Naomie Harris on Bond, bullies and finding her fashion mojo

last updated 19 October 2022

All the same, this year’s January lockdown was productive for Harris. Having taken an interest in fashion as a child, she finally had the time to take it seriously, using the online marketplace for freelance services Fiverr to start designing clothes with an industry expert in Russia, who produced sketches from her ideas to be sewn up. Another silver lining was collaborating with broadcaster, writer and long-time friend Afua Hirsch on a writing project that has already won them a development deal. ‘We’ve been saying for ages we’re gonna do it, [but we] just never had time,’ Harris says. ‘Then obviously lockdown happened and [Afua’s] like, “Right, you don’t have any excuse – we’re doing this.”’

But nothing, she says, compares to being ‘out out’ again. Indeed, she buzzes with excitement during our Marie Claire shoot at the prospect of dressing up in a range of spectacular Valentino gowns. The latest instalment of the Bond franchise (and Daniel Craig’s last), No Time To Die, was delayed numerous times due to the pandemic. When it did eventually have its world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in September, Harris saw it as an opportunity to ‘go full-on glam’ in a white sequin-studded, hand-beaded Michael Kors gown, complete with an Ana Khouri diamond headpiece. ‘What was so special about it was that I really felt like I was sharing it with the nation. I know that it was delayed, but they timed it perfectly in the end because it really did mark the end of this horrendous period of being locked down.’

It makes sense that Harris, who has played the role of MI6 operative Eve Moneypenny in Bond since first filming Skyfall in 2011, comes alive on the red carpet. She’s known for as long as she can remember that she was destined for Hollywood (although she briefly flirted with the idea of entering politics when she studied social and political science at Cambridge university: ‘That lasted about two seconds when I realised that politics was way too political!’). As a student, Harris recalls performing for anybody that would visit. ‘I’d also make myself cry for hours in front of the bathroom mirror,’ she says. ‘I was a very strange child and I’m glad that my mum was like, “OK, she’s not weird, she’s just an actress”.’

Seeing her daughter’s aptitude for drama from an early age, her mother enrolled Harris into the Anna Scher Theatre – an independent performing arts school in Islington, geared towards working-class youth that counts Kathy Burke, Daniel Kaluuya and Martin Kemp as alumni. It had an agency attached, which she quickly got signed to. Soon afterwards, she started acting professionally picking up parts in children’s television dramas including ’80s TV show Simon and the Witch when she was 11.

By the time Harris attended secondary school – an all-girls establishment in Marylebone – she was well on her way to building a solid acting career. However she also suffered with scoliosis, which made her the target of school bullies. It would take decades for Harris to realise that much of her personal ambition was built around trying to prove them wrong: ‘I realised [being bullied] was a motivator [for] success, and… I thought, “I’m a grown-ass woman now. What am I trying to prove to these people?”’ I had to let that go and find a different motivation for what I [was] doing,’ she says. ‘Instead of centring [on] resentment; anger; wanting to prove myself, actually centring on joy and appreciation and gratitude – and a desire to grow.’

Her remarkable ascent to the top of her industry has been a one-in-a-million journey – one she worries may become even rarer in the current climate. Her mother came to Britain from Jamaica at the age of five; her father hails from Trinidad (they separated before Harris was born) the actor was raised in a council flat in the ‘melting pot’ of Finsbury Park in north London. Today, she fears that with a lack of institutions supporting working-class young people keen to enter the arts (the Anna Scher Theatre school is sadly no longer operating), it may be more difficult for the next Naomie Harris to scale the ladder. ‘I think it’s a really exciting time, but that’s in conjunction with the fact that there’s less and less funding to be able to go to drama school,’ she states.

Notoriously private, Harris doesn’t speak much about her personal life in interviews, but she becomes animated when speaking about her family and, in particular, her mother, scriptwriter Lisselle Kayla, who she cites as one of her biggest inspirations. Kayla coached her daughter during Pirates of the Caribbean and Small Island, during which Kayla also worked with co-stars David Oyelowo and Ashley Walters. Even now, whenever she has a crisis of confidence regarding a role, her mother is the first person she turns to: ‘I’ll always go to her and she’ll help me with my roles… we are a match made in heaven. I’m definitely meant to be her daughter.’

She is also grateful for the diverse range of influences she had growing up in a multicultural city: ‘It shaped me in the sense that there was such a level of acceptance,’ she says. ‘It’s such a melting pot. In my primary school I was not a minority at all. It was so mixed that I never felt like colour was an issue. There were so many other Caribbean families around, so there was no feeling of “other”, which I think is a beautiful way to grow up. I think it gives you a much greater awareness and confidence and pride in your ethnic background, which is important.’

Unlike many actors, whose early careers are marked by rejections and rebuffs, Harris’s trajectory had fewer initial bumps in the road. In fact, she won every role she auditioned for – an experience, she says, that didn’t equip her for the realities of the industry as an adult. After studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, she spent the first year unemployed.

‘It was the most depressing period of my life,’ she says. ‘I was trying to get a job in Sainsbury’s; Marks and Spencer; waitressing. I felt so depressed because I felt like I was lying if I said I was an actress.’

It was acclaimed director Danny Boyle who ‘changed that streak of very bad luck’, securing Harris her breakout role aged 26 in the 2002 post-apocalyptic zombie film 28 Days Later. This, she was sure, would put her on the map. ‘My American agent flew over to the UK to sign me. I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is it! I’m off. I’m never gonna worry about work again!” Then I spent nine months unemployed,’ she says. ‘There have been so many points like that, [like] playing Tia Dalma in Pirates of the Caribbean – a billion-dollar franchise – [that], again, didn’t really make that kind of massive impact on my career.’

What did end up changing her fortunes though was the 2016 coming-of-age indie flick Moonlight, which won an Academy Award for best picture and saw Harris nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Paula, the drug-addicted mother of the film’s protagonist. It was a passion project; she spent three days shooting without rehearsal and it was Barry Jenkins who persuaded her to take the part, explaining that his own mother and the mother of Moonlight’s original playwright, Tarell Alvin McCraney, had been addicts. The following year, Harris was awarded an OBE for services to drama.

‘I would never have thought that this tiny movie that was made for, like, £1.2 million would change my career,’ she explains. ‘It still blows my mind.’ Professionally, the change has been what she describes as ‘night and day’; now, she regularly finds herself turning work down. Still, despite her increased visibility, Harris manages to operate with a level of inconspicuousness that is almost wholly unprecedented for someone as famous as she is. It’s something she considers a ‘blessing’: ‘I don’t know why anybody would want to be so famous that they can’t walk down the street,’ she says. ‘I just think [that’s] hideous!’

While Harris has had global success and regularly spends time in LA during filming, home is a street in north London, just three miles from where she grew up. Her mother, stepfather, sister and brother live on the same street. ‘I feel very blessed that I have the perfect balance, because I am known within the industry, but I still get to live my life and be free,’ she says. ‘I’m not so well known that I walk into a bakery and everyone turns around and looks; I’m still able just to live my normal life and I love that. That’s what I’ve always wanted.’

Harris comes across as fundamentally grounded and sensible. During the shoot, when the crew remark on her flawless complexion (she’s 45), she puts it down to meditation, a Keto diet and never drinking alcohol. It was, she admits, experiencing illness early in her life that triggered her healthy habits. Suffering badly with scoliosis as a teenager meant she had to have a major operation aged 15. ‘It was a really traumatic experience, but I also think it is one of the experiences that made me who I am because not only did I have to show tremendous determination to be like, “this thing is not going to stop any of my dreams; I am still going to live the life that I always envisioned for myself,” but, also, I think a lot of people who don’t have those kinds of early life experiences or life challenges take health for granted. And I never did; I never could. I learned very early on that my health is incredibly fragile. And I also learned I never want to be in this situation again,’ she says. ‘So, my focus became all about health and living as healthy a lifestyle as possible. I think I would have followed the route of most people [otherwise], which might have been experimenting with drugs and smoking and alcohol, whereas I became very puritanical.’

So, once she’s over Covid what are her plans for the year ahead? Work, she says, with a healthy balance of rest too. ‘I do interviews and they always say because you’re in your forties, it’s so great that you’re still working. [But] there are so many actresses who are in their forties and older who are still considered at the top of their game and still doing exceptionally well.’

She is also largely optimistic about the industry’s future, especially regarding racial diversity. This month she stars alongside Mahershala Ali in the Apple TV+ sci-fi drama Swan Song. The film is focussed on a terminally ill man’s experimental solution to spare his family from grief and although it wasn’t originally written to star a Black family, when Ali came on board as a producer, he was able to make that change. ‘Lots and lots of Black actors have that power to be able to do that and are using that power,’ Harris says. ‘That’s where I think the difference is; that’s why I think it will be sustained.’

CREDITS:
PHOTOGRAPHER: NICK THOMPSON
EDITOR IN CHIEF: ANDREA THOMPSON

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: LISA OXENHAM
WORDS: YOMI ADEGOKE
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JAN VRHOVNIK
MAKE-UP ARTIST: KENNETH SOH AT THE WALL GROUP USING VALENTINO BEAUTY
STYLIST: AC
HAIR STYLIST: HAIR BY PETER LUX AT THE WALL GROUP USING L’OREAL PARIS
NAIL ARTIST: STEPHANIE STAUNTON AT CAROL HAYE MANAGEMENT USING VALENTINO BEAUTY
PRODUCER: GRACE WARN
SET DESIGN: IAN CY AT GARY REPRESENTS
VIDEO EDITOR: AARON ELVIS KYLE
DESIGN: ANA OSPINA
CHIEF SUB EDITOR: NICOLA MOYNE
PHOTO ASSISTANT: TOM FRIMLEY
PHOTO ASSISTANT: SEAN MORROW
DOP ASSISTANT: MAX HEILBRONN
SET ASSISTANT: STORM FOSTER
STYLIST ASSISTANT: HELLY PRINGLE
TAILOR: BARBARA PELLUMBI
LOCATION: SPRING STUDIOS, LONDON

COVER CREDITS:
FASHION CREDITS: DRESS, VALENTINO; SHOES, JW ANDERSON; EARRINGS, ALL SCHIAPARELLI; NECKLACES, ALL ALIGHIERI; WATCH, OMEGA. BEAUTY CREDITS: VERY VALENTINO FOUNDATION SPF 25; ROSSO VALENTINO SATIN REFILLABLE LIPSTICK; TWIN LINER DOUBLE ENDED EYELINER; VOCE VIVA BODY LOTION, ALL VALENTINO BEAUTY

FULL FILM CREDITS:
FASHION CREDITS: DRESS, KHAITE; SKIRT, ATTICO; SHOES, NEXUS. DRESS, VALENTINO; SHOES, JW ANDERSON; EARRINGS, SCHIAPARELLI; NECKLACES, ALL ALIGHIERI. DRESS AND EARRINGS, ALL SCHIAPARELLI. TOP, SHORTS AND SCARF, ALL VALENTINO. BEAUTY CREDITS: ALL VALENTINO BEAUTY. HAIR CREDITS: ALL L’ORÉAL PARIS

Naomie Harris

Ana Ospina is the creative force behind Marie Claire’s design. She is an experienced art director and creative designer with 15 years working on some of Britain’s best-known luxury magazine titles, including Sunday Times Style, Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Esquire, InStyle, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Brides, Tatler and Town & Country Magazine. Originally from Colombia, Ana adores travelling, film, photography, beauty, white wine, the sea and anything with pineapple – yes, even pizza. She also enjoys fitness and collects magazines, which is helpful in her role bringing content to life, telling stories with the best design, creative photography and typography.

Ana is proud to have worked on Marie Claire for the past seven years, having been with the magazine on its journey from print to digital and being part of its many powerful campaigns making a difference on issues that matter, such as sustainability, women’s empowerment, equality and inclusivity.

‘I don’t know why anybody would want to be so famous that they can’t walk down the street’ Naomie Harris speaks to Yomi Adegoke about finding strength in the face of adversity, hitting her professional stride at 40, and using her platform as a force for change

PHOTOGRAPHER: NICK THOMPSON

Beauty credits: V-Lighter Face Base & Top Coat primer; Colour Flip 8 Colours Multi-Look eye palette; Eye2Cheek Dual-use Blush & Eyeshadow; Magnificent Mascara Striking Volume mascara, all Valentino Beauty. Fashion credits: dress (just seen), Valentino; earrings, Schiaparelli

‘I realised [being bullied] was a motivator [for] success, and I had to confront the fact that nobody really gives a shit anymore. I thought, “I’m a grown-ass woman now. What am I trying to prove to these people?”’

FASHION CREDITS: DRESS, VALENTINO; SHOES, JW ANDERSON; EARRINGS, SCHIAPARELLI; NECKLACES, ALL ALIGHIERI. BEAUTY CREDITS: GO-CLUTCH PERFECTING FACE POWDER; GO-CLUTCH BRONZER AND MINIROSSO LIPSTICK; VOCE VIVA BODY LOTION, ALL VALENTINO BEAUTY

‘I’m not so well known that I walk into a bakery and everyone turns around and looks; I’m still able just to live my normal life and I love that.’

‘I was trying to get a job in Sainsbury’s; Marks and Spencer; waitressing. I felt so depressed because I felt like I was lying if I said I was an actress’

‘I think a lot of people who don’t have early life challenges take health for granted. I never could. I learned very early on that my health is incredibly fragile’

FASHION CREDITS: dress and earrings, all Schiaparelli. Beauty credits: Go-Cushion refillable foundation SPF 50+; Dreamdust Lip and Cheek loose shimmer; Stick With Me glitter glue; Voce Viva body lotion; Born in Roma Yellow Dream Donna EDP, all Valentino Beauty