Jessica Sula: All I want for Christmas is… to see as much of the world as possible-Lucy Norris-Entertainment – Metro

Jessica Sula’s opening up about what life on the Skins set was really like (Picture: Getty Images)

Welcome to Metro.co.uk’s All I want for Christmas is… series where we’re exploring our beloved famous faces’ deepest desires ahead of December 25.

At 16 years old, Jessica Sula booked a role as Grace Blood on the third generation of the cult classic Skins.

It was her first time dipping a toe into the world of professional acting and from the moment the cameras started rolling, her life as she knew it changed forever. 

She grew up on set, learnt life lessons alongside her castmates, discovered the darker side of the industry and shot to fame one episode of the beloved Bristol teen drama at a time. 

The Swansea native, now 28, lives in Los Angeles and has a plethora of projects under her belt – including Amazon’s Panic and 2016 thriller Split which also starred James McAvoy.

While Jessica waits to see what the new year will hold for her, she’s reflecting on her life as an actress, spilling Skins secrets and offering up lessons that she had to learn the hard way.

Jessica starred in Panic alongside Jack Nicholson’s son Ray Nicholson (Picture: Getty Images)

You were part of one of the biggest pop culture programmes in the UK. How did Skins change your life? 

Skins was… it’s that thing where I did it when I was so young so I didn’t realise it would be something that would follow me in a certain way. It’s really cool because that’s the reason why I’m living here now [in Los Angeles], I just got a lot of good opportunities from it.

It was the jump-off for me. I didn’t have an agent, I didn’t know how to get into the business, I certainly did not have the money when I was younger to go to London and try and start acting. 

So it just launched me into everything, it started a whole new life. 

At the age of 16, I moved to Bristol and started filming a show. As a 16-year-old kid it gave me work experience in a really valuable way because I just did one audition and then got a job. 

That was also a blessing and a curse because afterwards, it didn’t prepare me for the nightmare that is auditioning and how you can go for years without getting anything. So yeah, it shot me into adulthood because I started working and then it gave me an opportunity where people could see me and then afterwards I could get an agent and do the whole thing.

Did it ever get difficult to deal with the attention that came so suddenly, alongside navigating a world that was also new to you?

It did. That’s like a decade ago now so the internet was rising and Twitter was changing how fans interact with the people that they see on television. 

Generation three [of Skins] at times received a lot of online hate because particularly that first season was so special and everyone was really attached to it. We were filming in Bristol, so people knew what we were shooting and they wouldn’t really hold back. So yeah, it was kind of just the hardships of dealing with being online but in a public way, not just in a normal teenage way. 

Also having to deal with cast dynamics and going through puberty, you know, it’s never fun. Doing it on a show as well, it’s really super vulnerable and you feel really exposed. I consider Skins – because I never went to college or uni – I consider it kind of like my crash course when it comes to relationships with people and working a craft that I would end up wanting to do for the rest of my life. 

Following her acting career in the UK, the star moved to America to pursue other roles (Picture: WireImage)

It was a struggle with dynamics with other human beings. I was suddenly around new mates, who I had to form close fast bonds with and I was a little bit like Grace back then, I was worldly in a sense with my family but I was very sheltered. 

So being around the other cast, I was in awe of them because they were kind of cool. It was really fun but it’s a split – half and half.

After Skins you moved to America so what’s your favourite project you’ve worked on since then? 

I really loved working on Godless [also starring fellow Skins actor Jack O’Connell] because it was just so big. There were so many casts and so many sets and it was a period piece so that was always something that I wanted to do. 

No matter how big or small the role was, everyone was in this hotel in New Mexico so we all got to bond and hang out with the cast. So I would say that is up there,  just getting to do something completely different. 

I just had fun working on this horror movie I did because it’s something that I’ve also never done before. It’s called Last Shift and is a reboot of another movie from a few years ago. 

Getting to work on something so different is always a blessing and you’re always very happy. It is that thing of you get dealt the cards that you’re given. You go out there and pound the pavement and get a job, then you try and do your best.

The 28-year-old reflected on the darker side of the industry and how that changed her (Picture: Getty Images)

What is something about the world of acting and your industry that you just never expected before you started in it?

I never expected that some parts of it would be as cliche – some of the people that I’ve interacted with when it comes to what women had to go through with body image, dealing with the language that people use with you. 

I remember I went on my friend April Pearson’s podcast – she played Michelle in Skins – and we talked about how on the show we were told to get in shape, you know, and we were 16. 

So, I never expected it to be kind of… “really, this actually does happen?” Maybe that’s me being naive but you just don’t think that people would even use those words. You become a product. 

I guess if I’m being totally honest because I started so young, I didn’t really have an idea of what the business would be, I’ve grown up in it. So I think just having moments where you work with a director and they are inappropriate to you or you’re just battling your own inner demons but under an extreme microscope because you’re in a world that can be very shallow. 

Jessica revealed her generation of Skins received a lot of online hate from fans (Picture: Getty Images)

I’ve had to grapple with issues. I think when you’re younger, it’s all something that can either bounce off you or it absorbs into you in a way that when you’re older, you realise “Oh, that’s not healthy”.  

I took that in a way that I shouldn’t have, I always thought of myself in a not very kind way and that’s because I’ve been poked and prodded for how many years. People have had opinions of how I looked and just how I am.

That element of it has been a little surprising but there’s also the light of it all which is I get to meet people I never would have met and go places I never would have been – you kind of have to just leave that other bulls**t behind.

If you can remember what you were doing on this day last year, can you reflect on how you’ve changed since then and what you’ve learned?

So this time last year, I was with – I call them like my American family – I’ve known them since I moved to LA and they’ve sort of taken me in so I spent Christmas with them. They’re also half British, so I still get to have a bit of home. 

She discussed her biggest learnings since entering the industry at age 16 (Picture: Getty Images)

I think what I learned is that you just have to go with the flow. You have to let go of your expectations of what you think your year will be. With Covid what we saw was that you can’t predict anything and you can’t take things for granted. I never really wanted to have a woo-woo approach to things because I think my mother is really good at letting things go and I see her perspective. 

This year, I met someone I fell in love with. I moved three times and I’m back in Los Angeles, ready to do it all again next year and just try and stay in the present as much as possible.

Any big 2023 projects we should know about? 

I do have something that doesn’t have a release date but that’s supposed to be coming out but I am really back in the swing of auditioning. 

Honestly, I feel that right now I’m up for the challenge. Sometimes you feel depleted by the prospect but right now I think I’m ready to go for it.

So Jessica, you can have absolutely anything for Christmas – what’s on your list? 

I would want to go on a trip with my parents. I’ve been away from them for a while now. I want to have a family holiday with them. 

My mum is in Trinidad, my dad’s in the UK, so I hardly get to see them. I’d like to not worry about the cost and be able to travel. I think travelling would be you know… can you tell this is a post-Covid interview? 

You can’t predict the future and I’d like to see as much of the world as possible. But yeah, I’m trying to think of anything else really that I could want. If that’s the case, then I’d love to have a little boat. My dad’s a sailor so he can take us around, two birds with one stone really.

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