Ann Akinjirin

You might have seen her in TV shows such as the BBC's I May Destroy You and Marvel's Moon Knight, and now Ann Akinjirin is starring in the new adaptation of Enid Blyton's classic novels The Famous Five. She talks to us about what cult filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn has brought to the series, her favourite on-set experiences so far and her hopes for the year ahead.

When did you begin acting?

I started acting when I was 11 years old. Actually, slightly before that, my mum used to put me in performing art summer camps from the age of about nine or 10. But at 11 I started taking it seriously and started to go to drama classes on the weekends, and considered it as something I wanted to do as a career.

What was your first professional role?

My first professional TV role was playing a nurse in the Christmas special of EastEnders in 2006 - I didn’t even have an agent at that point, so it felt like a really massive achievement.

Nicolas Winding Refn is such an unusual choice to adapt The Famous Five - what do you think he's brought to it?

I think Nicolas brought a fresh gaze on the retelling of Enid Blyton’s young adventures. He also brought a vastness in terms of imagination and what we could do with it, how we could bring it to life. I think the fact that he is an unusual pairing made it more exciting and gave us the ability to go beyond what people were expecting.

The episodes are new stories rather than adaptations of existing ones, but had you read the books or watched either of the previous TV iterations?

As Aunt Fanny in The Famous Five

Post-getting the job I did tap into the source material, but before getting the show I wasn’t familiar with any of the existing TV iterations and I hadn’t read the books as a child, which worked quite well in my favour. It allowed me a freedom to not be beholden to images or character traits that I already knew or felt limited by. I wasn’t restricted by anything that I had imagined or by anything that had come before. As this is also a reimagining of the stories, I was also able to fully commit to making it my own.

You've already been in plenty of great shows - I May Destroy You, Moon Knight, etc. Which have been the best experiences?

I think all the shows that I’ve done before have been great experiences in different ways. For example, with Moon Knight I made some exceptional lifelong friends that I still speak to this day. We also shot in Budapest and Jordan - both places that I'd never been to before. We were filming during the pandemic so there was also something quite special about being in places when it was uncrowded. With I May Destroy You, I worked with a lot of people that I already knew, it was exciting to film as the scripts were so incredible. I’m also very fond of my time on Trigonometry. But I would say there is something quite special about each job that I’ve done - I make amazing friends and I always learn a lot!

Do you have any kind of process for preparing for a role or getting to know your character?

I always start with the source material. I read everything. I really love research. I also ask myself questions about the character - Who are they? What do they want? What is holding them back?. But it’s also important for me to allow myself to find the character on the job. With Fanny, there were some things I found through watching James Lance play Quentin, and the dynamic that James and I brought to the roles as on-screen partners. That did shift and change a little bit how I played Fanny. It’s a combination of research, asking myself questions about the character and then allowing the character to evolve when she meets other characters in the show.

What have been some of your favourite shows and films recently?

As Aunt Fanny in The Famous Five

A TV show I loved was Daisy Jones And The Six. I really love foreign indie films. Close by Lukas Dhont was my favourite but I also loved Past Lives, Return To Seoul, The Last Ten and Sick of Myself.

Do you have any goals or hopes for the year ahead?

My hope for the new year is to continue to stay anchored in myself - continue to feel my feet on the ground mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. To continue to see the joy in everything and to continue to work. I just hope that we hold onto each other in society a bit more in 2024. There’s been a lot of conflict in the past few years and I just hope that we hold onto each other a little bit more in 2024.

Words: Scott Bates

Follow Ann on Instagram