She’s a Huge Fan of Her Mother Jane Campion

Alice Englert, the actor and daughter of New Zealand screenwriter, producer and director Jane Campion, talks choosing passion over cash and whether her mum makes sexy films with the Guardian’s Alex Godfrey.

She’s only 19 but, as the daughter of Campion, she’s benefited from years of invaluable guidance. Growing up with her mother, travelling the world and living in different countries, she’s more worldly wise than many of her contemporaries, with confidence to match. At 11, Englert starred in her mother’s short film The Water Diary. At 15, she left school, quickly bagging co-lead roles in Roland Joffé’s Singularity (still unreleased), Sally Potter’s Ginger & Rosa and Richard LaGravenese’s fantasy drama Beautiful Creatures.

On one occasion she was asked what it was like shooting a Hollywood blockbuster. “Well,” she said, referencing Campion’s Holy Smoke, “I’m bred from a woman who had Kate Winslet pissing in a desert, and that was always going to be where I was from.” She laughs now at the recollection.

When did she first see her mum’s films? “I was 13, and these boys had said, ‘Your mum makes sexy films,’ and I said, ‘She doesn’t.’ Then I watched them and … my mum makes sexy films! I’m a huge fan of my mum.’”