Sabrina Dickens is a two-time award-winning actress from Caerphilly in South Wales. She is best known for her appearances in: Silent Night Bloody Night: The Homecoming, My Lonely Me, and Granny of the Dead.
Before she kicked off her acting career, Sabrina was a part-time model for 2 and a half years, but modelling never stuck close to her heart like acting did.
Sabrina then spent three years studying and training in drama at the The University of South Wales. After graduation in 2011, she then launched her professional career with lead and supporting roles, in a number of independent films. Sabrina has since become one of the most prolific actresses in Welsh independent film. After the releases of some of her films, Sabrina received a loyal fan base on social media, who have continued to support her work till this very day.
In 2014, Sabrina achieved a lead role for a musical drama feature film My Lonely Me, co starring East Enders actor John Altman and Casualty and The Bill Actress Jan Anderson. After earning great reviews from critics for her performance, she was awarded two Best Actress awards, at the International Independent Film Awards and the Accolade Film Competition. She also received a nomination for Best Actress from the World Music & Independent Film Festival. The director was so pleased with her performance and overall feedback, that he immediately offered her the lead role for his next up-coming film Is This Now, shooting 2016.
We had an opportunity to chat with Sabrina about her latest projects. Check the interview below.
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmKSDjnSYts”]
Is This Now film information:
Hi, Sabrina! We heard you have a new movie called Is This Now. The story centers on a young girl ,who was sexually abused as a child. When she is a teenager, she tries to adapt to normal life. Tell us more about your role?
Ingrid is a very troubled young woman, who spends her days living in fear and hate of everyone around her. In the film, we get to follow her on her journey and see her struggles along the way through: trust, insecurities, sexuality, making friends, meeting boys, and falling in love. As the story progresses, we get to see how she lets go of her dark past and grow into the young woman she always wanted to be.
Q2. This is a very sensitive topic. How did you prepare to play the role?
As she was abused as a child, Joe Scott the director believed that she would indeed be suffering with depression. I personally have never experienced depression, but from my understanding, depression is a negative emotion that just doesn’t go away as quickly as it should, and so it was up to me to be able to access those kinds of emotions/experiences for the duration of the scenes.
Did you do any particular research on the topic?
I had spoken to a friend, who had suffered with sever depression, and it was the most difficult thing to listen to. They opened my eyes to how fortunate most of us are, and tried to get a sense of how it made them feel. Sadly, I could never be able to fully understand or relate to what they went through, but, as an actor, I tried to take in their feelings and their fears and try to incorporate them with Ingrid’s.
When you’re acting, tell us what experiences you draw on to play the role.
If it’s for scenes which consists of general emotions like: happiness, tears or anger etc, I tend to just snap in and out of it. However, if it’s for a very powerful scene that can be emotionally draining, I like to have a moment before the take, and go back to a time when I lost a dear family member for instance. That way, I can jump right into it on action. This technique is what you would call “Affective Memory”, which is a particular method used by a theatre practitioner called Stanislavski, whom I studied during my training. It is also a central part of method acting, which is a very useful technique for scenes like that.
You have worked in film and stage for several years. We know you can’t pick a favorite, so tell us about your favorite roles, instead.
My most memorable film role would have to be my first lead feature film debut My Lonely Me in 2015, which had a huge impact on my career, and where I won two best actress awards.
My favorite stage experience was performing a Grand Guignol piece back in 2009, which is referred to as “Theatre of Horror”. My character was cruel and vile and just a complete lunatic! She basically seeks vengeance on her cheating husband, and in the end gets him to kill himself. For the grand finale, I ended the show with an hysterical evil laugh, which echoed the theatre, and we even got a standing ovation! What I loved the most about the role was, it wasn’t your everyday standard attractive female role. I understand that every actor wants to look good on screen and on stage, but being an actor is not always about looking “attractive”. To portray a character who is ugly inside and out is a powerful role in my opinion, because the audience will look beyond the appearance and focus more on the acting.
Is there a particular role you would like to be cast in the future?
I am looking to do more roles in higher budgeted films and television, at the moment, whether as a series regular or a guest starring role in a popular TV show. A role in Eastenders, Sherlock, and The Walking Dead would be amazing! The list goes on.
Thus far, what has been the best experience working in the industry?
My Lonely Me and Is This Now were both fantastic experiences. I got to travel around the UK and work in some beautiful locations and work, with some known actors such as John Altman and Anu Hasan of Eastenders. My Lonely Me, particularly, was accepted into dozens of film festivals and ended up winning a variety of awards – including my Best leading Actress Awards, Best Actor and Best Director. It truly was an unforgettable experience!
What do you like to do between productions?
In my spare time, I love write. I write poetry, my own monologues, and I love to sing! I am also studying to work with young children at the moment, to make sure I have something secure to back me up.
Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like to share?
I have two films coming up, a crime film where I play a police detective, which I’m very excited about, as Crime Dramas are one of my favorite kind of TV shows. So, hopefully, this will open opportunities for more TV roles. And a Drama film, where I get to play an Italian girl. I am half-Italian, so this is an exciting opportunity to show my abilities through speaking another language.
Complete this sentence, if I could make one important discovery that would go down in history, it would be ___________,
To discover how to use more of our brain capacity. Imagine if we could access 100 percent!
Connect with Sabrina:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MissSDickens
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misssabrinadickens
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissSDickens
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4572322
Connect with Is This Now Film:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IsThisNowFilm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itnmovie
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5309844
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