Esme Creed-Miles

Biography

Esme Creed-Miles is a British actress. She is known for playingthe titular role of Hanna in the Amazon video series Hanna(2019). She has also played Alice in Dark River(2017), Shirley Temple in Mister Lonely (2007), Pogo in Pond Life(2018) & Sister Stevie in Undercliffe(2018).

Childhood

Esme Creed-Miles was born on 5th February of 2000 in London, England, United Kingdom to Samantha Morton(Mother)- Actress & Director (of The Walking Dead fame) & Charlie Creed-Miles(Father)- Actor/ Writer/ Director (of The Fifth Element, Harry Brown, Wild Bill fame).

Esme's mother Samantha Morton is an academy award nominated actress, she was nominated as the best supporting actress for her performance in Woody Allen directed Sweet and Lowdown (1999). Samantha grew in a big family of 13.

Her father Charlie Creed-Miles is a well known British actor, writer and director. Some of his works are:  Wild Bill (2011), Gunfight at Dry River(2021), Once in a Lifetime(2016), Against the Law(2017), Porcelain Horse(2018) (short)

Esme has 2 maternal half-siblings: Edie Holm (born in 2008)- a sister & Theodore Holm (born in 2012)- a brother.

Facts & Trivia

• Visual Artist: Esme has keen interest in drawings, sketches and Etchings
• Esme wishes to experiment with short films in the near future, she is interested in the creative path.
• Late beginning: Though her parents are both actors, she was not interested in acting until late, she doesn't have a drama school training either.
• Star of Tomorrow 2018: Screen International selected Esme as one of the stars of tomorrow to watch out for in 2018
• Flaunt Magazine featured her in the April 2019 edition
• Hunger Magazine featured her in the March edition of 2019
• Love for music: She loves music, she sometimes makes music in collaboration with her friends
• She feels nervous about watching herself on the screen, she doesn't watch herself frequently for the same reason.
• Right after landing the job in Hanna as Hanna, she went to celebrate with her friend, she ordered Lobster Pasta, it was the costliest on the menu, after she was done eating she realized her card did not have that much allowance, she was using a student card at the time.
• If she wasn't an actress she would have loved to study English Literature, she likes the combination of Art & Literature.
• She knocked out the teeth of a stuntsman during shooting accidentally, she was supposed to throw something at him which he was supposed to evade, unfortunately that did not happen.

Esme the Artist

Esme is quite talented in other departments of arts as well. She makes pretty good sketches in her free time. 

[Sketch of a girl holding tree, that Esme doodled on a bored night]

[Esme's drawing]

Career

Esme made her debut as a child actress in the Comedy Drama Mister Lonely(2007) written and directed by Harmony Korine as "Shirley Temple".

Later, after a decade of her first movie, Esme appeared in the mystery thriller Dark River (2017) as Young version of character 'Alice'.

In 2018, she appeared in "Wasteland" as Sister Stevie. She played "Pogo" in the drama movie "Pond Life".

Hanna(2019-2021)

[Esme Creed-Miles in Hanna]

Esme's big break came with the Sci-Fi action series Hanna. The series is based on the 2011 movie Hanna. It was created and produced by David Farr.

The story is about a 15 year old girl who lived alone in the jungles of Poland with Erik Heller, whom she believed to be her father. Hanna is the daughter of Johanna, a pregnant woman recruited into a CIA program UTRAX by Erik. The secret project UTRAX was about enhancing the abilities of the child while inisde her mother's belly. Erik falls in love with the mother and rescues the child after her mother dies.

Joel Kinnaman played the character Erik Heller. Noah Taylor (Dr. Roland Kunek), Mireille Enos (Marissa Wiegler), Dermot Mulroney (John Carmichael), Ray Liotta 9Gordon Evans) appeared in main roles.

For her role in Hanna, Esme went through rigorous 6 hours per day training in Martial Arts for months as preparation for her role. She went through- Boxing, Cardio practice, Flexibility training, Running, Stunt rehearsals, Weight lifting, Yoga to suit the role. Her father being a practitioner of Martial Arts for the last 25 years helped her too. 'Hanna' was the first time she ever actually tried to land a role, and it was a big one.

Jamie(2020)

[Esme Creed-Miles in Jamie]

In 2020, Esme wrote, directed and performed in the short movie Jamie as the title character Jamie. The movie is about a teenager depressed and frustrated after seeing a lady commit suicide on a train. and how it changes her perspective on life. The movie stars Kate Bramley, Louise Brealey alongside Esme.

The movie was one of the official selections for the Palm Springs International SHORT FEST 2020.

In the same year, she appeared in another short movie "Sudden Light" alongside Millie Ashford and Sam Spruell. Esme plays the lead role of Mia. It was written and directed by Sophie Littman. The movie received 8 nominations at various film festivals in the short movie category.

In 2022, she appeared in 8 episodes of the podcast series "Impact Winter" written by Travis Beacham. A series about the comet creating a "impact winter" by blacking out the sun, leading to vampires coming out to the open and trying to takeover the world.

She voiced the character Cassandra in the animation adventure series The Legend of Vox Machina (2022-2023).

She plays one of the leading roles- Florence, in the drama movie Silver Haze(2023) alongside Vicky Knight(Franky), Brandon Bendell, Charlotte Knight and others. It is written and directed by Sacha Polak.

Filmography

Movies

Series

Short movies

Quotes

• When you have that zen-ness about it[not being upset about rejections], things may come your way a bit more
• I actually did a lot of yoga because I found it helped with my core strength and flexibility, which are two things you absolutely need when you’re doing martial arts.
• I never wanted to be an actress. Acting wasn’t in my mind. It wasn’t in my calculations. 
• SLICKERS BARS and very small dogs that melt my HEART
•  the assimilation of most cultural conventions typically encouraged by a heightened awareness of gender and sex encourages a sort of separation of the self. 
• The whole thing of sexually objectifying yourself is really demoralizing and degrading as a human being [3]
• In pop culture there's this idea that being sexually empowered means objectifying yourself, but I think that's actually something completely different from being open about your sexuality and wanting to have sex and wanting it to be a beautiful exchange of love
• I want to be involved in lots of different things. I want to write and direct, and I make music.
• [About her acting technique] I'm a very instinctual person, I just like to trust myself
• I think social media, to me, seems pointless unless you're using it to discover or tell people about interesting things, otherwise it's just this self-branding which I find incredibly boring.
• I find it frustrating that feminism has become a dirty word. 
• Feminism needs to encompass the queer experience [4]
• I believe in assigned sex but not necessarily gender. Gender is a learned construct that is detrimental to both sexes
• People are starting to realise privileged white feminism isn’t cutting it. We have to look at the experience of all women
• I deal with internalised sexism every day. [4]
• Sex shouldn’t be something that we’re ashamed of as women [3]
• I’m completely disillusioned by the concept of femininity. [4]

Sources

1. Esme Creed-Miles on wikipedia
2. Esme Creed-Miles instagram
3. Esme's interview  on Hollywood reporter
4. Esme's interview on Glamour magazine
5.