Suki Waterhouse

Waterhouse, 22, grew up in London. A model and actor, she stars in the romantic comedy Love, Rosie, out on 22 October, and recently finished filming the sci-fi thriller Insurgent, out next year. Earlier this year, she attended the Oscars and the White House State Dinner with her boyfriend, the actor Bradley Cooper. She lives between Los Angeles and London.

What did you like best about the Oscars?
The pizza and [host] Ellen DeGeneres. I was cracking up the whole time; my cheeks actually hurt. I didn’t expect the Oscars to be that fun.

Was it difficult to move from modelling to acting?
I am still making the move, but I think it’s kind of natural. The way I see it, actors are taking all the modelling jobs; they are on all the magazines covers, get the best contracts and walk in the shows. I’ve acted my whole life pretty much, but then just got more into modelling. I was scared of picking it up again, because it’s such a difficult, soul-baring thing to do compared with modelling, where you just close yourself off. But it’s made me really happy. Being on set reminds me of being at summer camp.

Have you had an ‘Oh my God, I’ve made it’ moment?
No, and I think it’s a misconception that anyone ever feels like that. Even when I’m doing well, I still have moments when I think, “Ugh.” When I feel like that, I do the thing I heard Albert Einstein did: say thank you 100 times.

What’s been the most glamorous moment of your career so far?
The Met Ball was more glamorous than the Oscars. It’s quite scary, because it’s a last-minute thing, and everyone’s dresses get made for them, so you get what you’re given. But it turned out to be my favourite dress ever. It was by Burberry. I didn’t get to keep it, but it was so large, it took up half the hotel room. When I called the bellboy to take it downstairs, he refused.

What’s been the least glamorous moment of your career so far?
Whenever I am left to my own devices with cleaning and washing. When I was filming in Atlanta this summer, my apartment was disgusting. I learned to use the washing machine, but I don’t see the point in using detergent. I stored things in my dishwasher.

Have you been starstruck?
When I met Julia Roberts, the only thing that came out my mouth was, “Thank you.”

What was the most surprising thing about your visit to the White House?
I didn’t expect to see Obama bopping to Mary J Blige. He can really dance. I got a tour of the Oval Office, which was pretty cool, especially because I love the TV show Scandal.

What was your fancy dress outfit of choice as a child?
A skater boy. I wore the same outfit all the time: big cargo pants with big T-shirts with weird slogans like Bad Girls Never Die, and big jackets. I was very anti-pink.

What’s the most surprising track on your iTunes?
I have a lot of Britney. We actually wanted to see her in Las Vegas [for Georgia May Jagger’s birthday], but she wasn’t playing, so we ended up seeing Celine Dion, which was a bit of a disappointment.

What has been your biggest fashion faux pas?
I am constantly faux pas-ing. I messed up at fashion week last year. I had five minutes to come home to change, and my mum was screaming at me that the taxi was waiting outside, so I just threw on the most hideous thing. I looked like I was wearing a jacket made of pubes – and there was photographic evidence. My problem is that what I like changes from week to week. Even the stuff in my suitcase right now I don’t like any more.

What makes you angry?

Preconceived judgments. I think we’re all guilty of it. I judge other people even though I get judged myself. It’s such a disease and gets spread so much through social media.

What makes you laugh?
People falling off treadmills. I YouTube that all the time.

Kaya Scodelario

Scodelario, 22, grew up in London. At the age of 14, she was cast as Effy in the Channel 4 series Skins, and is the only actor to appear in all four series. She has since starred as Cathy in Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, in Clash Of The Titans and Now Is Good. She appears in The Maze Runner, based on the bestselling books, out on 10 October, and The Moon And The Sun, out next year.

What’s the best thing about your job?
I get to see places in the world I never thought I would. This year I’ve been to Versailles, Australia and South Africa. I always try to make the most of wherever I am, and use the time off to do tourist stuff and take pictures for my mum.

What’s the worst thing about your job?
Being away from home, which I know contradicts what I just said. It gets very lonely when you’re away for a long time, living out of a suitcase.

What are your must-haves on set?
Diet Coke, because I don’t drink tea or coffee, and my French bulldog Arnie. There’s always someone willing to look after him.

What’s the biggest difference between British and American actors?
They’re more tanned? I don’t know. I’m not sure there is one. I always feel like a Londoner whenever I am in that world, though. Hollywood is absolutely as ridiculous as it seems.

For instance?
I went to the Vanity Fair Oscar party as a plus-one with my director friend, Francesca Gregorini. It was so overwhelming that, after a while, I had to sit in a corner on my own. You couldn’t look around without spotting someone. I just wanted to go home and ring my mum.

Have you had an ‘Oh my God, I’ve made it’ moment?
I will feel that way when I manage to buy my mum a house.

What’s been the most glamorous moment of your career so far?
I’m not a very glamorous person. On my last job I was working with Pierce Brosnan, and we took him to the opera for his 61st birthday. I’d never been before and going with Piercey was really cool. Then I took him back to my roots: we took him to a dingy bar and got him hammered.

What’s been the least glamorous moment of your career so far?
Everything. I still go to the shops in my pyjamas and walk my dog looking like crap. Everyone who knows me knows I have flatulence problems. I’m quite proud of it, though.

Have you been starstruck?
All the time. If I ever see anyone off EastEnders, I freak, but the most was when I was in Paris for fashion week and Ronnie Wood walked through my hotel. I just froze. My friend encouraged me, so I chased him around the hotel. He turned around and I just burst out crying and said, “Thank you for the music”, which is the cheesiest thing I have ever said in my life. He was very sweet. He hugged me and asked if I was OK, because I was sobbing, and I just walked off. I was a mess.

What’s the naughtiest thing you’ve done?
I was on Skins, for God’s sake.

What’s the greatest lesson your mother taught you?
Everything, but particularly how to be a strong woman, because she raised me on her own. She came to England from Brazil when she was 26, and built herself a career and a home without speaking the language or knowing anyone. She has really inspired me to be independent and not need a man to get through life.

What was your fancy dress oufit of choice as a child?
Posh Spice – I was obsessed with the Spice Girls.

What is your phone wallpaper?
My friends and me in New York for my 21st. I’ve been friends with these three girls since school, and I’d always wanted to have my 21st in New York. So that’s what we did.

What do you series link?
My mum and I have a little tradition of watching Grey’s Anatomy together. She saves them up while I’m working; when I’m home, we’ll watch them for three days straight.

What makes you laugh?
My dog. He has learnt to do roly-polies and now he won’t stop. He just travels everywhere through the medium of roly-poly.

When does fame get uncomfortable?
The whole idea of fame is uncomfortable. It’s not what you should want from this job. It makes me sad to see my younger cousins, the Instagram generation, obsessed with what people look like and what someone else has got. I just always loved the work. I try not to be wrapped up in my own dramas, because actress dramas are silly. My friend has just had a baby, and has a seven-year-old: her dramas are important.

Holliday Grainger

Grainger, 26, grew up in Didsbury, Manchester. She gave up studying for an English degree at Leeds University to pursue acting; she subsequently got a first from the Open University. She has starred in Jane Eyre, the TV series The Borgias and in Mike Newell’s Great Expectations as Estella. She is currently starring in The Riot Club, next year appears in Tulip Fever and Cinderella, and has just started filming the lead in Lady Chatterley’s Lover for the BBC.

Who is your acting inspiration?
Cate Blanchett. After working with her [on Cinderella], I can say she is actually the image of feminine perfection. She has her really lovely kids on set, is super professional, incredibly intelligent and nice to everyone. I think she might actually be a perfect human being.

What are you must-haves on set?
A bottle of water, my sides [mini-scripts] and some chewing gum – you have to get up close in people’s face all the time and you might have just eaten some onions.

What’s the hardest thing about your job?
Realising that a lot of it isn’t acting. You spend such a short amount of time on set in character, compared with the nerves, the preparation for audition and then all the press stuff. It was hard coming to terms with the fact that this is all part of the job.

What’s the biggest difference between British and American actors?
A director once told me that Americans focus on a scene whereas Brits focus on the project as a whole. I am not sure if I agree, but I suppose British actors tend to be a bit more earnest in their research, they treat it as a craft, and Americans go to acting class more. So Brits are more cerebral and Americans are more practical.

Have you had an ‘Oh my God, I’ve made it’ moment?
When I finished my degree, I had a lot of work lined up and I freaked out. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I am actually an actor.’ As a kid, I thought I’d do something proper like writing or directing or producing. Acting is not a real job, is it? I pretend to be someone else for a living.

How do you handle being naked on set?
I just don’t think of myself as sexy, so it’s fine. It’s like when toddlers get naked. When wardrobe come up to me with a towelling robe after a naked scene, I’m like, “Dude, everyone’s just seen it, it really doesn’t matter.” I get a little excited when I get to take off my clothes on costume dramas. The sets are usually boiling hot and I’ve been in a corset all day, and I get to take it all off and lie on a bed, and I think, “Ahhh, I can do this.”

Have you ever been starstruck?
I froze when I walked past Judi Dench at Pinewood. All I could do was hold the door open and squeak, “Hello.” Thank God [co-star] Jack O’Connell was coming up behind me and introduced himself. So then I could mention I was also starring in Tulip Fever with her. I put on a posh voice. It’s Judi Dench. She is a proper lady.

What’s been the most glamorous moment of your career so far?
Going to the Baftas. Where else do you see so many people in so many beautiful dresses? It’s like a fairytale.

What’s been the least glamorous moment of your career so far?
I spent a day on Tulip Fever plucking chickens and gutting fish. I played a 15th-century maid and the director and I thought it would be boring if I was just cleaning the whole time.

What was your fancy dress outfit of choice as a child?
Peter Pan. He lives between Victorian London and a fairytale world, mermaids fancy him and he can fly. He is cool. I had a Peter Pan T-shirt that I would wear with a belt, wellies and leggings.

What’s the most surprising track on your iTunes?
I have some breathing exercises from the voice coach Penny Dyer that begin “Hello, Holliday” in a quite breathy voice. If I have my iTunes on shuffle and that comes on, it scares the shit out of me.

What was the last selfie you took?
On the set of Tulip Fever. It’s set in 1600s Amsterdam and we wore these ridiculous hats that look like penises. There were also a lot of pigs’ heads on set, with their eyes vaguely open, so I took a picture of myself licking a pig’s head in my knobhead cap.

What’s been your biggest fashion faux pas?
The whole Peter Pan obsession fed into my teenage years. I wore a lot of floaty dresses and boots in all shades of green. I was 19 and refusing to grow up.

What makes you angry?
Racism makes me burn with anger. When you are a liberal-minded person living in a multicultural society surrounded by similar people, you forget that it isn’t the norm. So when I was in the Deep South, I would be having a drink with someone and they’d say something that would make my blood run cold.

What makes you laugh?
My nana’s laugh and my mum when she has a giggling fit.

Why was it so important to continue your degree after your acting career took off?
Because I thought my acting was never going to last, and I had been saving up for it my entire life. I had to work pretty hard. There were a few afternoons of crying in coffee shops, writing essays in between acting jobs, when I wondered what I was doing. But I am proud of myself for seeing it through.