Feature: Actress Mhairi Calvey Chats With Us About Her Career and Her Portfolio of Work

Mhairi Calvey is starring in a movie called “Abduct,” which is a Sci-fi, conspiracy feature film. She plays the lead role in the movie alongside Sienna Guillory (“Resident Evil”) and William B Davis (“X-Files”). The movie has been released on Amazon Prime.

Mhairi started acting when she was five playing the “Young Murron” in Mel Gibson’s movie “Braveheart.” After graduating drama school a few years ago, she has been working in independent film and television. Her other credits include an action movie titled “Eden Grey,” which she plays the title role in, Sci-fi series “Horizon” and televisions movie “Gemini,” which I won Best Actress for at the L.A Film Awards.

We had an amazing opportunity to speak with Mhairi Calvey.  Check out the interview below.

Hi, Mhairi! Thank you for granting the interview. It is a pleasure to speak with you about your career. You have an amazing portfolio. We enjoyed checking out your work. What inspired you to choose acting as your career path?

I was completely in love with black and white Fred Astaire movies as a child. I think it was just in my blood. I also remember watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice series as a child and making all my school friends act it out. I can’t remember a time when acting wasn’t in my life. Then I landed my first professional role at the age of 5 in Braveheart and from that moment on I knew that acting was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

How has the experience been, thus far?

It’s been exciting and challenging. I studied at drama school for three years and no one can really prepare you for what it’s like when you leave. You have to work hard and develop a thick skin. Now that I’ve been doing it for a while the work has become more regular. As an actress, I love getting roles that really push and something that I’ve never done before. I’ve been lucky that I haven’t been typecast and I’ve had directors give me such a wide range of roles like Eden Grey (who is a female Bourne character) and in the film Alan, I play an alcoholic. Next, I have a really exciting period drama lined up.

Let’s talk about what it takes to be an actor in today’s changing climate.

You have to have many strings to your bow, lots of skills. I train in martial arts and I’m learning the guitar. The more skills you have the better chance you will get opportunities. I think it’s also important to develop your own work and find your own work too. I never let my agent do everything but instead, we work as a team. There are so many people who want to act or be famous so the industry is very overcrowded. I just focus on working with people who are as passionate as I am creating the best work I can. I think the #TimesUp movement will help change things for women. We are starting to get more interesting roles, leads and more exciting projects.

Let’s talk about some of your recent work. “3 Lives” and “Robert The Bruce” is in post-production. “Horizon” is going to be released. Tell us about the films.

“3 Lives” is a survival, action movie that I filmed in Germany. I play the lead female who is on the run from kidnappers and the man who has just saved her was arrested for assaulting her years before. She has a dark side to her which is discovered much later in the movie. It’s has a dark undertone to the film and a few surprises along the way.

“Robert The Bruce” I filmed with Angus Macfadyen. We were in “Braveheart” together and he asked if I would cameo. We filmed in a stunning castle in Scotland near Skye. Although the film is about Robert The Bruce it isn’t the sequel to Braveheart.

“Horizon” is a series I filmed which will be released towards the end of the year. I played the guest star in the period episode. We filmed in Bristol in this incredible location and I’m working with the director again on another production next year.

Let’s talk about breaking the mold and being a breakout star. Is it a role or the script that can make it happen for an actor?

I think a good film mainly comes down to the script but to become a break out star I think it’s a combination of everything. A fantastic script with a powerful story and a great team behind the film so the end result of the film looks incredible. I think having something new that audiences haven’t seen before and great marketing. There are so many variables and luck involved too but I believe if you keep working hard and doing great work it will happen.

You have filmed several shorts in 2017. Is it important for an actor to do short films?

I think it’s really important to do short films, a lot of feature films come from short film concepts and directors make shorts in order to show their skills plus it’s a great way for actors to get there name around the festival circuits and work with as many teams as possible. Actors can get great showreel material from shorts and it’s a chance to hone your craft.

How do you continually hone your craft?

I will attend workshops to practice my craft and I keep up my training. Even at home between work I practice new skills and improve old ones.

Thus far, what has been the best experience working in the industry?

One of my favorite experiences was filming in Germany, the weather conditions were really bad and some days the storms were so awful that the locations were flooded out but all the cast and crew rallied together and worked through tough conditions to complete the shoot on time. It was great to be apart of such a determined team. My other favorite experience was filming “Eden Grey” and doing the fight sequences. I love doing my own stunts and we it was a lot of fun working with the choreographers Mike and Francois.

Do you have any upcoming projects that we haven’t mentioned?

I have a couple of films. I’m directing my first short which is about domestic abuse. I’m currently working on the script and I want to cover different forms of abuse such as emotional and psychological not just physical. I also want to show that both women and men can be victims of domestic abuse. I also have a Christmas feature film lined up and a Victoria drama feature in the works, too.

Complete this sentence, if I had an opportunity to do anything I want, I would do ___________.

I would love to do a Tarantino movie. I love his style and I’ve been a fan of his work for a while. I love the characters that he writes and his dialogue is always fantastic. I would also love to do more TV. Dramas like “The Crown and Outlander.” They are so brilliantly made and cast it would be incredible to be apart of a big ensemble.

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