Jessica Henwick Opens Up About The First Milestone In Her Career

TV & Film

Dec 12

From a zombie in a crowd to playing alongside Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, or Daniel Craig - Jessica Henwick's career hasn't been too shabby in recent years. Her latest gig is playing the role of Peg, the secretary of a fashion stalwart (Kate Hudson) in Rian Johnson's murder mystery Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

But back in 2010, things didn't look that bright, although she was able to get her own hashtag, even when no one knew who she was:

“I’ve never told anybody this, but I trended on Twitter in 2010 as #asianzombie. They had a premiere party for The Walking Dead at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and they hired a bunch of people to do flash mobs. I think I was the only Asian, and no one’s ever figured out it was me.”

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In the same year, at the age of only 16, Henwick landed her first lead role in the UK series Spirit Warriors but was hardly able to get an audition in the years after. “There were no roles for East Asian women, or really any ethnic minorities, in England at that time,” she remembers the times when she was forced to move back into her parent's home.

After some TV work, she was cast by J.J. Abrams as the X-Wing pilot Jessika Pava in 2015's The Force Awakens (after having auditioned for the role of Rey for six months). Later she was part of the Game of Thrones cast, played Colleen Wing in Marvel's The Defenders, and worked with Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks and with the Russo brothers on Grey Man. So it's no wonder she felt confident enough to audition for Johnson's star vehicle Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

Henwick wrote Johnson a fan letter when she was a teenager (“It’s the only fan mail I’ve ever written in my life.") but the director never got back to her. Still, when he emailed her about the role, he strangely came up as a frequent contact.

Daniel Craig, who reprises his role as detective Benoit Blanc gave Henwick the following advice to prevent burnout: "Actors are rubber bands, and every time we take a role, we stretch. If you keep stretching without going back to the normal shape first, you’re going to snap."

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery starring Craig, Ethan Hawke, Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, and Hugh Grant will premiere on Netflix on December 23, after earning more than $13 Mio. during its just five days run in the cinemas at the end of November.

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