I hope all of us are used to this by now: Actor has given an interview to promote a film which was supposed to come out soon, but got pushed back because of the global crisis. The ninth Fast & Furious film was supposed to come out April 2020. It got pushed back an entire year. It’s fine. Nathalie Emmanuel had already done this Shape Magazine interview to support the film, and we might as well talk about it! Nathalie is best known, to me, as Missandei on Game of Thrones. But she’s also been part of the F&F franchise for several films now and I don’t hate it? I think it’s kind of cool that a British actress of color is part of this dumb car-racing franchise. It’s a job and she probably loves the work. Nathalie chatted with Shape about her vegan diet, yoga and more. You can read the piece here, some highlights:
Yes, she’s in a car-movie franchise, but she still takes public transport: “I mean, Dame Helen Mirren [her F9 costar] takes the Tube. If she can, so can we all.”
She’s done yoga for years: “I started going to yoga when I was 19 as a way to stay active but also do something by myself if I needed peace and quiet. In the last seven years, it’s been much more of a necessity that I do it religiously. Wherever I am in the world, I find a yoga studio or I travel with my mat. I also trained to become a yoga instructor about two years ago—and taught at a London studio for a bit—because friends kept asking, ‘Can you show me how?’
She has stress-related breakouts: “Skin is a priority for me because every time I start a new job, the stress makes my skin break out. I have to really be on top of it. I’ve been using Dr. Barbara Sturm’s darker skin-tone range. She has an antipollution serum that you put on after your moisturizer—that’s been a game changer for me. People don’t realize the amount of damage that the light from mobile phones and screens does to your skin. Plus, living in London as I do—it’s so polluted. And I’m always on planes.”
She goes without makeup sometimes too: “I’m not someone who needs to have makeup on all the time. When I’m doing it for myself, I get irritated, and I’m like, ‘OK, I’m done.’ I just go as I am, as long as I’m clean. It really depends on my hair too—it can dictate how much time I spend, because there’s obviously a lot of care and maintenance to it. Most of the time, I’m just traveling or I’m running errands, so I keep it casual.”
Fitness goals: “I’m not working out to be a certain weight or size. I’m a goal-oriented person. My fitness goals at the moment are to do pull-ups and to do a pincha mayurasana, which is a forearm stand in yoga. I’m pretty strong at a headstand, but I want to be able to do a handstand and hold it. The workouts I do with my trainer in London condition me for those things. We focus on upper-body strength because that’s my weakness.”
Her veganism: “Because I’m vegan and I have a gluten intolerance as well, when I find baking that is both vegan and gluten-free, it’s so exciting that I tend to go a bit over the top. In L.A., I go to this place called Erin McKenna’s Bakery and basically eat all the things. Mostly, I try to keep my food simple. I want to read the ingredients and know exactly what’s in stuff or be able to pronounce it. That’s generally my thing: If I can’t understand the words on the back of the packaging, then maybe I shouldn’t be eating it. Usually, I’ll cook lots of vegetables together—broccoli, onions, peppers, mushrooms—and then I like to add a bean or something. Or I might buy some organic tofu, season it, and mix it with a grain or in a salad. Throw some nuts in there. I make it as colorful and as varied as I can.”
She’s an introvert who gives herself timeouts: “In busy or very social situations, my energy level depletes quickly. I have to recharge. That might mean reading a book or binge-watching a show when I get home. But sometimes I just want it to be quiet, to relax and sit and be still. That is something I have put into practice now that I have realized I really, really need it for myself. People often think that if you’re introverted, it means that you don’t like people, you don’t like being sociable, you’re shy and not very confident. But that’s just not true. It’s about how you recharge and come back to yourself and what you need to do that.
It feels like so many people are claiming to be introverts these days and I rarely believe them (it’s just the New Thing To Call Yourself) but hearing Nathalie talk about her need to simply have that alone-time to recharge… yeah, she’s an introvert. I’m fine with being in social situations, I’m fine with talking to people and going to parties or bars, but I need that time by myself afterwards. Also, I get stress breakouts too. It sucks. And I still break out before my period, like I’m 15 years old or something. It’s awful. Anyway, Nathalie seems cool and like she lives a lowkey life. Props.
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of Shape.
such a beautiful woman, wow. even if she didn’t workout I’m pretty sure she would still look thin.
No one is going to comment on her woo woo nonsense
about light from cellphones being bad for you…okeh! Rolls eyes.
Roll your eyes away from your screen please. You want to keep them safe from that harmful light.
I came here to roll my eyes too.
Actually my dermatologist told me the same thing. He even went to far go say I should wear light SPF coverage even when at home, because of screen usage. I trust him so I follow his advice
You should always wear sunscreen everyday regardless of whether you go outside or not. Unless you live in an underground bunker, you get sun exposure just from sunlight coming in from the windows.
Yes but my doctor was specifically referring to screen usage
While your eyes are rolling….
https://skinresourcemd.com/blogs/skin-care-101/is-the-light-from-my-computer-screen-damaging-my-skin
Your source cites no actual studies or research and are hawking their products in the article, lol.
Roll them all you want. Just know it’s an actual thing that has been proved to be true.
@Lucy, I searched for this, and did not find overwhelming evidence of this theory. I found several articles that cited dermatologists claiming blue light damages skin, and I found a (very) small research survey that found connections, but haven’t found a large scale, peer-reviewed study that proves this claim. Do you have a research study that you know of that definitively makes this connection?
“ And research published Thursday in the journal Aging and Mechanisms of Disease reveals findings that blue light exposure could accelerate aging too.
…well, if you’re a fruit fly exposed to high-doses of the stuff for 12 hours straight, that is.
Despite the largely technology-induced fear surrounding blue light, many of the results of such studies are either inconclusive or are found using experiments that don’t really reflect our daily experience. And this most recent fruit fly trial was no different.”
Thanks, @Erinn. The size (and subject and hence, generalizeability) of this study is really lacking. I am not saying it isn’t a thing; I am just saying there isn’t hard science behind it YET. And there may be in the future, but not quite yet.
I believe she’s an introvert from how she describes it and agree it’s popping up now in interviews. Sort of like how famous women would call themselves “tomboys” because they wear jeans. Or how stars would talk about how geeky or gawky they were as teens and then you see photos of them and they were football stars or cheerleaders in high school.
As an actual introvert, who is also a social person, and who works hard to appear gregarious, and has a lot of friends… please, let’s just believe her.
I LOVE my many friends! But sometimes I need to get TF away from all of them.
We don’t know her life. The way she explains it is the way it is. There is no need for armchair psychoanalysis/second guessing.
Being introverted isn’t like being a tomboy.
That said, I do think the “cel phones are bad for your skin” thing is hooey. It’s true that London is polluted. That’s worse for your skin than your ipad.
Oh dear …. yes, this is largely woo-woo. Or rather, people misunderstanding or misinterpreting scientific studies and writing dumbed-down articles.
Studies were done on human cells in a petri dish. This isn’t the same as human skin because our skin has layers and the stratum corneum actually absorbs blue light. Also the studies were about sunlight, not screens.
Blue light in sunlight can definitely cause hyperpigmentation in darker skin tones but you need a pretty big dose, like a few hours of direct sun. Wear SPF outside everyone!
The level of sunlight blue light exposure they said could cause hyperpigmentation equates to about 2000 hours of holding a screen up close to your face. The dose makes the poison …
There’s no need to wear SPF sitting on your couch watching Netflix or scrolling through Facebook.
And don’t get scientific advice from actors!
As in, equal to 2000 hours of screen time all at once? Or if I spent a few years using my phone, by the end, I’d definitely have some skin damage from it?
It’s negligible compared to good old-fashioned daylight.
2000 hours of blue light from a screen, up close equals about 1.5 to 2.5 hours of direct sunlight irradiance in Summer, an amount which can cause hyperpigmentation in darker skin tones.
It’s good to wear broad spectrum SPF in the daytime and I do it for both aesthetic reasons (UVA) and skin cancer protection (UVB). But it’s not because of phones!
So the bluelight thing is bigger for sleep disruption. As for aging, yeah, having to squint at a phone screen and keeping your neck bent cause wrinkles, so okay, sure, I guess.
I’d be more worried about phones causing breakouts and stuff from being dirty. At the risk of sounding like an ad (whatever) i like to use stuff like uck-off wipes (when out) and the phonesoap box (at home) to avoid that. But phone light? not actually that worried about it.
Actually both is inaccurate. It neither causes sleep disruption nor wrinkles. If you squint at the phone screen you should get glasses.
Am I the only one who can see that she looks exactly like meghan markle?
I came to say the exact same thing.
She seems like someone who believes that type of stuff.
I love Erin McKenna’s bakery too. It’s so nice to find quality gluten free treats. Always visit the one in Disney World when I’m there.