April Pearson
The ex-Skins star takes her first step into the movies with teen slasher Tormented
April Pearson
INTERVIEW | ELLENE JONES
IN UK TEEN DRAMA SKINS, she was Michelle, the feisty but vulnerable on-off girlfriend of charismatic Tony – and object of his friend Sid’s adoration. But the demure young woman now sitting opposite me in a London hotel suite couldn’t be further away from her screen appearance.
This month 20-year-old actress April Pearson will be following her co-star and friend Dev Patel – of Slumdog Millionaire fame – onto the big screen in the school-set slasher movie Tormented.
What drew you to make Tormented?
I just wanted to do something completely different to Skins. This was an opportunity to get my head chopped off and be covered in blood! It’s a complete departure from anything I’d done before – and once I’d seen the really impressive young cast I was like, “Wow, this is a good thing to be involved in.”
Were there any similarities to your own school experiences?
Well, obviously it’s heightened and caricatured, but there are real-life stories in there. I was head girl at my school. I was always a keener and really geeky, so nothing like my character. There’s a head girl in Tormented and everyone thinks that she’s a bitch and I had to deal with that. Just because you’ve got a position of power, suddenly everyone goes, “You’re a cow!”
It’s over a year since you finished Skins. Looking back, what did you get out of it?
It was such amazing training for me. I’d intended to go to drama school, but I got the role in Skins and in a way it was better – although I’d still like to do some more formal training at some point. Now that the show is still going and is still really popular, I feel proud to have been a founding member. I met some great people there as well and even though we’re all doing different things now we’ve managed to stay in touch.
How weird was it seeing your former Skins co-star Dev Patel at the Oscars?
It was sooo weird – so funny! But it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. And anyone who’s met him or interviewed him will say that. People think we’re all in competition with each other and it’s the opposite really. I’m always interested and pleased to hear about what they’re up to because it makes it all feel more attainable. We’ve all come from a really similar background so it’s great to see what can be achieved.
Tormented is out now
