She may only be 24 years old, but Thomasin McKenzie boasts a varied and mature portfolio of work that many actors well beyond her years would envy.
While performing was never a career path McKenzie was initially keen to traverse in her youth (as her mother is the famed drama coach Miranda Harcourt, McKenzie jokes that she was "over acting" when she was still a child), it was a straight-to-TV film she did aged just 13 that opened her eyes to the impact that movies could have on people’s lives. While she garnered TV roles home in Wellington and had a small part in 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, it was Taika Watiti’s off-beat satirical drama, JoJo Rabbit, which saw McKenzie break through to wider audiences in 2019.
From there, she starred opposite Anya Taylor-Joy in Edgar Wright’s applauded Last Night in Soho in 2021, and, in 2023, she landed the leading role in Eileen, the first film adaptation of an Ottessa Moshfegh novel. McKenzie plays the titular repressed and timid prison secretary Eileen, who finds herself drawn into the intoxicating orbit of the new prison psychologist Rebecca (Anne Hathaway). Hathaway is brilliant, as to be expected, but Eileen is anchored by McKenzie’s captivating and electrifying performance.
Her upcoming Netflix film, Joy, is a work that McKenzie considers one of her most powerful yet. Written by the playwright Jack Thorne and directed by Sex Education’s Ben Curtis, the biographical drama sees the actress play Jean Purdy, a nurse and embryologist who works alongside a visionary scientist, Robert Edwards (James Norton), and a leading surgeon, Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy), in their efforts to cure infertility – resulting in the birth of IVF. While appearing alongside such British institutions as Norton and Nighy, it is McKenzie’s heart-wrenching performance as Purdy, who is grappling with her religious beliefs as well as her desire to help women to conceive, that audiences will be left thinking about long after the credits roll.
We caught up with McKenzie at The Clermont Hotel in London ahead of the global release of Joy to discuss her career to date.
“When I was younger…
…I didn’t always want to be an actor. I literally grew up on set. I was basically born at drama school, because my mum is the head of drama at Toi Whakaari drama school in Wellington. Every single actor of a certain generation in New Zealand has babysat me!
But because acting and being on set was so normal to me, I was pretty much over it when I was a child. I wanted to work with animals and become a vet or zookeeper. My biggest dream was to work at a monkey sanctuary. I started working in acting when I was young, because I saw it as a way to earn pocket money. It was when I was 13, which is still quite young, when I realised this could be a pretty viable career choice for me, because it gave me the chance to make an impact.”
“The biggest curveball of my career was…
...a TV film I did when I was 13 called Consent. It was a true story about a New Zealander who'd been raped by a group of policemen when she was 13, up until her young adulthood. When the case was brought to court, she wasn’t believed, and the policemen got off scot-free. Doing that project opened my eyes to the impact that film can have on telling stories that really need to be told, that really need to be heard. It really changed the course of my life. If I hadn’t done that film, I very well might be a vet right now.”
“My acting role models…
Audrey Hepburn has always been a big icon of mine. I just thought there was a certain lightness and sparkle that she brought into her work. I love the classics – such as Julie Andrews’ performance in The Sound of Music, as it’s just so joyful. I've always been a big fan of Michelle Williams as well; her work in the more independent, naturalistic films is really inspiring to me.”
“I get so passionate about acting…
...as I feel I bring a lot of myself to my performances. I find so much pleasure in acting and exploring those emotions – I find it very satisfying and it's a real outlet for me. A lot of what I feel is actually expressed on the screen, I suppose, like anger or upset or joy or giddiness, or whatever it is. A lot of it is me.”
“The advice I hold close…
...is from my mum. She always tells me to be like water in a stream – to just flow through, over or past rocks or rubbish in the stream. It’s quite romantic.”
“Having friends in the industry…
...is so important. Being an actor is such a unique experience. I moved to London last year and I’ve made a lot of friends in the industry. One of my closest friends is Australian actress Eliza Scanlen; she’s currently directing, writing and putting her own work out there. She’s encouraging me to do the same, and it’s really planted that seed in my mind. It’s so lovely to be inspired by one another.”
“I find the audition process…
...nerve-wracking. I’ve had to do a few auditions recently, and it never gets easier. Every time I do it, I’m a ball of nerves. My dad always tells me, 'Go and enjoy it. You're always going to learn something from it, whether you do fantastically or not.' So I try to bring that mindset to auditions. It doesn’t make rejection easier. I've done hundreds, if not thousands of auditions, and I’ve not gotten 90% of them – even then, that’s pretty damn good going. Rejection is tough, but you need to find a way to strengthen your skin.”
“I deal with being recognised by…
I basically just hang out in my flat all the time. I don’t really get recognised that much, but when I do, everyone is always really nice and polite. People don’t go crazy – I’m not Selena Gomez or Zendaya. People are more like, 'Oh yeah, I’ve seen you in something'. It doesn’t really affect my life too much, I’m not a massive partier.”
“What’s next on my bucket list…
I’ve been saying this for years – I want to play a fairy. My entire life, I’ve been obsessed with miniatures; my mum used to collect dolls. I’ve always been upset that I wasn’t the size of a Borrower. I need a director to make a film version of Thumbelina – I would not take that for granted!”
“I wanted to do Joy…
...because I was so drawn in by the script. It’s absolutely a work of genius. There was so much research and love in that writing, it had a huge impact on me. I was also really keen to work with Ben [Curtis], the director. My mum was a huge fan of Sex Education, and she knows when a director is good. That’s when I knew I wanted to work with him.”
“The most challenging part of Joy was…
There’s innately so much emotion tied to the subject. There’s a scene about a woman’s right to have a choice, and the pain so many women are forced to carry. It’s a very relevant topic, and it felt quite loaded. I felt I had a responsibility to try and be as truthful as possible. It was so important for me – I would honestly describe this role as life-changing.”
McKenzie with James Norton and Bill Nighy
“Working with Bill Nighy and James Norton…
...was incredible. This was the first job I got after I’d moved to London, and they both made me feel so welcome. I would show up to work every day, excited to see them. I feel like I've got friendships for life there. It’s been so lovely filming Joy; I feel like we’re part of a family.”
Joy is available to watch on Netflix now.
