Daisy Edgar-Jones hails importance of inspiring new generation in filmmaking

British actress Daisy Edgar-Jones has said it is “exciting and important to inspire a new generation” ahead of her mentoring a group of young filmmakers.

The actress, 26, is part of Set The Stage, a Bafta and EE partnership to highlight the variety of creative careers in the film industry.

The initiative is offering teenagers the chance to write, direct and produce a short film under the guidance of a crew of industry experts.

She said: “I loved Sean Baker’s speech for the Oscars. He talked about, parents take your kids to the theatres, go and watch movies and experience art together in a collective way.

“I think especially if you’re not someone who had the chance to grow up in a creative household, who had parents who are maybe, you know in the industry, just to know that there are opportunities there, and that if you have a passion in the arts, that there’s a real, tangible job that can be found.

“I think this opportunity is a chance to say, actually, there is a lot of really exciting new opportunities that are coming up every day when it comes to designing software for video games, or social media, there’s a lot of opportunity now for young people to pursue their passion without necessarily needing a kind of foot in the door or network, perhaps through family or where they grew up.

“I think it’s just really important to encourage young people to know that they have the opportunity to, free of charge, take part in something like this, and learn and get a foot in the door.”

Baker, who became the first person to individually win four Oscars for a single film at one ceremony, used his speech to make a plea for the return of theatregoers to cinemas following the pandemic, saying when “the world is so divided”, people need the “communal experience”.

Edgar-Jones’s advice to young people starting out in the industry is that “passion is everything”.

She said: “I think being fearless to try and fail and create and explore and be curious. I’m certainly like, can fear getting it wrong sometimes, but I think it’s only through trial and error and bold choices and being courageous enough to try.

“I just think, if you have a passion, pursue it and be driven and unwavering in it.”

She shot to fame as Marianne Sheridan in Normal People alongside Paul Mescal, who played her love interest Connell Waldron in the BBC mini-series based on the novel of the same name by Irish author Sally Rooney.

The romantic drama, which was released on BBC Three in April 2020, focused on the on-off relationship between the Irish teenagers, beginning in their school days through to their time at university.

She has since appeared in the big-screen adaptation of the hit book Where The Crawdads Sing, as well as the blockbuster film Twisters, a sequel to 1996’s Twister, alongside Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos.

She also recently starred opposite Bob Marley: One Love actor Kingsley Ben-Adir and The Walking Dead star Lennie James in a production of Tennessee Williams’s Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Almeida theatre.

Applications for EE and Bafta’s Set The Stage close on March 21 and can be submitted through the official EE Instagram and TikTok accounts.