. ‘Always having to constantly define [yourself to others] is wild. To think that it’s not something other people have to confront in terms of gender…’ They pause. ‘I don’t know the answer to that question, to be honest. I feel a bit lost.’
A conflicted expression returns to Corrin’s face. And yet, amid so much uncertainty, it’s clear they know exactly who they are. ‘I feel more centred this year. I feel very settled in myself, which I haven’t experienced for a long time,’ they say. In a full-circle moment, Corrin explains that it’s Nina, the former wet wipe, who helps them to find hope in dark times. ‘She hangs on to hope. To say those words every night is really affirming. She’s the one who realises that, when things get this bad, the main thing you need to do is put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.’
HAIR: Daniel Martin. MAKE-UP: Gina Kane at Caren. NAILS: Sylvie Vacca at Call My Agent. STYLIST’S ASSISTANT: Sabrina Leina. SET DESIGN: Samirha Salmi at Swan MGMT.
This interview appears in the May issue, available on newsstands from April 17.
Black Mirror season 7 streams on Netflix from 10th April 2025
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