Interview: Laya Lewis (Skins)

With the sixth series of Skins launching tonight on Channel 4, TNS talks to actress Laya Lewis, otherwise known as man-mad Liv.

Bristolian actress Laya Lewis, 18, auditioned for the role of Liv in her school while she was doing A-level drama at Cotham High School. Laya was spotted by members of the production team and following a series of auditions bagged the role as Liv Malone, the man-mad, promiscious party animal of Skins.

Aimee Swift caught up with the actress...

So the sixth series of Skins gets off to an exotic start, what was it like filming in Morocco? 

Yeah, it was amazing to be filming in Morocco, I didn’t actually think it was going to happen straight up until we were on the plane!  It was really fun.

Do you think this series and your generation holds up to the Skins legacy?      

I’d like to think so, I mean every series and every generation is different so it all depends but I’d like to think we do.

Over 2,000 people auditioned for the role of Liv, how does it feel to know that you got the role? 

It felt unbelievable. I mean I was at work when I auditioned so it was totally surreal but really, really great.

Did you have any idea when you were younger that acting was something you wanted to do?

I’ve always loved it, I did it at school and A-levels. It’s such a hard thing to tackle and such a hard industry to get into, I just kind of gave up before I’d started.

How has being in Skins affected your daily life?

To tell you the truth, it hasn’t. I get to do the best job but in terms of my life, everything’s pretty much the same. It was an amazing experience and hopefully and opportunity to do more but certainly my life hasn’t really changed.

To what extent do you feel that Skins accurately represents typical adolescent life?

I think a lot of kids can probably relate to it but I think it’s obviously intensified so it’s entertaining. I doubt that so many crazy things can happen to one group of friends (laughs) but it’s all very relevant with the issues it addresses so yeah, I think it is quite realistic.

It’s fair to say Skins is a very gritty, down to earth teen drama, would you be interested in any other styles of acting?

Yeah I’d love to. I think we’d all love to do something totally different to Skins now just to see if we can. With Skins, you’re not playing yourself but you are playing someone your age who can be very similar to you in a lot of ways. I think we end up putting ourselves into a lot of the character so it would be great to play something out of my comfort zone.

If you could describe Skins in three words, what would they be?

I’d say gritty, quite sexy at times and fun as well.

How do you feel the character “Liv” has affected you as a person?

I guess I like the fact that she’s quite ballsy and she always says what she’s thinking. Sometimes I’ve taken little bits of her and I think I’ve become quite like her and I also think I’ve put a lot into her. She’s quite miserable which I’d like to think I’m not (laughs) but she’s definitely made me more confident.

It would be safe to say that your character is definitely quite promiscuous, is this quite a nervous part to portray, given your character has a lot of sex scenes?

I guess it was at first but my first day filming was a sex scene so they kind of threw me in at the deep end but it made it a lot easier throughout the series when they came up. Also, doing those scenes with guys you see every day, boys that you really get along with, it can be quite funny really.

A lot of people did want me to ask you, are you as promiscuous as your character?

No, not at all (laughs). I love the fact that she is like that and I don’t hold anything against girls that are like that because I think that it’s great to be like that if it makes you happy. But no, I’m totally not like that.

What’s your relationship like with the rest of the cast off set?

We all get along really well, I think I’ve definitely made some friends for life. A lot of people think our characters are wild and crazy but we’re actually quite tamed for a Skins cast because we’re actually not that crazy at all.

Do you have an actor or an actress that you personally admire or draw dramatic skills from?

I probably have a million, I think at the moment I love anything like Carey Mulligan.

Besides acting, what other hobbies or skills do you have?

I don’t know (laughs). Before Skins, I was heading towards maybe teaching or teaching abroad. I love travelling, I’ve had a chance to do that this year with Skins and I really loved it. I also wanted to do some charity work abroad and really see where I ended up.

Is there a particular role in theatre you would really like to play?

I have no idea (laughs) I think I’d love to do some musicals or something, not like panto but really great musicals. I’d like to be maybe Big Mama from ‘Chicago’.