Jodie's Making A Killing - I've Never Taken An Acting Class!

The natural talent stays grounded as her career takes off

As flamboyant, seductive psychopath Villanelle on the hit TVNZ 2 drama Killing Eve, actress Jodie Comer is a natural at behaving badly. She knocks children’s ice creams off their cones, steals people’s luggage and has some very creative methods of murder.

But when the director calls “cut” and the cameras stop shooting, don’t expect Jodie to know one end of a poison bottle from the other.

“I am so clumsy,” the self-described “big softie” confesses. “If you could see me on set, trying to use a flick knife … remember that shot of me flipping a knife out in the bathroom? It must have been about 15 takes.”

Luckily for Jodie, when TV executives were looking for someone to fill the role of beautiful, conniving, high fashion-wearing assassin Villanelle, being handy with a knife was last on the list of attributes they were seeking. More important was a vulnerable boldness that, as it turned out, Jodie could manufacture in spades.

She was so convincing, in fact, that the 26-year-old took out the gong for Best Actress at the BAFTA TV awards in May, which is quite a feat for someone with no formal acting training!