SHE’S PLAYED ABOND AGENT, ASINGING PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER, AFEMINIST WARRIOR AND NOW RITA MARLEY. LASHANA LYNCH SITS DOWN WITH AFUAHIRSCHTO TALK ABOUT HER JAMAICAN ANCESTORS, FEMALE SOLIDARITY AND WHY THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR
IF THE WORD ‘UNAPOLOGETIC’ WERE A PERSON, IT COULD BE Lashana Lynch. The actor has become celebrated for roles that reimagine the female hero – from her history-making role as the first-ever woman 007 in the 25th Bond film No Time to Die to the indomitable Izogie in The Woman King. It is anticipated that her forthcoming role as Rita Marley in the long-awaited biopic of Bob Marley’s life, One Love, will deepen her reputation for playing women who are captivating and complex, tough and yet vulnerable giants that she takes on in her own way.
And yet anyone who knows Lynch knows that none of this is by chance. Since the earliest days of her acting career as a young drama-school graduate, she has modelled a radical self-acceptance and confidence, setting out deliberately to perform roles that did justice to her talent and range.
I noticed this confidence the first time I met her, at a birthday dinner for the actor Naomie Harris, in 2019. I wasn’t familiar with Lynch’s work then, but I was immediately taken by her presence. In an entertainment industry that so often seems to foster competition and rivalry, these two actors seemed to have easily found solidarity and friendship. In social settings that reward outgoing characters who like the sound of their own voices, Lynch had a quiet, thoughtful radiance. I was immediately captured, and intrigued, by the sense that, whatever she was going to do, it was going to demand our attention.
A few months later, she entered no less a cinematic colossus than the Marvel Universe, as Maria Rambeau in the 2019 Captain Marvel; as 007 in 2021’s No Time To Die; in 2022 as Miss Honey in the Netflix adaptation of Matilda. And yet, as I found, sitting down to talk to her over Zoom in her filming location in Budapest, fame and opportunity seem to have only brought her closer to her roots, her creativity and sense of purpose.
Afua Hirsch: OK, Lashana, where are you? Are you working at the moment?
Lashana Lynch: I’m in Budapest, filming. I’m working on a show called Day of the Jackal, a remake of the [1973] film, that Eddie Redmayne and I are leading. It’s very exciting. I get to explore the world of MI6 in a way that’s personal to a Black woman, with Black hair.
AH: Now I’m super intrigued. It sounds like you’ve had a lot of scope to bring yourself to this role, and how you want to portray being a Black woman.
LL: I created the o
