COVERSTORY
Social media breakout star Amelia Gething talks to us about her blossoming acting career and eye for fashion
Amelia Gething’s eyes have always been on acting, becoming an actress is something she has dreamed about since she can remember. “I had the hope in the back of my head, but I also had a realistic view that it was probably not going to happen,” she says, when we meet before her Hello! Fashion cover shoot.
She may not have had the connections growing up, but she is realising her dream through hard work and determination as the 24-year-old chalks up her third major acting role in upcoming Sky Atlantic series Mary & George, in which she stars alongside Nicola Walker and Julianne Moore.
Growing up in Barking, east London, Amelia would entertain her family and friends performing comedy sketches in the living room, then in 2016 she began posting material on YouTube and TikTok.
Her irreverent sense of humour amassed over seven million followers and the hobby soon turned into a burgeoning career. Resourcefully, Amelia would purchase better cameras and invest in professional production resources with her early pay cheques.
When we congratulate her on such business acumen, she jokes: “Well, I did splurge a little bit on takeaways with my earnings. I was like, ‘I fancy pizza tonight – Imight as well, I’ve earned it’. But yeah, I hate saying, but I think I was quite smart with it.”
Social media was, of course, a stepping stone and, at 18, her sketches caught the eye of the BBC, who approached her to write and star in a female-led comedy sketch show, which became The Amelia Gething Complex and ran for two seasons.
However, early on in production she made it clear that she didn’t want the female-led tag. “I said: ‘From now on, we’ll call it a comedy sketch show, we don’t need to highlight the fact that it’s women being funny – like women being funny is so amazing. I didn’t want to tick a box.”
Amelia’s first experience in television was a positive one. “That show will always hold such a special place in my heart. We had an incredible cast and crew, every single person was so lovely and you could tell they all genuinely wanted to be there and make the show the best it could be.
“Children’s television was such a joy because it doesn’t take itself seriously. It was fun and silly – areally good vibe in the room. And there was lots of improvisation in the scenes, which is always funny.” On occasions, it was too funny: “I actually had a very bad habit of ruining scenes all the time because I kept laughing, I’m very much prone
