Latest news with #IdentitySchoolofActing
Daily Mirror
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Jean Charles de Menezes actor speaks on role of a lifetime in new Disney+ drama
The young Brazilian actor making his TV debut playing Jean Charles de Menezes has spoken of the 'honour' he feels playing the part and also how he has spoken to his real life family for inspiration and guidance for the role. In the new Disney+ drama Edison Alcaide plays Jean Charles the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician living in London with his cousins in the summer of 2005. On July 22, a botched police surveillance officers believe he could be a failed suicide bomber from the day before. At Stockwell station firearms officers storm onto the carriage shot him in the head seven times at point-blank range. Edison, 36, said: 'To have this as my debut felt so much. The first thing I felt when I joined this project was honour. I felt it was such an honour to play this man and also to help bring light to what really happened and who he truly was as a person. I just felt really honoured by the responsibility of playing this character. I felt, and still do feel, really connected to Jean Charles. We have so much in common, not just that he was a Brazilian man living in London. I built this sort of connection with him while filming this project. I just feel so much love for this man and so much love for his family as well. 'So then I felt even more heartbroken; because the more I learned about him, the more I found out about him, I just kept thinking of the injustice. He was truly such a nice guy in the sense of how he cared for his family and his friends and the way he approached life.' Whilst in the UK Edison has met with Jean Charles' cousins who still live in London. 'I met them personally and it was a very intense and emotional conversation we had, but they were really open. I consider them fighters and resilient, the cousins were really helpful and the information I gathered about who this man was, I could never have found this information anywhere else. Having the conversation with the family was crucial I believe.' On the most difficult part of filming the project, Edison added: 'Shooting his death scene was very difficult. First of all, there were so many legal things to be respected, and they were extremely careful, thanks to all the research, to show exactly what had happened. That scene, that whole scene, was filmed meticulously — from the writing to production. It was very difficult. It was very emotional. It was a very heavy day on set for everyone. But, you know, we were just trying to do it as respectfully as we could. It was hard not to think about his family, which made it even more emotional. 'He had no idea he was being perceived as a suspect. So it truly is heartbreaking. People have to realise the importance of this story. I hope I can help set the record straight.' Edison is the first in his family to enter the acting profession, having been born to a Brazilian father and Spanish mother who raised him in Curitiba, South Brazil. He honed his craft at both Kingston College and the Identity School of Acting, having arrived in London aged just 18 years old. Edison speaks fluent English, Portuguese and Spanish.
The Guardian
15-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
On my radar: Malachi Kirby's cultural highlights
The actor and writer Malachi Kirby was born in London in 1989. He enrolled in a drama group at the Battersea Arts Centre aged 14 and later attended London's Identity School of Acting. He was shortlisted for outstanding newcomer at the 2011 Evening Standard theatre awards, for Mogadishu. On TV he has appeared in the 2016 remake of Roots, Black Mirror, and as Darcus Howe in Steve McQueen's Mangrove; his film work includes Boiling Point and Wicked Little Letters. Kirby, who lives on the outskirts of London, stars as Hezekiah Moscow in the Disney+ series A Thousand Blows, set in the world of illegal boxing in the Victorian East End. It starts on 21 February. Horse riding I started horse riding in 2015 when I was filming Roots and it was a crash course for sure. They had me riding bareback by the second lesson. It was exciting and terrifying, but I fell in love with horses very quickly and it brought me a lot of peace. I've wanted to go back to it ever since, so I've just started riding again and taking it much slower this time – even though I've cantered and ridden bareback in the past, I haven't actually gotten past trotting yet, but I'm really enjoying it. The Black Kitchen, London SW16 A friend was telling me about this place in Balham that has incredible Jamaican patties, which are one of my favourite things to eat. These ones are called secret patties, which made my guard go up: like, what's the secret? Why can't you tell me? Apparently it's got oxtail and mac'n'cheese in it, which is something I'd never considered, but it's an incredible idea. I don't know if I can eat a patty the same way again now. The restaurant is moving to a bigger place in Streatham and I'm excited to see what other secrets they've got on their menu. Hard Truths (dir Mike Leigh) I went to see this with my mum the other day. Mike Leigh is one of her favourite directors, and watching this one made me realise what she loves about him. He has a very distinctive style and a way of letting moments breathe, and I love that. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is incredible as a woman who's angry at the world. Her performance confused me at first, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be laughing or feeling heartbroken, but then there's a moment where it all starts to make sense. Leigh manages to capture everyday life in a way that makes the ordinary extraordinary. Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+) I'm on the last episode of this show and honestly it's one of my favourite things right now. Brie Larson plays a brilliant scientist in 1950s America who isn't respected in her lab, so she brings her chemistry skills to cooking instead and ends up hosting a cookery show on TV. Essentially it's about a woman who, through remaining integral to who she is, changes the environment she lives in and the way that things are done in that time. I've been cooking a lot this year, so the show has inspired me in that regard as well. South Bank, London SE1 One of my favourite places in the world, especially in the summer. In my late teens I started going there to write, and I remember being taken aback because there would be dancers with boomboxes and people in suits having business meetings, and no one was looking down their nose at anyone. Everyone could fill the space without apologising for their existence. Also, it was the one public place that I was able to go and take a nap without getting [moved on]. I wish more of the world was like that. Retrograde (Apollo theatre, London W1, from 8 March) I saw this play at the Kiln last year and I'm really looking forward to seeing it on a bigger stage when it transfers to the West End next month. It's about the actor Sidney Poitier and it focuses on a single conversation that changed his career – he comes out of it completely transformed. I think Ryan Calais Cameron is one of the most exciting writers of this generation and Ivanno Jeremiah is brilliant as Poitier. It's one of those plays that speaks to right now. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets turned into a film or a TV series.
