NAOMI ACKIE: Playing Whitney Houston Changed Everything - I’m a Different Person Now

Summary

Great Company with Jamie Laing

Guest: Naomi Ackie

Episode: “Playing Whitney Houston Changed Everything – I’m a Different Person Now”
Date: April 7, 2026
Host: Jamie Laing / Jampot Productions

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Episode Overview

In this raw and reflective conversation, Jamie Laing sits down with acclaimed British actress Naomi Ackie to discuss resilience, anxiety, the cost—and joy—of ambition, and the personal transformation she underwent playing Whitney Houston. The episode delves into Ackie’s journey from a fearful, introverted child in Walthamstow to a BAFTA-winning performer, exploring grief, creative obsession, the realities of the acting business, and the wisdom she carries from her late mother. The dialogue moves fluidly from industry revelations to profound emotional truths, all delivered in an open, relatable, and often humorous tone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Psychological Cost of Playing Whitney Houston

• Extreme Preparation & Its Consequences
  • Ackie shares how obsessively preparing for the Whitney Houston biopic led to panic attacks, significant weight loss, and deep emotional upheaval.
  • “I gave 1,000% when I needed to give 90. I lost like two and a bit stone to play her. I was so hungry. I was directly challenged with the idea of perfection. And that nearly destroyed me.” (02:58)
  • She discusses the physical and emotional strain: famine dieting, being away from home, and her realization that perfectionism can be just as destructive as it is motivating.
• Learning to Set Limits
  • “Your job costs something, and you get to decide how much you want to pay. I will never put myself in that position again.” (47:24)
  • Now, she consciously manages how much of herself she pours into each project.

2. Anxiety, Panic Attacks & Mental Health

• On-Set Experience
  • Ackie describes suffering panic attacks as she grappled with the pressure of embodying an icon.
  • “When I have panic attacks, I have to go down and touch the floor…It feels like you’re like an atomic bomb and you’re just working so fucking hard to put a stopper on it because it could destroy everything and everyone all around you is what panic attacks feel like to me.” (48:09)
• Therapeutic Journey: EMDR & Acceptance
  • She recounts how EMDR therapy helped reframe her childhood fear as courage and developed self-compassion.
  • “I was scared, but I did it anyway. I’m fucking brave. I’m the bravest person I know.” (38:13)

3. Grief & Lessons from Her Mother

• Losing Her Mum
  • Ackie discusses how her mother, a seamstress and "the best woman in the world," taught her the value of patience and living life in service to art.
  • "She was like, life informs art. You cannot do your art without living your life. You have to live your life." (63:44)
• Vividness of Grief
  • "[As my mother was dying], the world was the most vivid it had ever been … these things were really vivid and overwhelmingly clear and honest." (68:09)
  • Ackie finds meaning and ongoing support in her mother's lessons and small spiritual moments since her passing.

4. On Acting, Identity, & the Industry

• Introversion & Coping Mechanisms
  • Naomi is candid about her social anxiety, finding red carpets and large groups overwhelming but feeling most herself in one-on-one company or on set.
  • “I was a very fearful child…a fearful person by nature.” (03:38; 37:23)
• The Burden of Perfectionism & External Validation
  • She reveals striving for constant achievement did not bring internal peace.
  • “I thought drama school or getting my first theatre job or doing a film would fix me, right? And it didn’t…It made me really sad, and it made me feel like, well, what’s the fucking point, then?” (57:23)
• Navigating Social Media & Marketing
  • "I just want to act…But now we're in a space where the work doesn't just do the thing—that's not the reality of the world we live in." (18:37)
  • She expresses discomfort with the new expectation that actors must market themselves online.

5. Career Highlights & Anecdotes

• Working with Icons:
  • On being starstruck by Channing Tatum, Zoe Kravitz, and Robert Pattinson:
  • "Zoe and Channing of it all on that job was like, oh, my God…And they want to hang out and talk. With me? Okay." (10:03)
• Personal Growth in Craft
  • Naomi discusses her evolution from needing tear sticks to cry on cue ("Had to use tear stick" (52:47)), to being able to access deep emotion freely, and her philosophy about being in the moment vs. over-preparing.
• Upcoming & Recent Projects
  • Excited about her turn as a boxer in an upcoming film (51:04), and roles in “Blink Twice” and “I Love Boosters.”

6. Philosophy, Life Lessons, and Self-Reflection

• Beauty in the Ordinary
  • Her mother’s mantra: “There is beauty in the everyday ordinary…make it small. Daily, daily offerings up to the craft that you're saying that you want to master.” (63:44)
• Internal Validation & Letting Go of Ego
  • “I'm really trying hard to separate ego from achievement. So, you know, winning an award…doesn’t make me think that finally someone thinks I’m important.” (57:28)
• Living with Fear
  • “I’ve always attributed that feeling of fear to being weak…but the realization came: yeah, but I do things anyway. I’m fucking brave.” (38:13)

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Notable Quotes

• On perfectionism & playing Whitney Houston:
  “I gave 1,000% when I needed to give 90… that nearly destroyed me.” (02:58)
• On bravery and fear:
  “I’m scared, but I’m doing things anyway. I’m fucking brave.” (38:13)
• On fame and achievement:
  “I thought…doing a film would fix me, right? And it didn’t…It made me really sad and…it’s not the space that you need to do that in.” (57:23)
• On the wisdom of her late mother:
  “She was like, life informs art. You cannot do your art without living your life. You have to live your life.” (63:44)
• On dealing with loss:
  “You can’t control it. You have to sit with it. Don’t fight. [Grief] has lessons and it is proof of the love that you have.” (69:56)
• On being starstruck:
  “Oh my God. And they want to hang out and talk. With me? Okay.” (10:03)

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Important Timestamps & Segments

• On-set panic, perfectionism, and physical toll of Whitney — 02:58–03:17, 42:26–48:08
• Introversion and struggles at red carpet events — 19:44, 19:53–21:28
• Her mother’s influence and lessons — 63:02–66:38
• Therapy & EMDR, reframing fear as bravery — 36:25–38:13
• Perspectives on fame, validation, and measuring achievement — 57:23–60:57
• The high and lows of acting with stars — 10:03, 11:42
• Grieving, spirituality, and finding meaning in loss — 69:56–72:40
• Learning from acting (“tears don’t always mean emotion”) — 52:21–55:13
• Advice and reflection for young people — 77:04–78:35
• Optimism & limitations in life and career — 78:54–79:28
• Quick-fire Q&A (fun, personal end): — 79:33–81:06

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Memorable & Uplifting Moments

• Cheeky pride in success:
  • Ackie recounts the joy of buying expensive jeans and getting an Uber home: “That’s the moment I was like, no…and I still got an Uber home. What?!” (76:01)
• Finding peace & honest vulnerability:
  • “Everything we need is at home. Not in our home, but in us.” (66:38)
• Playful admissions:
  • Revealing that she’s a Slytherin because she likes “achievement…the goals thing. I like nice things.” (11:30)
• Lighter touches:
  • On favorite pizza: “Just put a margarita on a margarita…I just mean cheese.” (80:40)

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Summary

This episode shines as a candid, compassionate conversation about the realities behind stardom—resilience, therapy, joy, burnout, and the pursuit of a creative life. Naomi Ackie is eloquent and unflinching in dissecting how fame, grief, and her own drive shaped (and sometimes threatened) her sense of self. Yet, throughout, Naomi’s warmth, self-effacing humor, and hard-won wisdom create a sense of hopefulness—wrapping up with the mantra, “We can do anything… the lies we are told don’t exist. There is always a way.” (79:13)

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For listeners seeking insight into how personal growth, mental health, family, and professional ambition collide in the arts, this conversation is essential listening: honest, touching, and inspiring.

Transcript

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[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You had this anxiety and these panic attacks.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

So many on set.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Actress Naomi Aki.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

The worst part was when you were playing Whitney.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I will never put myself in that position again. I gave 1,000% when I needed to give 90. I lost like two and a bit stone to play her. I was so hungry. I was directly challenged with the idea of perfection. And that nearly destroyed me. Hi, I'm Naomi Aki and I'm in great company.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

It's Naomi Aki. Have you met people that are your heroes, that you're icons?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Like Charlie would be like, hey, Nene. I was like, oh, my God, Charlie. David's calling me Nene. I got him to do a lap dance for my sister. Get out of here. Yeah. I was like, charlie, dance for her. Dance for her.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Are you introverted or extroverted?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Introverted.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You're introverted.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Deeply. It's a problem. I was a very fearful child. A lot of my life I have been scared. I'm a fearful person by nature.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

We talk about your mum.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I remember the feeling as she was dying was that the world was the most vivid it had ever been. She was a very wise woman. She was like, life informs art. You cannot do your art without living your life. You have to live your life. She was the best woman in the world.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Guys, welcome back to another episode of Great Company. I'm so excited for this show to come out. I mean, so excited for so long. And I'm so excited for you to, like, engage and watch this because you're gonna love it. It's with Naomi Aki. Nae nae to her friends. Don't worry about it. I'm a huge fan of Naomi's work from End of the Fucking World, which is a great TV series to blink twice, which is a movie to her performing as Whitney in the Whitney Houston biopic. She is incredible. She's British, she's powerful, she's wonderful. She's everything. In this episode, we go through everything from navigating grief to her life growing up to acting to her movie roles to anxiety and panic attacks that she had while on set filming Whitney Houston to babies potentially in the future. It goes everywhere. It's an incredible episode. Right. Before we start, I just wanna ask you two quick things, if you haven't already. Mine and Sophie's brand new TV show is streaming now on Disney. It's called Raising Chelsea, Jamie and the Next Chapter. It's about Sophie and I before Sophie was pregnant, during her pregnancy, the birth of our little baby and beyond. It's an amazing show and we really hope you enjoy it. It's on Disney right now. You can go and get it. And if you haven't followed or subscribed to our show, Great Company. If you can click that button, it does us wonders. It keeps allowing us to get amazing guests, keep making a show that you guys keep loving and watching and keeps making the show better and better. So join the community and thank you to you guys. Okay, here we go. Enjoy this unbelievable episode of Great Company with Naomi Aki. Blink twice, right?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So great.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, it's cool.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

It's so great. Channing Tatum, Zoe Kravitz. Zoe Kravitz directed it.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

She's a badass. Let's go. Zoe Kravitz, right? Her and Harry Styles are a hot couple.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, they look good.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

They look good together. Just putting it out. I don't think anyone's noticed, but they. They look good together. They look good together.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Wonderful together.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That movie is all about kind of control.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And some heavy topics in it.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

When you're playing a role like that, right within it, where it's. It is about control. It's about sexual abuse. How do you. How do you play the character? Then remove yourself.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I. So that film was just one of the most amazing experiences. We were all living on set.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Where was the film? Cause it looked great.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Mexico made.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Oh, let's go. Tequilas.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Tequila.

[The RealReal Advertiser]

Tequila.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It was a mezcal, actually.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay. A little smoky. All right, let's go.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Smoking Mezcal. But, yeah, we were such a tight community. So one of the amazing things about that project was Zoe was like, look, we're handling this really serious stuff. We need to make it fun. But we also need to address before we do these bigger scenes that are really terrifying, how everyone feels where everyone is at. So we were, like, really tight, really honest with each other about where we were at and very careful with each other.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Can I ask you a personal question on that? Do you think that was. Because that's coming from a female, from a woman. Do you think that would've happened if it was a male director?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I think it definitely could have. I know a lot of Very compassionate men. But I think the confidence to talk about it as. As. As a woman was. Yeah, because Zoe is Zoe. But also because she's a woman and she knows how to handle these deeply emotional situations. And, I mean, a lot of the work, actually, outside of the women talking was. So we would have a women's circle, a men's circle, and then a group circle. And then we would like. We also. I remember we were sat on the veranda, and it was like the men and the women altogether and us talking to each other, how we can create a safe space, especially for that big, awful scene. There was a lot of concern for the men. They were amazing. Like, they wanted to do it, and they wanted to do it properly, but in that, we needed to make sure they felt safe, too, because they were putting themselves in a position that felt really wrong to them. So it was. There was so much talk and so much compassion for each other and a lot of, like, stark honesty that was. Made everyone feel so comfortable and kind of bonding, truly bonding. I mean, these people, like, I would have stayed there for a year. I had so much fun. And with that, safety allows you to do scenes where you're, like, being dragged around in the forest, and they say, cut. And you're like, all right, then, where's my sandwich? Because, you know, everyone's whole. And it was really. It was just. Ugh.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I miss those days also, because I think men and women grew up obsessing over Channing Tatum.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, Channing. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

No, that movie does in Magic Mike. You know the one I'm talking about? Yeah. And that. Like, what is that one? But how does he. How is his, like, hips connected to his shoulder? I don't know.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I got him to do a lap dance for my sister.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Get out of here.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, I was like, charlie, dance for her. Dance for her. She was like, hey. Oh.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Oh, no, man. I would. Yeah. I would have said, you kidding me? Wow, man. Do you still get that? Because even at the height that you are, do you. When you go on to. Because it's interesting, right? Within this industry of, like, media and I don't know. I don't know. You see people who have done movies and stuff, and you automatically connect, right? Because it's like, oh, you've experienced what I've experienced. So therefore, we have a connection, even though we haven't met. But when you meet. Have you met people that you are. That are your heroes, that you're icons, and you kind of. Is it strange to act with them or is it kind of Very professional.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It will cause you to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's strange. I think, like, the Zoe and Channing of it all on that job was like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And they want to hang out and they want to talk. Like, what? With me. Okay.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

If they're not saying it, they're lying.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

What the hell is going on? It's hey, Nene. Like, Charlie would be like, hey, nae. Now. I was like, oh, my God, Charlie. David's calling me Nene. What the. But then I'll be like, morning, babes. But like, it's just. It's just like, it's so true.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

No one. Why is everyone trying to act cool? Like everyone.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Like, it's not normal. And then like, I did Minky 17 afterwards and I worked with Robert Pasterton

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

and you're a huge Harry Potter fan.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Huge, huge. And a Twilight fan. Oh, I didn't tell him. I didn't. I just was like, don't tell him you're Team Edward. Don't tell him you're Teem Redwood. Yeah. So, like, I kind of was like,

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

were you more Harry Potter or more Twilight?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

More Harry Potter. I mean, Harry Potter is like millennial. Like, that was. I'm a Slytherin. I think.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Was not ready for that. Was not.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm Naomi Aki and I'm a Slytherin.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Why are you a Slytherin?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I think it's cause of the whole, like, achievement thing. The interesting. The goals thing. I like nice things. I don't know. But my best friend is a Slytherin too, so I feel good about it.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But Robert Pattinson was amazing.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

He's great. He's amazing. He's amazing.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

He's.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

He's really. He's a very special actor. He's very easy with it and working

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

with people like that. And then you. You probably see why, like, with yourself, when I work with you, why people get successful and why people do well in this industry.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. And I saw. I remember this one day, so we're on set and he's. He's really like, I would Just a normal guy. Right. And like, he doesn't. He's not like, hi, I'm Robert Pattinson. Do you know what I mean? So I kind of forgotten that he was who he was. And I was seeing him talking to Director Bong and I was just like, I happened to be by the kind of the TVs that show what's Going on on camera. And he was on camera and I was watching him talk to Director Bong and I was like, yeah, that's Rob. And then I looked at the. The TV screen and I was like, fucking hell, that's Robert Pattinson. And there was something that happened with his face on camera that was different to the person I had seen. And I was like, oh, that's the. My mom used to call it the it factor. Like, there's a. There's an energy some people have that you just can't put your finger on, but they have it. And it's a very magical thing. It's just a presence. And he has it and Zoe has it and Channing has it, and a lot. Florence. Oh, my God. Has it. Cosmo has it. Like, I've been lucky to work with so many people who just have a presence. And it just. It's not a look. It's not about your face. It's the inside thing. It's an energy thing. And it just switches on and you can see it. You can just feel it.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Harry Potter, Twilight.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Are you still big into your fantasy books?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm getting back into it, really. I'm trying to force myself to read how I used to read because I stopped.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Used to read a book a week.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. I was just absorbing so much amazing stories. And then social media came into my life and that kind of effed it. The joy of a book. Like, the joy I would get from reading a good book book. I still. I don't even. It's a very separate joy to watching a good film. It's a very different.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So it's so personal. Like, it's such a personal journey. And I was never a big reader. And then actually, I so challenged myself last year. Start reading. So now I read books. And what I didn't realize. Right. About books. Okay, this is maybe tmi.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Like when you watch a movie and there's like a romantic, like an erotic scene in the movie, you just. You just. You watch it in a book.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Crazy.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Holy.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Have you heard of Acotar? The sexy fairy books?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

No. What is this?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Oh, mate.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What's Akita? Do you know these things?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

A court of thorns.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What did she do?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Court of thorns and roses.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's a series of books. And, you know, these all start the same. She's just a girl, right?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Innocent, sweet girl. Right?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

She's an innocent, sweet girl. She just knows how to use a bow and arrow. Out of nowhere, she gets kidnapped. Hot guy kidnaps her. You're gonna stay in my house. But now I love you. Now we're gonna have sex.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

No, this is all in the Book.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, this is in the book. And now you've got magic powers too. And now you gotta save the whole world. That's essentially what these books are.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

It's unbelievable.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

But there is a lot of the slow burn, beautiful passages of really intimate things.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Do you know what? This is what I've worked out. This is what I've worked out. Right?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay. I sort of went, let's go tmi, whatever. What I realized, like with sex and things like that, right. I always would think like, just get in there, get it on. See it. Like, let's go, let's. Now I've read erotic fiction a little bit.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Oh, no, no, it's a lot slower. Yeah. Take your. Take your time.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Weeks.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Start on Monday.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's just.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You may get it Sunday.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. It's a look. It's the heavy breathing. It's the storyline. It's the storyline. It's the stakes. Okay. It's the location. This is too much, I'd say, but Acotar has. I suggested it to my agents who then all read it. They were like, oh my God, I love it. I think it's just done something. It's the same, I guess as heated rivalry. It's just awoken something in women.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's awoken something in my mum, honestly, who's 71 and she's like, she can't get enough heated rivalry.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I need to watch.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah. She's like, I don't know what my mom is doing in her house.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You don't need to worry about that.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Think about that. You've just got Instagram back.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Well, I've had it. I've. I've always had it. But then I took it off my phone so that I wouldn't be sad.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

That's actually.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's actually the best description.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It makes me sad. But then I put it back on because work.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And also like trying to figure out how to like be. I don't know. Cause I'm just an actor. So it's just like what kind of. I feel like the work does the thing, but now we're in a space where the work doesn't just do the

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

thing that is interesting about movies at the moment. Cause I feel like movies are in a weird place.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. It feels like upsettingly, upsettingly weird. And it feels like maybe it's like stunt like how you market it means more than sometimes the film itself. I. I'm old fashioned. I didn't realize how old fashioned I was in terms of my approach to the work until, like, maybe the last five years, probably from, like, when I did Whitney, I was like, I don't want this. I don't want the. I don't want to conjure up this, like, excitement about myself. I want to conjure up excitement about the story, but that's just not the reality of the world we live in. So it's kind of. And if I don't do it or don't try to do it, I don't know. You can face situations where you're not. You're missing out on opportunities potentially from not playing the game.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That is really interesting because what you're kind of saying there is. Movies are these kind of beautiful things that we love. And as a consumer, it's like, you get to go to the cinema, but you also forget it's a business, and you kind of forget how much money goes into these things and how people. And the way people see it is through marketing. And so what you're saying is that you kind of just want to act.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I just want to act. I just. That's all I want to do.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You don't want to have to be this marketing platform as well.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I don't. Don't. And it feels like. Then it's like you're selling a personality. Look, the thing is, it's like I'm hired to do a job where I play a character. That's awesome. But then it feels like not being hired and actually paying, because when you do promotion for a job, you're paying your publicist to put you out there. So I'm paying to pay another character, because that's not me. Do you know what I mean?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah, I never thought of that.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm just like, what's this about? Yeah, it's expensive.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

It's expensive.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I don't. I shouldn't say that, but, like, it's expensive. And it also, like, I always get this thing. I'm better at it now. But, like, going to an event or a red carpet and you put on all the clothes and the makeup and stuff and, like, all the people and the adrenaline is awesome in the moment, but then you always go back home, and then you're just you again. And then you're like, what was that? And it's not real. But it is real. But it was real for a second.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Does it ever. Are you introverted or extroverted?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Introverted.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You're introverted.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Deeply. It's a problem. I've got to address it at some point. In my life.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So going to those red carpets and do those awards, that's.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Mate, that's a tricky one. My boyfriend, like, the amount of times I've been in the car being like, I can't do it. I don't want to go. I don't want to go. I'm sweating from my pits. I'm like, just. It stirs something in me that is so uncomfortable with being looked at. I get this thing where I try and I try ahead of going to a space where there's a lot of people, where there's a lot of variables, planning out what I'm gonna say to everyone just in case I run out of conversation. And I. If there's too many people, then there's too many things to try and control. I'm a control freak. But it's about anxiety, really. And so he was asking me on the way, because I was like, I'm just feeling that, like, rush of adrenaline. I'm getting shivery. I had to do a lot of deep breathing and stuff to calm down before entering that space. And he was like, well, it's weird because then you're not like that on set. And I was like, yeah, because I know what's expected of me. I know when I step on a set, you know, six o' clock in the morning, I sit in the chair, I get my makeup done, I get. Put my costume on, then I sit around in the trailer. Then they go, right, Nay, go and do the lions thing, do the acting thing. You do, I do the thing, and then I go back and it's very simple. Whereas, like, people outside of work are more complicated and there's more things to read and there's more subtext, and I just don't.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But also in that situation where you're sitting in a trailer and you're doing that, you're fully prepared and you're so.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Such a good point.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And you're a perfectionist, right? So you go into your. Whenever you go onto a movie set, you know exactly who you're playing. You know the lines, you know everything about it. So there's no surprises for you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No surprises. And I cannot stand surprises. I read the last page of books.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Get out of here.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm not joking you. Why? I love a spoiler. Ooh, I love a spoiler. I love a spoiler.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You can read the last page of a book when you get a book.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just to know where it goes. Because I quite like. I don't mind knowing the end because I quite like how it gets to the end.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay, that's kind of. But that's kind of. It's kind of upsetting.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I know.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I know. It's kind of upsetting.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I know. Because I just can't take. Like, every time I watch a TV show or something and something goes wrong, it causes my body. I. I'm like, I can't. Even if I know it's not real, I just can't take it. Wow. The tension is too much, so I need to skip it or I need to know what happens.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But if we were gonna get deep for a second, where do you think the fact that you don't like surprises, that you want to know the ending, that you want to read the last page of the book, where do you think that comes from?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's a deep fear. No, it's true. It's a deep fear of the unknown. You know, even as an example, I decided I wanted to be an actress at age 11. I was like, this is the thing I'm gonna do. And I was like, I don't know. I remember, like, trying to strategize at 11 to like 17, trying to figure out how I was gonna do it. I like to have things in place because of security. And I think ultimately growing up, it wasn't. I love my family, and they're amazing, but it wasn't necessarily. I didn't feel secure all the time. In that space are the big personalities conflict. You know, I was the quiet one. I was the youngest. I was the kind of quiet. I don't want to say good child because we were both good children. I was. I have an older sister.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I think she was more dominant.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. Yeah. And she's seven years older than me. And there was things going on in her life and in my parents lives, and they were healing through their stuff. And it wasn't neat. And I really don't blame them for that. But as a child, I watched a lot of those things happen in real time. And.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Can I ask what was going on?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, I mean, a lot. I think my mom and dad were like, deeply in love. Deeply. My mom passed when I was 22, but they were deeply in love, but also growing pains and also just healing from their own stuff. And the same with my sister and the same with me, in a way. It just happened later on in life. And I think it calls for a lot of attention to be aimed at each other because they were all older. And for me, I just went very quiet. And the lesson I learned was like, be small, be good. And I just started to hyper focus on this acting thing that obviously has paid off. But that thing of, like, find security, find safe spots means that when I don't know what's going to go on, there is actually too many things available. This is too dangerous to think, oh, my gosh, the whole world is open to you. You have so many options. I'm just like a pick one and stick at it for a very, very long time. But funnily enough, when I'm acting, I don't actually prep a lot.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Do you not?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm a Winger.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Because you're that good. Really?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No, I really.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Why?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Because it makes you feel a bit more loose that you can be loose within the script.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

In a way, yeah. I learned the lesson off of Whitney because that one I prepared too much. I got so obsessed with it because it was like a real person and everyone loves Whitney that I look at that performance and I'm like, oh, so stiff. And it's so, like, prepared and it's not loose enough.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's what you're. I think you're the only one saying that. That was Whitney Houston's biopic. I want to dance, right? With somebody.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And since then, I've gone opposite. I'm like, if I read the script, and I like the script, amazing. Obviously, read it a few times, talk with the director, and then the joy is finding it in the moment and finding the impulses in the moment and not trying to analyze what the outcome is going to be and just go, whatever it is, it is. See what happens. And look at, like, filmmaking or character work now as like, a experiment instead of, like a product.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay, but then I would argue with you, right?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay. So if you're finding that in your work life, right, where you're going into it less prepared and you're getting a better outcome.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That feels like you could replicate that in life.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, but the stakes are different, mate.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Why are the stakes different?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Because it's real life, isn't it? Like, if I do a film, right, and then some person on Instagram or Twitter or a viewer or whatever is like, ah, she's a bit subpar in this. I'll be like. And then it's over.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Everyone forgets it doesn't affect each other.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

But if you make mistakes in real life, if you hurt people's feelings or if you weird them out or, I don't know, you have a conflict, those things stick with people. And I want to really be. Sound like, a little bit neurotic.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

No, you don't listen, we're all a little bit neurotic, so don't worry. We're all a little bit. Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

But I'm so. I feel deeply responsible for how I make people feel. I don't want to weird people out. I feel like a weirdo inside. So I just am very like trying to like keep a. Keep a lid on it.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's so interesting, you see, because you don't want. You're trying to keep a lid on your actual realness because you're worried that's gonna affect. It's gonna.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. And I just kind of wanna. Just bumble through life and people go, oh, she's nice.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Okay, Hannah, we've briefly met, right?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You're got wonderful energy and you're kind.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Thank you.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And you're interested and you're interesting. Like, are you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Thank you.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But so, so why would you. We're all a bit weird. There's that great saying, why fit in when we're born to stand out. Right. So what are you trying to box yourself in? What makes you feel like a weirdo?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Oh, just like. Cause it's you in your head. I can also understand that everyone probably feels like a weirdo. I think there is like a. I don't. I really do think I need to get a screening. It's been on my mind for probably about 15 years of being like, there's something different about how I see the world. And you know, I think the thing that has helped shield it is the acting. It's funny because I think like whenever I've talked to other people, they're like, but you're an actor, you know, you can look people in the eye and you seem so confident. It's like, yeah, but like there's an internal stuff going on about how to navigate social spaces that takes up a lot of effort. The big thing for me is like figuring out how to be more social because I'm a homebody. I like being alone. Or ideally it's a one on one love, four at a dinner. Beautiful. Anything more than that, I'm starting to hear every voice around the table. I can't concentrate on what someone is saying. I can't. My attention is dotting around left, right and center. I can't focus. And the overstimulating thing is the thing I'm working on. I'm actually more tuned into it now than I have been in the past. I think when I was younger I used to have panic attacks, like constantly from the age of maybe 11 to 27. I would say just panic attacks for many different reasons. Like, and I used to think it was stress from the home. And then when my mum passed, I was like, this is about mum, da, da, da. But I think a lot of it has been being overstimulated and being dysregulated and not knowing how to self soothe. Wow. Yeah. So, like, now I'm probably the calmest I've ever been since probably Whitney. Whitney was a turning point emotionally for me because it was such a huge mental upheaval and I was away from home and I was really like, as low as you could get during the making of that film. And I came back, I went on antidepressants for about six months to a year. And then after that, I was like. I came off of that moment was like, okay, I've had enough distance from that emotion to be able to handle it now and know that it's not going to destroy me. And now I'm like, oh, I'm overstimulated.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

When you're acting, you almost say you feel uncomfortable within yourself a lot of the time, but when you're acting, you feel comfortable playing another character. But why try. If we try to break down, why is that?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I feel like it's actually like a very pure truth that you're displaying when you are inhabiting a moment. What I love about filmmaking is that the script is the script. And actually, like, for me, I'm like, that's not really my responsibility. I'm like, action. And cut. I can explore the depth for whatever tone, whatever situation, any given circumstance, the truth of that, and that feels extremely honest in a way that the world doesn't like if I'm. If there's a character where they're telling a truth and then there's a subtext and there's maybe a hint of a lie in it, I can explore all of that in the take in the scene and display it and show it and go, this is what that looks like. And it feels like I'm mimicking the things that I've seen in real life in the most truthful way possible. And there's a lot of freedom that comes with that for me, real freedom. Because I feel like sometimes the world is just full of subtext.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Wow.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And I. All I see is subtext in the real world.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So what is it about the world that doesn't feel honesty?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Because everyone has their. I mean, I guess because I'm so obsessed with, like, stories and stuff like that. I think everyone has their motivations. Everyone has. And this is like not a dig on the world as it is. It's just the way the world works. But we have our intentions, we have our super goals, our mini goals for the day, what we want out of a person. There's a lot of transactions that come out of social.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Completely agree.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Do you know what I mean?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And so I think because I'm hyper focused on people, what I see a lot is that subtext and I can see what someone wants before they've even really. I feel like I can see what someone wants before they.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But with that, one could argue that maybe it's a cynical way to look at things.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Oh, completely, mate. It's not a nice way to be. Like, I'm not saying this in a. Like, this is like really a special gift. And I also acknowledge it's a feeling. It's not necessarily the truth, but that's how I move through the world is being like, what? What do people want? What do I want? Kind of comes like second or third, but it's like, what. What is this situation and how can I handle it and come out safe? So it's a very like. And then again, it's like strange to be an actor because obviously that's a business that is all about what individuals want and stuff.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So would you prefer to live in a world in the. In the fantasy world with your characters and live in that world, or do you prefer living in the world, the real world?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I love living in the real world and that has happened with time. If you asked me this 10 years ago, I'd have been like, put me in a fantasy book. Escapism was the only thing for me. Like, just because you want to escape the real life, I want to escape the real life. I love my life. I've found real peace and found my baseline of like, happiness. I'm really like, content. I have enough. I'm good, I'm calm. Like, I think it's maybe because I'm 34 now. So I'm like, I don't know, maybe that just happens.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You get to a certain age where you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Sometimes I'm just too tired, mate. Just too tired.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

24 is an age where you start to go a little bit, I think a little bit.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Oh, it's actually okay. Okay. Yeah. So no, I actually think more. So I'm in observation mode right now. Before I can go into action about changing how I interact with the world, I'm in observation of, like, oh, this is how I'm feeling. These are the things I can change to enhance My life more. But the baseline is good. I have a set of good friends. I have a really beautiful partner who I love dearly. We live in a nice part of London, right by the river. Never thought that would happen. Oh, I meant to tell you, My boyfriend's a posho.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Let's freaking go.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

He's a big old posho.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You think I'm a posho? But you're.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You're.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's amazing. Because you're. Then you're feeling at peace. What? Because. Because you're. You're more understanding of the world. You realize that perhaps with. With exposure to the world, it's not as scary as maybe you thought, so you're a bit more relaxed with it.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yes.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And you're at peace with your work because you know that you're killing it and you're doing good and I'm good.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Like, there's just, like a security and a. I guess, a quiet confidence. I don't. The only time I get, like, tell me. Do you know what I mean?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah. I get it. That.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

That feeling is like if. Like, if I'm in the good work mode and someone pisses me off at work, I'm like, do you know what I can fucking do? Do you know who the fuck I am? But it's only in my trailer, really quietly. I never really say that to anyone else.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, what I say to you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Oh. The way I act.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Oh. And then when you see them, you're like, hi. Hi.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No. Where do you want me? It's like, that's the only time.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But that's amazing. That quiet confidence. It's so brilliant. And we should weirdly shout more within ourselves. Inside, Inside. About that quiet.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Inside. I know what I can do. I know that. Like, wow. I. And in terms of real life, I did emdr. Usually trauma or PTSD is because when you think of that, if you're triggered to think of a past trauma, your brain takes you back in time to that time. So your body feels.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

What it was back then. When you bring that memory back up, you're reprogramming your body to realize it's safe in this space. And you're trying to retell the story.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Is the way I learned it.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's exactly it. It's the look. I've done a lot of therapy.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I think EDMR is the best thing I've ever done.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's insane. So I was a very fearful child, and there was a EMDR session where I was going back to a point when I Think I was maybe like 6 or 7 years old where I was extremely afraid. And that's young to be afraid, Very young to be afraid.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Cause conflict within the house.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Conflict within the house. And I, I. So I'm imagining it and I'm imagining myself small, feeling very small, but like doing something that was actually quite brave in the moment. But I was focused so much on the fear. And then something happened where I started reimagining it. And I had like, I just imagined the small version of myself wearing armor, almost going out to a war. And I don't know how this happened. It was quite a long session. But the realization came of, like, I was scared, but I did it anyway. And like, a lot of my life I have been scared. I'm a fearful person by nature. I don't know why. I think it's. I'm starting to think about there's this word epigenetics or something. It's like the.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

How past trauma down the line has affected you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, it's just in my body. And I've always attributed that fear to being the feeling of fear, to being weak, to being vulnerable in my life and being like, God, I'm just always so scared. I'm always so scared. I'm so sick of that. And like, why can't I be brave? Why can't I be brave? And then the realization came of, like, yeah, but I do things anyway. Like, I'm terrified of crowds. I work in a space that's usually housing at least 300 people. I'm terrified of people. I've managed to be in a really healthy relationship. And then suddenly I was like, yeah, I'm scared, but I'm doing things anyway. I'm fucking brave. I'm the bravest person I know. I'm really fucking brave. And it hasn't stopped the fear. I'm still a fearful person, but there's an appreciation that also, I do things anyway. And that felt really like a solid thing to me. Like, I saw this quote recently that was like, if you're, if you're saying that you're self aware, but you're only labeling the negative things you're branding yourself with. Like, just all the things that you don't like about yourself. And it's so important to start finding out the things that make you not a good person, because good is such a blah, blah word, like a fleshed out human being. I spent a lot of time being like, right, I've got to fix myself, you know, what's the wrong things and take them off the list. And it's like, no, but what are the good things?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What are the good things? Focusing the good things. Yeah, that is such a good point. Because I think we do that the whole time. We're so hard on ourselves.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Hard, mate.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And we don't look at the stuff we've actually done and completed and achieved. We think, well, we haven't achieved that. We always look up rather than we look at like, what we're doing here. We look behind us. Right. And see what we've done, that is. And also I think you're so right where, you know, you're, you're, you've been so afraid, but actually you're, you're doing all the things that you're afraid of because you're so focusing on what you're afraid of. You're forgetting that you're actually doing it, doing the stuff that you're afraid of.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. And it's like. And then I go, oh, bloody hell, what else could I do?

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[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You said earlier, right, about how you've. You had this anxiety and these panic attacks and felt depressed and it led up to about 27. And the worst part was when you were playing Whitney.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What's so interesting? There's a great quote which is when you're at your heart, that's when the devil comes to you. Why do you think it was your hardest moment? Because that. Cause I know you spoke about you. Because you're a perfectionist as well. And you're playing Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I mean, come on.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I mean, I mean, oh, my gosh. When that role comes in, mate, I

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

told them, don't hire me.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Get out of here.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm not joking. I said, between me and you, I was like, my agents would kill me if I said this. I am not the one. I said, like, go elsewhere.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Why? Because.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Because I'm British. Because I don't look like Whitney. Because it was too big. It felt intimidating. I think, like, inside, spiritually, I'm a woo girl girl. And I was like, instinctively, I know this is going to take something. And I was like, I was looking ahead. I was like casting my. As my mum would say, she'd always, like, call your spirit back. I was like casting my spirit forward to be like, yeah, that's gonna cost a lot.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So why take the audition?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

All right. Then they pumped me up with a bit of like, you're great. We just want to see you. And I was like, all right, let me just. My goal was do the audition. So they think I'm a good actor, but don't do it so well that they give me the part.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I think you nailed it.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Well, yeah,

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

but.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And I think what Whitney did was it actually gave me the thing that I had said I wanted. And this is why I think I'm a bit woo woo. I had been saying for about a year before, I want to do something that scares me. I want to play a lead and I want to play an American. And then Whitney came and I was like, okay, all right, Lord. All Right. And I felt this pull to do it, because I was like, if I can do this, then I can do anything. The reason why Whitney was so terrifying was because it pushed me into a space where I knew so many people were going to watch it. There were so many eyes on it. There were so many opinions. I know how biopics work when it comes to that stuff. Also, hey, I'm. I'm. I'm a black British woman playing an American. Black American hero. And there is conflict within that, which is understandable. There was so much. And then there was the technical stuff. It was the learning to look as close to someone else, learning to move like them, learning to talk like them. I lost. I was like. I weighed, like, nine and a half stone. I lost, like, two. Two and a bit stone to play her. I was so hungry, just dieting. I was basically. By the end, no one was forcing me to do this, which was the weirdest thing. Like, I was doing the actor thing where I was like, I have to do it. I was eating, like, two protein bars a day to get down to that weight.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's where your obsessiveness came in, right? And you just became obsessed. Then you become obsessed with the weight because you have to hit the weight.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And it was a control thing, and that becomes unhealthy. And it's deeply unhealthy to the point where I was like, I. But also, weirdly, I was like, oh, my God, finally, I'm sample size. And then I was sample size while I was filming, being like, I have to hold onto this for the premiere so that I can do that. But then obviously, that's not my natural way.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Did you like the way you looked at the time? Because that's.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No, I looked weird, dude. Like, my head is. I've got a big head, right? I was like, lollipop head. Even my dad. My dad and my sister were like, oh, oh, nay. I was just like, I'm finally a size 8, and I'm just, like, shaky. And so they came that into it. I was away from home. But the big thing for me was I was. I was directly challenged with the idea of perfection. Because there is. When you play any kind of character that's, like, made up, no one has something to compare it to this. I knew if I do a performance that Whitney has done, someone is gonna pull up the YouTube video of Whitney doing that same performance and put them side by side and go, oop, yeah. Or oh, no. And so, because I'm a perfectionist to a T, that Fucking bothered me. And I wanted to get it as perfect as possible, and that nearly destroyed me.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That is. That is unhealthily obsessive because you're not Whitney, unfortunately. And as much as you want to get to that place, and, my God, you nailed that.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Thank you.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You absolutely nailed it. Yeah, but if you're a perfectionist in your head, you're never going to be Whitney.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Never.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Because you can't. It's impossible.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It is impossible. And also, I think that. And. But the amazing thing about that job is what I learned was, like, oh, your job costs something, and you get to decide how much you want to pay. I will never put myself in that position again. Like, I gave 1,000% when I needed to give 90. You know, there's always this thing now where I'm like, how much is this going to cost my body? How much is this going to cost me of my time, my effort, my energy? And how can I limit that and kind of control my obsessive part of myself to just not take myself there? It's just not healthy. It's not nice to be around. I'm not nice to be around.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Panic attacks during it.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Oh, so many on set. Really. I remember one time, Stanley Tucci, he's on set. We're very excited about it. It's maybe one of our first scenes. And I meant to go in and be all excited as Whitney for a song, and I meant to knock on the door. They say, action. I knock on the door and I just freeze at the door. He's inside. And I just. Like, when I have panic attacks, I have to go down and touch the floor. And so I just went down and just was holding the floor and they were like, action. They meet action. And I'm just, like, frozen to the spot. And I remember feeling so bad because I, like, delayed the day for, like, half an hour. I'm so sorry. Like, I don't know what came over me.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Like, what are you feeling at that time? Is it. Is it adrenaline? Heart rate goes up, you think you're dying?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, it's. It's a. It's a freeze.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

It's a freeze.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's a. It's a buildup of so much energy, really, like Dragon Ball, you know? Ha. Me Ha. Me Ha. Like Super Saiyan. Like, you just want to, like. Like you feel like you're like an atomic bomb and you're just working so fucking hard to put a stopper on it because it could destroy everything and everyone all around you is what panic attacks feel like. To me.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Wow.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. I feel like Goku.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So then you. Any part. Any part of you regrets taking that part?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No, not a single part of me. It was deeply painful and deeply enriching, and it showed me myself. There are a few times in your life where you are faced with yourself. And I saw myself, and I saw the amazing parts of myself, but I mainly saw the parts of myself that needed help and needed a hug. I needed someone to be like, you are enough. You are fine. Go and sit down. Have a break. Go to sleep. Eat some fucking food, mate. Do you know what I mean? And I actually look at that time, it was about two years of really rough, rough going. And I look back and I'm like, thank you to that past, Naomi, for going through that. Because the me now.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Cause you learn from that, right?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's like water off a duck's back, mate.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Wow. Do you watch your films back? Do you?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Only if I have to.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Only have to. But do you look at it and you think they'll know that? Are you proud of that?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I look at work and I go, all right, come on. That's the best I can do.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's the best you can do? I'm like, so you've never had a moment where you. You're in the scene and you're going. And you're going, I am killing it. Have you ever done a scene and you've gone and you've gone and you've gone. Or Drew, you're going to. I'm gonna get the fucking Oscar. Oh, no way.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No way. You know what I will say I've just finished doing a boxing film that I've been. I was training for eight months to do. I'm one of the producers. Like a baby producer. Like shadow producer, really. But I'm very excited about the project. I don't know when it's coming out, but I did see, as a producer, you get the rushes, which is like your. The scenes of the day. And we did the final fight and that. I was like, fucking hell, no. Come on, mate. I was like. I was like, going in. Yeah. No, mate. I'm a fucking boxer now.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's good.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm fast, too. Oh, I'm excited about. So I do get it. But it's more about the skill that I'm showing than it is about my acting technique. So I never got it. When there's the emotional scenes when I'm watching those, I'm like, okay, cool, cool, cool. It's much more analytical. But things where I've worked Really hard to achieve a certain look that will make the audience feel like I am fully immersed in the character.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Then I'm like, where do you find that emotion? Right. Because when you're playing these emotional roles and you have to dig deep and find out where do you go to or how does someone find that emotion if they have to do these scenes?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Okay. So when I first started, the first film I did was called Lady Macbeth. The. The scenes, it was very emotional scenes and I couldn't cry on cue. It was with Florence Pugh, who is 19 years old. This girl is running that set. I mean, just the most incredible. I was 24, I couldn't cry. Had to use tear stick.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What's tears, Dick?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's like menthol for your eyes. So I could like do it. They would put the menthol on and then I'd be like. And then my tears would come. Because it felt like the thing that I was waiting for was the tears to come.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Got it. So then it would make sense. Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Then I lived life. And you accumulate. You accumulate experience. And that is the big thing about emotion. Because my mistake at 24 was thinking that I needed to show tears, to show emotion. That the tears come first and then the words come and then that's the emotion. That's not it. Actually. There are so many moments in life that you are highly emotional, emotional. And it's not tears or it's not shouting. It's. It's something.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Something different. Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

But you can only do that with experience. And that was my first film I'd ever done and it worked for that. But now 10 years on, I. I just sit, I'm still, I breathe. Loosen your jaw. Not just. I don't want this to become like tricks on how to cry on cue, but like there is tension that you hold in your body that can help loosen up. When you loosen it up, it can reveal something deeper. And so with emotional scenes, it's about staying in the moment, understanding the given circumstances and seeing what your body wants to do and stepping out of the way. It's very. Kind of like. It's very.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You just gotta feel it.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Just. You just do it. And sometimes what I'll say to the director is like. I'm like, I know where I want it to go. And I say, look on action. I want us to go through the scene and then instead of doing a set up and setting up lights again, I just want to do it three times in a row.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Well, and you now have the confidence to say that to a Director where before you probably couldn't say that. So if someone's like this and you say, maybe have the confidence to say that to a director because you can know yourself.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You know yourself what your body needs. And it's like just listening to your body and not putting importance on the goal, per se. I really want to, like, have this moment. And this is why the over rehearsal doesn't work. It's the. I need to.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Ah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You're not listening to me, Gerald. It's not that it's fucking sitting in. In your body and then listening and listening to your scene partner. What is the energy of another person?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Wow.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Like, it's all in the room. It's all in the room.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You know Lady Macbeth, you work with Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yes. Crazy.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And you're all having, like, success doing

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

what we did all right.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

It's like, let's go.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah. Yeah, we did all right.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So can you. Can you now cry on?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

No, you can't.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, I can. It's a. It's a. It's a quiet set. It's. It's the understanding with the director and the actors. It's. It's. It's going. It's really giving yourself over to the story.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Wow. So you have to surrender.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Just. It's a surrender. And yeah, I now I can cry on cue. Sometimes I actually cry too much.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So, like, are you, like. And then you hear, you're like, I'm crying too much. Seriously.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm like, why am I crying in this scene? Like, I think it's really annoying. There are a few projects I can think of where I'm like, oh, God, she's just going to be one of those crying bitches all the way through, and it's going to be annoying. And they're going to have to cut around that a lot. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Do you know on the red carpet last year, you were asked, what's your proudest moment? And you said, I remember. I'm not often proud of myself.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Oh, no, nay. And I said, that's bad, isn't it? I think she wanted me to be inspirational. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Do you still think that? Or has that changed that?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No, that hasn't changed how

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I think, because you're. Because on one side you're saying you're feeling more content, you're feeling more safe, you're feeling more brave, you're feeling these things, but yet you're still not proud of yourself.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, Like, I get it on a. Like a not subjective objective, I can look at my achievements. Got you and be like, yeah, those are cool things. But proud. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I think it's a personal level that you feel. Because you feel you haven't completed yourself or. Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And I don't know whether. Look, the thing is, is that when I started this job, my whole life has. Early life was surrounded by this job. I was so obsessed. I would dude before agents, before. Before even drama school. I would sit on a weekend and look up monologues from films and record myself acting so then I could look back on the tapes and see what I needed to improve. Like, I was obsessed. And then. And then I started working and I thought drama school or, like, getting my first theater job or doing a film would do something to me on the inside. It would fix me, right? And it didn't. And actually, the further along I got in my career, I was expecting these like, aha moments to come out of achievement. It didn't happen. And it made me really sad and it made me feel like, well, what's the fucking point then? And I had to really start to assess. My dad really helped me a lot with this of like, why are you looking for achievements to fix you? That's maybe not the space that you need to do that in. And so proud, when I was asked that question on a red carpet, it felt like it was maybe angled towards the things I'd achieved. And I don't. I have done those things and I'm happy I've done those things. I also see huge room for improvement. I hopefully, by God's grace, have a very long career ahead of me and I haven't reached my peak yet. And I want to take my time with it, and let's see what happens. But, like, proud is still very hard word for me. And I'm really trying hard to separate ego from achievement. And that is my mission right now. So that, you know, winning an award or being asked to go to a really fancy event doesn't mean. Doesn't make me think that finally someone thinks I'm important. That actually those are just. Those are things. They're. They're transit. Trans. Transitory. They don't last. The temporary.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But what's. I think that's really important for people to hear, right, Because I think we. We are somehow ingrained within, especially because of social media, that these external factors, fame, wealth, power, whatever it is, will make us happy and make us content. And the more you have, the more you're gonna feel better. But it's actually not. It's actually the inside. It's the inside and I had this guy called Bob Wallingford on the podcast who talked about happiness, right? And he basically, it's all about connections with family and friends, and that's really what's gonna make us happy. And we focus on the wrong things. And the famous story of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck when they won the Oscar for Good Will Hunting. So young Matt Damon said, I'm so glad I won it so young because it made me realize that actually that wasn't the thing that was going to always make me happy.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's just. It's just. It's a way to distract yourself from yourself. And I. I don't know. You know, in the same way, I don't even want to go. Like, when I have kids, that's when I'll feel it. Like, I'm just going, no, I'm not. I'm not. I used to spend hours just daydreaming about, like, things that would make me feel complete and happy. And I'm like, no, I'm just gonna go moment to moment the best I can. Especially in the world that we live in today, it's really fucking hard to stay in the moment. It's the most. It feels like the most important.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I think we all feel that. We all feel this, right? Everyone.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's crazy. And so I'm just. I don't even know, like, who, who knows we're gonna be here next year. We probably will, but, like. But you don't know. I've lost people in my life. Like, things happen fucking fast. You lose people, you lose things. You make money, you lose money. Okay. All right.

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[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Can we talk about your mum?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yes, we can talk about my mother. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You said before your mum passed away of cancer when you were 22.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And you said it helps to know that. My mum believed I could make it. She taught me that if you want to make work of quality, then you must take your time, be diligent and get obsessed. She taught me to approach my work stitch by stitch, little by little, because in her spare time, she was a seamstress.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Right? Yeah. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's amazing.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's so cool.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's so cool. And it's such a true thing in life, especially now. And that really resonated with me. Right, because we're so about instant. Yeah, instant. Get entertained, watch YouTube, get drunk, have a drink. But actually, good quality work. It takes time. Life takes time. Building a career takes time, takes time. Friendship relationship takes time.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

She was. She was someone. She was like, nay, there is beauty in the ordinary. There's so much beauty in the everyday ordinary. And I think when I was younger, it was very much like, I want the flash, I want the lights, I want the people. And the. Yeah. She was like, bring it back, bring it back. Make it small. Daily, daily offerings up to the craft that you're saying that you want to master. And that has been a lesson I started with when I was 11 and told her I wanted to be an actress. But I understand it more every year that goes by that. This, as I film myself growing into my craft, it is the thing that I pin it to. She also said, life informs art. She was a very wise woman. She was like, life informs art. You. You cannot do your art without living your life. You have to live your life and live it in whatever way you want. And that is Something as well. So I always at work, and work takes so much out of you and so much time away from you. And then when I come back to life, I'm like, oh, I'm back. This is my. This is my workspace. Feels sometimes more like my workspace than it is to work.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Isn't amazing. She's still teaching you those lessons, mate.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

The best one I had. So to get quite. I mean, this is touching, but also disturbing to hear. Her cancer was really extreme. It had metastasized to her brain. It meant that she couldn't see or hear when she passed. So on one of the last days when she was alive, there wasn't a lot of ways that we could communicate with each other. I don't know why I said to her, I was like, mum, tell me a story. Tell me something. And it's on one of my old iPhones. I need to figure out how to get the data off of it because it's so old and broken. But she was like, one day there. This is the story she told me. One day there was a man who wanted to travel the world and kind of get his fate, the riches and fames and. And go and collect all of that. So he. He left home and he did it. He traveled the world and he found fame and riches and all the spoils of the world. And when he had it all, he realized that everything he needed was right back at home. She was the best woman in the world. She was so, so wise. Yeah, but isn't that the truth?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

So the truth. It's so the truth.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Everything we need is at home. And not in our home, but, like, in us. Like, the illusion that we have in this world that we've been given to is such a fallacy that everything we need is outside of us. What we buy, what is on our bodies, what our bodies look like, who we're with, what house we live in. It's a lie. The real magic is inside. When you sit inside of yourself and you get to know yourself and love yourself, where you are at. There's nothing more peaceful than that. And that's really what I'm trying to get to, is to kind of complete that story. The.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

That's for you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Thank you. I cannot tell that story without. Without. Without a little tear.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You kidding me? Yeah, it's. There's a real. Thank you, God. And I sort of just. I don't know how to, like a. Like a. Like approach this without. I hope this doesn't come across sort of strange, but when you lose Someone in your life, right? Someone so close to you, it is the worst thing in the world. But it also. And I don't know, but it also must teach you how fragile life is. And so even though it's the worst thing in the world, it perhaps makes you also. I reflect and realize, wait, life is temporary. This is home is. This is what's important.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

All this other stuff, isn't it? And it feels like it maybe taught you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

So it woke me up, mate.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I was like, I just left drama school when mum got sick the second time and I, I still remember that year. I can't remember much because of the trauma of it. Like I actually can't remember from around like 22 to about 25. I just. It saw a blur, this blur. Yeah. But I remember the feeling and the feeling as she was dying was that the world was the most vivid it had ever been. I had never had a truer feeling. I had never seen a grayer sky. I had. You know what I mean? Like, these things were really vivid and overwhelmingly clear and honest. And the thing is, is that with time you kind of. It dulls, you know, it dulls over time. I actually recently lost a friend, maybe about six weeks ago now. And it came back, you know, I'm kind of back in the grief cycle again and trying to find a new.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I'm so sorry.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, but life, life,

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

life, man. Fucking life, life.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

But, yeah, and you go, oh, fuck, here I'm back again. It's different. I'm older. It's not a parent. So, you know, my, my friend is the, the reliance. It's different, it's different. It's a different grief. And then you're like, oh, wow, this is a brand new experience. The loss is the same, but the experience of grief is different. And then you go, okay, I'm going to have to figure out how to live around this thing. But there are lessons in it.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Are there things that you understand now about grief that you didn't back then?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, that it's. You can't control it, that you have to sit with it. Don't fight. Has lessons and it is proof of the love that you have. There's this thing, right, I'm going to go, really, Woo, woo.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Let's go. I can't wait.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

So I was listening to a Jay Shetty podcast the other day. Love Jay, he's just great. Really cool guy.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah, he's great.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And he had a spiritual medium on. I'm really not into the medium stuff, but she was talking about Spiritual guides. And she was saying that, like, you. You can kind of tap in and, like, check in with your spiritual guides. They're people you've lost your ancestors, people you've never met. And you can like, you could say, okay, spiritual guides. If you're there, show me something. Show me a sign. So I'm in the night and I'm like, all right, if you're there, like, show me a fox. Right? Random. Fine. Next day, I'm in work, forgotten about it almost. I'm on set and this woman who I've worked with for the last, like, month is wearing a short sleeve T shirt. I've never seen her in a short sleeve T shirt. And she's got a tattoo on her wrist. I'm like, oh, what's that tattoo? Bring it to me. It's a fox.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

And then I was like. I was like, what the fuck? And then I told everyone on set, but then I was like, what if. Just what if this is not a loss in the way that I have previously thought it? What if it's a transition? What if something remains? And what if that thing is looking over me, looking after me? What. What does that. What does that put in my body? How does that make me feel? And it felt right for me. And I was like, cool. I feel protected. These are the best women I know. They're not here and I fucking miss them, but I feel them. Like, I can hear them in my mind and I can hear them so clearly. And I think, like, the only way I can honor them and the other people I've lost is by trying and just living. The only way is to live, because it's the hugest gift. And look, the only reality is, and the only real thing in this world is that we're all going to die 100%. And that's kind of comforting in the end. Like, you're like, yeah, it's going to end. So what am I going to do in the time that I'm here?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Is this live?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Just fucking live, mate.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

A role that you would love to play if you could pick it out of the sky?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'd love to play like some. Someone like, I would love to play like a queen or something, but like a queen going through something. Not just like a queen, like a queen, like doing something. I would also love to play a real person again.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You would because you said after Whitney that you wouldn't want to do that again.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I would love to play someone real again. To try it in a different way.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Not as.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Not as like aggressive and tightening. Yeah. Like I would love to do that. I'm actually like in a space right now where I don't know what the next thing is. My whole thing was like to subvert expectations with the roles I do. I kind of came in with a bit of a chip on my shoulder of like, I'm a black woman, I'm working class, I don't want to do what people expect me to do. I've kind of let that go now. I feel like I have nothing to prove, but I still hold on to that thing of like, what is something that is exciting? What is something I haven't done before? How can I display a different part of myself and tell a different story? And also what I love about projects is that it allows you to talk about something real going on. So there's this balance between wanting to entertain but also wanting to create a platform in which people can discuss real things in their lives. And I've done a few projects now where I feel like there's space for me when they come out to do that. And I think I want to do something really fun. I want to do something like where I kick butt.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Come on.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I want to. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Because you have your new film. I love boosters coming out in there.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I'm excited.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's. It's a crazy film.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Is it good?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, it's really good. It's, it's, it's really charming. It's Boots Riley who is. He's like this incredible auto surrealist madman scientist guy who's just really, really fucking smart. And the cast is incredible. It's Keke Palmer as Taylor Paige as Poppy Lou, Demi Moore. Wow. Nikki Stanfield. And it's just bright and explosive and funny and. Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Do you think that 11 year old girl who's doing that?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

No fucking way.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You know what I mean? If someone said to that 11 year old girl now like, hey, by the way, you're going to be doing great company

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

to be fair. Can I just say casting back to when in my. In my 20s or late teens watching Made in Chelsea, would I be the opposite? It's a Jamie, let's go. I didn't think that actually big honor.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But if you back to that when you work really hard and you put the hard graft in which people don't see, they don't see, they see the end result. Right? You go man, like, like let's go.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And with you having grafted from 11.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You must, there must part of you now just go, come on. We're like, yeah, we're getting there.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

We're getting there. We're doing it. I think it happened actually, like, this year where I went shopping and I, like. And I saw a pair of jeans that cost, like, 300 quid and I bought them.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Come on.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

That's the moment I was like, no. And I still got an Uber home. What?

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Shut up. What do you think you are? Open the window.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

On the way home, there's this thing I feel secure in terms of, like, the freedoms and the fruits of being able to kind of have the life that I dreamt of having. Obviously, if I'm lucky enough to have children, that would change.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You know, no Ubers and probably no jeans, but, like, that thing makes me go, wow, you've made a career out of pretending to be other people. That does blow my mind.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

But you made a career out of something that you wanted to do.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah. You made. You made something that you wanted to do into something that you can live to do. That is. And actually, I. If there is. I think now I've had my baby. Right. Is like, I always think, like, what advice would I give to him? And I say, one advice is like, think long term.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Like really do think long term. The sort of thoughts and process and things that you want to do today and tomorrow.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Remember that in a long time.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You know, think long term. And the other thing is find something you love and try and do that.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And I know that's not easy for everyone, and I get that's hard, but try, find something.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Try and experiment. You know, I think it's about, you know, I was kind of lucky enough, I guess, to fall across this at an early age, but, man, like, finding something you love. My mum always used to go, like, you, you know, you can act even if you're not an actor. She was like, having some, like, the importance of becoming an actor who's well known and stuff. Yeah, that's one thing. But you can act in a community theater. You can do the thing you love. I'm lucky enough that I was able to convert that into something that became, I guess, my own small business. But finding the things you love, even if you're working, because it's not necessarily about going like, yeah, take the thing you love and then turn it into something amazing and become this, like, leader in whatever thing that is. It's going. Find the things you love that complement the life you want to live.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Like, you know, I feel like, obviously, it's hard to imagine it, but If I was working at a different job, maybe in an office or working for someone, I don't know what I would have been doing. I like to think that I would still, on my off time, be doing the thing that you love, doing community theater or joining a choir. Like those things that enrich your life.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah. But also, as you said before, you know, you came from, like, humble beginnings. Right. And you've worked and grinded, and you're a sort of true example of, like, hard work and commitment and grind. You can really achieve, like, amazing things.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You can do.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You can do it.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Anything.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Yeah, you really can.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You. It takes time and a lot of sacrifice. Like, I'm not saying I've, like, sacrificed huge amounts. I have for myself personally, but, like, the limitations I used to, like, it's kind of crazy what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And we limit ourselves in our mind.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

We do.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

We can never do that. No, we can never go, I can't do that.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm from Walthamstow. I have no access. I can't do that. I'm. No, no. It doesn't exist. It really doesn't. The lies we tell ourselves, the lies we are told don't exist. There is always a way.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I love it. We like to end the conversation with eight quick fire questions.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

All right, then.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Are you ready for this?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah, go on.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What's a saying or phrase that makes you smile or cheers you up?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's only a game show. It's only a game show.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

It's a good one.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I don't think anyone's ever said that to. My reason.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I like it. Best compliment anyone's ever given you.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I'm proud of you.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

The best.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What scares you most about yourself?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Probably quick fire temper.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Really?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Apart from today. When was the last time you cried?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

When did I last cry? I think I. Oh, this morning because my boyfriend was telling me I've got a dinner to go to. And he was like, you need to talk to the people at the dinner. And I was like, yeah, but it's hard. And he was like, no, you've got to do it. And then I started crying. I was like.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

And then, yeah. What's something you can't let go of?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Hope.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Great answer. What's your guilty pleasure?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Pizza.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What's the topping on the pizza?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's not that guilty. The toppings. I just love margarita and extra margarita. Huh? Just put a margarita on a margarita.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

Like an extra margarita pizza on top.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I just mean cheese.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

You just mean, jeez, I was like extra margarita. Okay. What turns you off?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Lies? Dishonesty.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What turns you on?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

Vulnerability.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

What do you like most about yourself?

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

I think I'm quite smart.

[Interviewer (Host of Great Company)]

I agree. Mami, thank you. You've been incredible. Thank you so much for coming on. Great company company. And everyone needs to go and watch a new film. Yeah, I love boosters coming out of May.

[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

You're the best. You're the best.

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[Naomi Ackie (Actress)]

It's 10am why not?

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