AGGY K. ADAMS

Vest and Skirt by Toga. Dress by Burch. Boots by Dear Frances. Earrings and necklace by Pond. Bangles by 4Element Balenciaga.

Born in Warsaw and brought up in the United States before moving to England at 16, Aggy K. Adams's career trajectory has been gathering the kind of momentum that is on a one-way trajectory and its direction is up. With an already impressive list of credits to her name, from The Witcher to the most recent, The Couple Next Door, and with a fourth series of The Witcher out later this year and many more projects already in both post and pre-production, Aggy took some time out of her schedule to sit down and chat to 5'ELEVEN' about her work, feeling anchored in a sense of home and the delicate balance of energies it takes to fully embrace that most strange and wondrous of art forms: acting.   

Words by Carla McCannon.

Photographed by Ryan Rivers. Styled by Holly Bartley. Hair by Davide Barbieri at A-Frame using Oribe. Make-up by Dani Guinsberg at The Only Agency using Lisa Eldridge. Stylist assisted by Megan Bundy. Aggy K Adams appears courtesy of CLD Communications.

Full look by Alexander McQueen.

Lovely to meet you. Can you tell me a bit about your background?  

Likewise. Yes, I was born in Warsaw, and I spent some time at school in America, but I'm English and my family is from Poland, my grandma is half-German. I went to school in the States, and then I came back to England when I was about 16. My dad was working here, and I studied here. 

I had a similar childhood where I grew up between countries, so I'm always very interested in people who've had that kind of experience. I also came back to England when I was 16, and I think it's such a pivotal age in terms of education, but also personal development.  

Yes, “where is home” is a question I get often. For me home is definitely London, I don’t know any other place really! Everyone seems to have a different perception of where someone’s home is but the answer always lies with the person whose experience it is. I'm pretty sure that I know where my home is right now, it doesn’t mean it won’t change. For a while I was between London and Paris but every time I travel and come back to London, I feel I’m home. I feel like I know every street, even though it's changed a lot over the years.

I think it's fantastic to know that, because I've spoken to a lot of other people like us who've grown up between countries who feel like they have no anchor.

I think it just depends on how you feel, doesn't it? Because I also know some people who were born in the UK but they don’t feel it’s their home because their families are from somewhere else and they feel more at home there!  And maybe because I was travelling so much and I didn't have this anchor in childhood, this is what an anchor feels like to me, and this is what home is.  I'm grateful for all the other influences though, obviously, America and Poland.

Dress by Kent & Curwen. Shoes by Toga. Socks by London Sock Company.

At what point did you decide that you wanted to be an actress?  And can you tell me a bit more about the journey into that? 

I did my first class when I was 10, and I just felt very free in doing that.  I remember we were asked to do different texts being animals. I really, really enjoyed that. Then when I came to London, I actually wanted to study humanitarian law. It wasn't till a bit later that I got a job at a theatre, front of house, as an usher.  Then I did a class again. And, honestly, in the beginning, I just didn't believe that this could be a job, because I felt like that wasn't available to immigrants.  In my head, I still have this image a little bit, that it's still something that only upper-class British people can do. But I started auditioning and then began to make money from it, mainly commercials in the beginning, which I didn't like.  Then I started to do theatre and I fell in love with it. And, so theatre was my first love, and it still is. I really would love to go back to the theatre.  It was my dream: reading Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller and diving into those worlds.  I went to drama school and I just loved it. It's interesting to remember because you go so far into the industry with things like TV now, but actually, no, it was theatre, now that I think of it, that was my first love. 

Yes.  I read an interview with Jude Law once where he said film is very much a director's medium and theatre is very much an actor's medium. 

Hundred percent. The project is made in the editing room by the director. Obviously, some projects are incredible, but others can be challenging in that you're having to promote something where you think: “but that's not what I did”.

Full look by Alexander McQueen.

I used to work in film production, and it made me really admire actors.  I think people don't realise how hard that job is in film or TV where, for an actor, you're brought on, there are people everywhere. Take one, take two, take three.  You have to just keep going and keep delivering. 

Yes, this job is so funny because when you're on, you are really on.  And when you're off, you're really off. And it's such a strange head-space to be in and to navigate that.  And, so little is dependent on you. So much of it is: is the framing OK? Is the focus there?  Was the sound OK?  Was there a technical issue?  It's really wild, but I love it.  It was interesting coming into that.  My dream is to work with really great directors where we share the same vision, and then I know what they're going to do, you know?  But other times, if you are on more of a commercial project, then that's a whole other ball game. It's made for entertainment, and it's almost disjointed sometimes, you know, you watch it and you're like, oh, this was it. Okay, great. [laughs]  I'm just about to do an indie movie, which I think is where my heart is. I love doing big-budget things too, they're super fun, and I honestly had some of the best times doing big fights and stunts. But for me, filmmaking lies with the vision of the director. In the indie movie world, I feel there's much more excitement there for me. I really feel like I'm creating the story.  

In terms of your roles to date, have you had a favourite role or a role that you've learnt from more than any other? 

Yes, doing Mia for “The Couple Next Door” was a huge and crazy experience.  She was incredibly challenging. That role really took a toll on me.  And, I must say in a way that I didn't realise it would.  Because it's been ingrained in her, in order for the man to control her, that she's a bad person. So she starts believing that, and then she starts doing things that are questionable.

She never does anything really that bad, but she's sort of acting out her void and loneliness.  She doesn't even openly manipulate; it's just what she knows to get people on her side.  That role taught me so much, so, so much. I would love to do it again, or continue or go even deeper. I love that character. And people come up to me a lot. I was at a festival on Friday and I had people come to me and say, you made me feel so much, because you're supposed to think she's this sexy seductress for the mystery of it, and then you realise the truth and yeah, I guess it had an impact. I'm very pleased about it.

Dress by Geordie Campbell. Boots by Dear Frances.

That must feel amazingly rewarding as an actor because that is kind of the aim, isn't it, to touch people and to have your storytelling feel so real. How did you prepare to get into that role?

I went straight from the Witcher to doing this. And this is so rare, it’s never happened to me like that. In the beginning I worked with an acting coach, because there were just so many possibilities to play her: why is she flirting ?  What is she doing exactly? What does she want?  So, for me, a lot of it was dissecting the whys of what she's doing.  It was sometimes challenging, especially the beginning scenes of this script. I really wanted to do it in a subtle way. The seduction part was the most challenging for me because there was a lot of it, and I had to constantly find the real place in myself for why I am doing this, not just as Mia, but also why I would do it. I had to believe it, you know, a thousand percent because if I didn't believe it, then the audience wouldn't believe it. So, a lot of it for me was just sitting down and thinking, why, why? We did it together with the writer and director, I had their full support. I would say it felt like I was mining, you know, digging deeper and deeper. 

Because she was very challenging to play, would you say this role taught you more than before about separating yourself from a character to leave them slightly behind so that you could carry on being yourself in your downtime?

A hundred percent. I didn't have a lot of downtime because we also shot in Belgium, and I sometimes would travel back even for a day just to feel at home. But what I really learned was that doing very heavy emotional moments requires a lot of support from other people in that environment - from people in the crew, from filmmakers - to feel safe. And I think I didn't know that before, so I wouldn't know how to ask for it. For extra kindness, I suppose, and more consideration.  Also, from people in my personal life as well. I think I would just warn everyone and say: This is what I'm doing, please support me.  I might be short-fused.  Emotional things might come up. I might need more support than usual. Please be understanding. More upfront. I think I just wanted to play tough before, like I can do this leading role for four months, yeah, it’s great. Whereas I think there would've been more power if I had just said, I might not be okay throughout the whole shoot, please support me. I think this was my big lesson. And I think that would've helped in the separation, because then somehow, I would have a landing pad, to think, how is Aggy? I think I didn't ask a single time how I was, for the whole period.

Coat by Huishan Zhang. Tights by Falke.

In terms of your upcoming projects, you mentioned next up is an indie film? 

Yes, I'm doing an indie film that's a contemporary folk feminist horror that follows a girl dealing with the aftermath of trauma. It's about witch trials and female friendship, and the resilience that comes with it, and the parallels between the violence of the past and obviously the violence that women are still facing today. I'm very excited, but it's also very deep. This one's going to be, again, very psychologically difficult, but it's short, I think three, four weeks shooting. It's contemporary but in black and white, almost mixing genres, which is what I'm very excited about. I really want to study witch trials, it's so interesting to me, what was done in the past and how it's influencing today. It's crazy how society still does it to women.  The more I started researching, the more I realised it does feel like contemporary witch trials still exist,  just in a different form. 

Absolutely. What a fascinating project to be going onto. Do you have anything else in the pipeline?  

Yes, I'm very excited about this. Other than that, I've been auditioning a lot. I'd love to do something fun, light and entertaining and commercial after.  Or theatre.

Amazing. Thank you so much for your time, and can't wait to follow your next steps! 

Coat and scarf by MM6 Maison Margiela. Bra by Toga. Trousers by Joseph. Dress by T-Label. Loafers by Dear Frances.