GINGER’S HAVE SOULS
MEET
THE FRESH-FACED, ALL THINGS GINGER LOVING ACTRESS THAT HAS ROSE TO FAME THANKS
TO THE E4 HIT MY MAD FAT DIARY. CIARA BAXENDALE TALKS TO ROLLACOSTER ABOUT THE SHOW, FAME AND HER FUTURE.
It’s five o’clock in the afternoon, the sun is shining and
instead of frolicking in the spring sun we are about to have a Skype interview
with one of the rising star’s from E4’s latest hit My Mad Fat Diary. On the
screen, we see a youthful, full of energy and fabulous ginger haired young lady
that is buzzing for her first ever interview. Ciara Baxendale, a 17-year-old
from Lancashire has been thrust into the limelight after starring as the sweet,
yet ditzy one of the group Izzy, in My Mad Fat Diary, a British television
series based on the book My Mad Fat
Teenage Diary written by Rae Earl. The show follows Rae, a teenage girl who
is fresh out of a mental institute and is struggling to fit in with her new
group of friends. Ciara is just like her character in the series, lively with
an infectious smile and vibrant ginger locks. Before the interview we had a look at her
Twitter account bio where she says ‘I am ginger, as a result of this I don’t
have a soul.’ a quote from the YouTube video ‘Ginger’s Do Have Souls’, we could
already tell them that she was going to be a real character. Throughout the
interview you can see that she is a real comedic character and why she gained
the role as Izzy.
My Mad Fat Diary was an instant hit and
received a very positive response from not just the public but from critics.
Ciara explains that the cast didn’t expect there to be such a massive response
and that she finds it overwhelming and quite baffling, ‘I’ve even had people
from Brazil, Argentina, America, Australia and all over the world tweeting me
to tell me that they really like the programme and that’s just crazy’. When the
series writer, Tom Bidwell is brought up, Ciara only has positive words for
him, ‘Tom Bidwell has brilliantly written the script and I think that the
problems the programme discusses are very relevant to quite a lot of people
which makes it more relatable for an audience, which is why it has been such a
success.’
In
February 2013, after My Mad Fat Diary
had been aired, Baxendale found that new doors were being opened for her, one
of these was signing with a new agent, Cole Kitchenn, who represents the likes
of Vinnie Jones and Kelly Brook. Beaming an infectious smile, she says that
this would never have happened if it wasn’t for the show. E4 recently announced that the series would be signed for another
series and no-one was as surprised as the cast itself says Ciara. ‘I don’t know
what to expect at all. I’m very much looking forward to it!’ she grins. But she
is also looking forward to catching up with her cast mates, as she talks about
how she has made some good friendships from the show.
Since appearing in the series, Ciara has started to receive
attention from fan. ‘I find it surreal when I get recognised on the street, or
when I get sent a fan mail letter’ and she can’t quite believe it because she
says she’s just a normal girl from the North West. So how does she cope with all the attention?
‘I’ve always been told to keep my feet on the ground and I know that success
like this won’t last forever, so you’ve got to embrace it while it lasts.'
Ciara started out in school
productions varying in the type of roles, from Eugene in Grease to playing not
only Cathy in Bronte, but also Jane Eyre. A serious lover of musicals she would
love to work on the stage one day, especially one that is a comedy as that is
her favourite genre. ‘I like to play comedy roles but I want to play some more
serious roles in the future.’ she says as she twizzles her ginger locks.
After joining a local drama
class, Ciara signed to an agency in Manchester, called Linton Management, who
then sent her for an audition for the short film series ‘Little
Crackers’. From then on, only working as a professional actress for two
years, Ciara has appeared in Jane
Horrock’s Little Cracker, Gary Nock’s ‘Make
it Better’ music video, My Mad Fat
Diary and in the upcoming Spike
Island.
Talking about the latest British
film to be hitting the silver screen, Spike
Island, is a film about a rising indie band that travel to Spike Island,
Cheshire in the summer of 1990 to see legendary band The Stone Roses in
concert. Baxendale explains that even though she has only a small role in the
film it was an experience that she’ll never forget. ‘I’ve seen the film and I
think it’s great; my friends Nico Mirallegro and Jordan Murphy who play Finn
and Chop in My Mad Fat Diary are in
it so it’s been great to work on two projects with them.’
Obviously
education is an important factor to Ciara and is focusing on her studies at
Westholme School Sixth Form in Blackburn, Lancashire where she studies Theatre,
Ethics, Philosophy and Religion, English Literature and Classical Studies. ‘I
can’t work on anything whilst I am still at sixth form or else I would miss too
much work and fail all my exams!’ Baxendale explains in a nervous manner. But
when talking about her future, whether it is higher education or acting, she
says ‘I think if I didn’t do acting, I’d love to work behind the camera. I
always thought that being a casting director would be a really interesting
job.’
Keep an eye out for Ciara when Spike Island is released on DVD mid October. Series one of My Mad Fat Diary is out now on DVD.
