Kaya Scodelario

Kaya Rose Scodelario (born Kaya Rose Humphrey; 13 March 1992) is an English actress. She is known for her breakthrough performance as Effy Stonem in the E4 teen drama Skins and as Teresa in The Maze Runner. Early life Scodelario was born in Haywards Heath. Her mother, Katia Scodelario, is Brazilian, and moved to England in 1990. Her father, Roger Humphrey, is English. Her parents divorced when she was a child and she was brought up by her mother, subsequently adopting her surname and becoming fluent in Portuguese. Scodelario was bullied during her early childhood and dealt with low self-esteem, which led to her passion for drama becoming an outlet. Career With no prior acting experience, at the age of 14, Scodelario was cast in the 2007 first series of Skins as Effy Stonem. Upon Scodelario's arrival to the auditions she felt she was too young and became discouraged, a producer told her to stay and was asked to read for the part. While Scodelario's role had minimal speaking lines in the first series, her character developed considerably in the series during 2008, before she eventually became the central character in the 2009 and 2010 series after the cast had been replaced with a new generation of characters. This made Effy the only character to appear from series 1 right through to series 4 of Skins. Filming began in July and Scodelario revealed that 18 November 2009 had been her last day of filming the series and that she would miss being on the show. Scodelario left after the fourth series, making way for the third generation of characters. Her performance was praised by critics, and she was nominated twice in the category for Best Actress at the TV Quick Awards in 2009 and 2010. Scodelario reprised her role as Effy in one of the three parts of the seventh (and final) series of Skins, which is called "Fire", and is a two part rendition of her life as an adult, lasting two hours in total. She claims Fire is "more like a movie" and says she can currently relate, as both Scodelario and her character, Effy, are struggling to change from a teenager into an adult. Scodelario made her film debut in the science fiction-thriller film Moon, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, receiving positive reviews. In her second film Shank, she plays a teenager called Tasha. The film was released on 26 March 2010. In addition, she appeared in the 2010 remake of the Clash of the Titans as Peshet. Scodelario was previously signed with Models 1 and has modeled for various magazines, including Teen Vogue, Nylon, Instyle UK, Elle UK, Dazed & Confused, Vogue and i-D. She also appears in the music videos for "Stay Too Long", "She Said", "Love Goes Down", and "Writing's on the Wall" by British musician Plan B. She can also be seen in the music video for Old Isleworth by The Ruskins and Robbie Williams 2012 Single "Candy". In April 2010, Scodelario confirmed her casting as Cathy in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights directed by Andrea Arnold. Principal photography started in September and concluded in November 2010. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2011 to generally positive reviews, and Scodelario was even hailed as a "heart-wrenching revelation". Wuthering Heights also appeared at several other international film festivals, including the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, London Film Festival, and the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released in the UK on 11 November. In January 2012, Scodelario filmed her first American film, Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes, in Los Angeles. She stars as the title character, Emanuel, a troubled 17-year-old girl who babysits her new neighbour Linda's "baby," which is actually a very lifelike doll. Limited Release on 10 January 2014. While visiting her boyfriend on the set of Spike Island in April, Scodelario filmed a cameo appearance for the film. She also participated in an advertising campaign for Korean jewellery brand J. Estina. Scodelario also appears in the music video for Candy, the lead single from Robbie Williams' ninth studio album. In 2013 she starred in the four-part Channel 4 drama series Southcliffe, which tells the story of a fictional English town devastated by a spate of shootings, exploring the tragedy through the eyes of a journalist and those close to the victims. Scodelario signed on to the film franchise, The Maze Runner, in April 2013. She starred as the lead female character, Teresa, in the first film, released in September 2014. She is also set to star in the upcoming home-invasion thriller, Tiger House.[38] Scodelario has also recently signed on to star as Marie-Josèphe in the film adaptation of The Moon and the Sun, which is expected for a 2015 release. Personal life Scodelario revealed in an interview that she dated Skins co-star Jack O'Connell for about a year before splitting up in June 2009, though they remain good friends. She was in a relationship with Elliott Tittensor since late 2009 but broke up sometime in early 2014. Their relationship became more public when Scodelario supported Tittensor after his arrest for an incident where he hit someone while driving in an uninsured car. During the filming of The Moon and the Sun, Scodelario began to date her co-star, Benjamin Walker, and they became engaged on 28 December 2014. From 2008 until 2010, Scodelario lived alone in a flat in North London, stating that it is important for women to be "independent and strong". Scodelario suffers from dyslexia: "Watching an interesting doc on BBC Three about dyslexia, something that I have struggled with my whole life. It really affected my self-esteem." Her father died on 22 November 2010. She was voted 13th in the UK edition of FHM's 100 World's Sexiest Women 2010.