Emilia Jones has been cast in the lead role of new Netflix series The Retrievers, but how much do you know about this up-and-coming star of TV and cinema?
Netflix’s new high-profile drama The Retrievers has named its lead actor, and they have plumped for rising English star Emilia Jones to take on the role of Gabby Clemente, according to Deadline.
In The Retrievers, Gabby is a New Haven bartender and student teacher whose life is upended by her traumatic egg retrieval surgery. Upon discovering that a nurse at the clinic was stealing vast amounts of fentanyl, Gabby seeks out other victims and leads a groundbreaking legal battle against Yale University. The show is inspired by a Peabody-winning NYT podcast by Susan Burton.
This role comes off the back of Emilia starring in HBO crime drama Task and is her first return to Netflix since starring in Locke & Key. She will next be seen on screen in The 99’ers.
Emilia’s star is continuing to rise, but how much do you know about her? Here are six quick facts to get you up to speed.
Emilia has a famous dad
Emilia has inherited her ease in front of the cameras from her father, Aled. He is probably still best known for being a choirboy with an angelic voice in the 1980s, who had an international hit with his recording of ‘Walking in the Air’.
But since then, Aled has carved out a long and successful career in broadcasting, fronting many shows on TV and radio over the past 30 years or so, including long-running BBC religious show, Songs of Praise and housing-based reality show Escape to the Country. He has also recorded numerous best-selling classical/pop albums over the years.
Her mother, Claire Fossett, is also in the arts – her family is one of the most famous circus families in Ireland and she used to be a trapeze artist.
One of her early roles was in Doctor Who
Emilia showed an interest in – and a talent for – acting from an early age. She attended an improv class near her home, which was run by an agent who was impressed by her. This led to her first movie role at the age of 8, when she played Jasmine in the film One Day.
Following this, Emilia had a small role in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in 2011, followed by making her West End debut playing young Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical.
In 2013, Emilia played the young Queen of Years Merry Gejelh in Doctor Who episode The Rings of Akhaten, for which she earned many positive reviews.
Emilia can operate a fishing trawler
For her roles, Emilia likes to go method. For her role as Ruby Rossi in Coda, Emilia learnt how to fish as her character came from a fishing family. This entailed going out with real fishermen at 3am every day for two weeks and, in her words, coming back smelling like fish guts.
At the same time as this, Emilia was also learning American Sign Language for the role – not just the language but the nuance and culture – as she wanted to communicate effectively and without an interpreter. This was made more complicated as she was working full-time on Locke & Key at the time too.
She loves music and plays guitar
Emilia is also passionate about music, and she considers listening to it as part of her acting process and it helps her to feel things more effectively. Soul music, such as Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding are two of her favourite artists.
She also loves to play guitar – and is a good player too. For her audition for Coda, she played Landslide by Fleetwood Mac on guitar, according to Vogue – and it must have impressed the casting director.
