Breakthrough actress Carly-Sophia Davies has graced 2023 with an impressive array of accomplishments. Having recently wrapped up filming a captivating ITV series, Out There, which allowed her to connect with her Welsh roots, she also beams with pride over her most recent debut movie release, The Eternal Daughter, co-starring with none other than Tilda Swinton. Longlisted for this year’s BIFA’s Breakthrough Performance category for the project, Carly-Sophia reflects on her flourishing career with nostalgia and great appreciation.

We had the honour of sitting down with the budding star to talk through overcoming shyness, how playing Peter Pan from Peter Pan in her school production revealed her passion for acting, and her dreams for opening her own pet sanctuary.

Read the exclusive interview below…

How has 2023 treated you? What has been a standout moment for you?
Seeing the film premiere of The Eternal Daughter has been a huge, brilliant, exciting and surreal moment. Getting to work with Joanna Hogg and Tilda Swinton, who are brilliant people, was also an amazing experience. Another highlight would be the TV series, Out There — getting to do something that I feel passionate about and that feels very close to the place I grew up in.

What has it been like seeing the reaction to The Eternal Daughter?
It has been amazing, a few of my friends have gone to watch it and I have had some really lovely messages about it. People have loved the film and its story. My friend said that it left him on the floor crying. He said Tilda was beautiful and that it had lots of humour in it, too. Seeing different people feel various things and have their own responses to it has been great.

Talk to me about your early days in acting. How did you first get into it?
I didn’t know that much about it growing up, but I always loved messing around with my friends, playing different characters. I was really shy when I got to a certain age, but I wanted to audition for my school show for a long time. I would go up to the doors of where the auditions were taking place, queuing to go and then running away because I was so shy. After doing that for a year I was like, “No, I’m gonna do this next year” and I did. I sang on my own to audition for Peter Pan and I got the role as… Peter Pan! Then I realised how freeing it was to do it and how great it is to be a part of a group of people doing something together, creating something and having fun. I felt like I found a group of people I belong with. It wasn’t Peter Pan, it was the connection I had with the people when I was doing it.

After that, I went to college to do English and History for A-level but then the day before, I had this thought that I wasn’t truly listening to myself because the thing I loved was performing. I changed courses the day before the course was supposed to start. I did that for two years and thought I’d audition for drama school, and I was lucky enough to get in. It all started from there.

What was your experience at drama school like?
I was challenged. I found it hard to take it all in and difficult to learn to balance the technical side of acting with the instinctive side. I lost a bit of my instinct because I was trying to take in a lot of information. Now, my trust in my own instincts is slowly coming back. It’s still really hard to switch your head off and just be in your body, but I do feel a bit more balanced.

How do you get out of your head?
For me, it was about doing work on myself and my confidence – believing in myself, going on a journey of trusting myself more, speaking up for myself, and valuing myself. I did lots of classes. I went to Go Hub, which is a workshop in London where you get to work alongside lots of brilliant actors. You get sent a scene with 3 days to learn it, you then perform it in front of 30 actors, and then they note you on it. You get a lot of truths that help you build your confidence.

What was the transition like going from a small town in Wales, to London?
It was a challenge but a good challenge. I love London. It’s taken me a while to get used to the busyness, but I love everything it has to offer. I do miss the quietness, greenery and peacefulness of home – it was a big adjustment. It stretched me as a person and I feel like it challenged me. It pushed me and opened me up to lots of different things.

Congratulations on your feature film debut in The Eternal Daughter! What was this experience like?
Surprisingly, the shoot was actually really light. Tilda’s got this amazing ability to do something incredibly dark and then come out of it and be playful, fun, light, and chatty. She did most of the heavy stuff, I’m just being a bit rude to her here and there. It was an amazing experience, I learned a lot and it shaped me a lot. It was a perfect place and opportunity to trust your instincts. There was no wrong way of doing something because Joanna was the most open human being in the world. She would let you try anything out and you could just have a play around with the shoot. It felt like there were no rules which was an amazing experience. I feel lucky to have done it.

Did Tilda share any wisdom?
I’m still kind of digesting and learning from her in a way. A big one was that everything is a
collaboration. Everything in life is a collaboration and you cannot do anything without another. It’s really important to have a really good relationship with the people that you’re working with and to be able to trust them and create a place where you can play, be creative and be instinctive. To be able to get things a bit wrong and learn from it.

Another thing I learned from her is, she didn’t say any of this, but she sees everything you do in life — whether it be the way you dress, the way you walk, how you express yourself, the way you live your life, every single day — as a choice. You can be creative, it’s a way of living and it’s a way of being, rather than something that you just keep for a job. I realised I can express myself in so many ways. She’s a genius and a remarkable woman.

You also just wrapped on a super exciting ITV series about county drug lines, Out There, how was that experience?
Ed Whitmore and Marc Evans wrote it, they are brilliant. It is basically about a farmer and his son and county drug lines seeping into the community. It’s almost a new way of drug dealing that’s taking over the UK. Big gangs target vulnerable young children and use them as drug runners. It’s rural communities that get targeted because it’s a really good place to hide drugs, no one expects it like they do in big cities. It’s also about rural life, communities, trauma, family relationships… Even though it’s essentially about drugs, what it’s dealing with is so much more than that. It’s a hard-hitting, challenging script and a dark watch, in the best way.

What do you wish to experiment with in your career?
I think the more I’m realising, I enjoy working with people I get along with. Of course, it’s about the project, but it is also about the people that you meet along the way and the fun that you have. You live like a family for a couple of months and it’s the best. I’d adore to work with Joanna and Tilda again. I think that would be the dream. Anything that challenges, pushes and stretches me, is something I want to do.

What is one dream you had that has come true and what is one dream you have for your future self?
The dream that I had for myself was to follow my gut. To be able to listen to myself and to allow myself to go on the unsteady journey of choosing to be in the creative industry. I’m in a place where I just feel grateful to be on this journey. I feel lucky to achieve the things that I’ve achieved in my 20s.

Something that I would want to do next is work with animals. If I had the space I’d rescue lots of animals and live around 50 dogs and cats.

I always joke with my friends that when we’re all 80 or 90, I’d love for all of us to put money together and get a big house and live there instead of going to a care home. I don’t like the idea of being in a care home, I’d just much rather live in a big house with my mates.