Essie Randles on expanding their sense of humanity

Randles is acutely aware of the difficulties of being a working actor. “It’s a really hard profession, [and] there’s a lot of rejection, but if you know that [this is] what you really want to do, you have to keep going,” they say. It’s all about the power of effort, where according to more than just Randles, the true value of artistic pursuit is held. They draw inspiration from Theodore Roosevelt’s The Man in the Arena, which touts true success as consistent effort not immune to failure. Randles welcomes the challenge that comes with building an acting career. “It’s much better to have tried and failed than [to have] not tried at all,” Randles reminds themself, going on to explain their experience with rejection.

“When I wouldn’t get a role, and I would be really heartbroken, there was always a tiny part of me that kept a flame burning for what I really wanted to do. I would try and divert my attention to that tiny, tiny part of myself that believed that I could do it.” Randles also finds reliability and support in their close friends and family, who “have been there for everything” — acting as a much needed rock throughout their journey. “When I first got the tape sent to me, I’d been feeling a little bit down about auditioning, so I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to approach this audition [as] if I don’t have any fear. Fear, thank you very much. Go away.’ Then, the impossible happened.”

A couple self-tapes and Zoom callbacks later, Randles was offered the role of Brooke. “I still can’t really believe it, even though it’s been over a year now.” They immediately got to work preparing and researching — tapping into the power of music and curating a playlist dedicated to the character. 

“I would attach different scenes to different songs, so if I was filming the next scene in the sequence, I would return to that song and know exactly the kind of state she was in,” they say, listing Odette’s ‘Magnolia’ and Labrinth’s ‘Never Felt So Alone’ as top picks. Randles used music as a tool, harnessing the underlying emotions within a song to complement their own performances. “I adore music. I love music so much, and I find it so powerful and visceral how a song can affect you so much.” 

Randles felt an “almost psychic pull” to Brooke, taking note of several parallels between the two, including being the youngest in their families and identifying as queer. Beyond their similarities, Randles also enjoyed learning new things from the process of portraying Brooke. “Brooke lashes out sometimes, and I at least hope that that’s not similar to me, but I had to find a way of empathizing with where that comes from within her,” they notice. “Her perfectionistic [tendencies] and self-expectations are so high that when other people don’t meet those expectations, it almost feels like a personal offense for Brooke.”