British actress Nathalie Emmanuel started this latest episode of “The First Time”, sharing how she got involved with her latest project, Audible’s The cooler box. Her agency first contacted her about the opportunity at the beginning of the first Covid-19 blockade in London. “Everyone was working at home, working remotely,” recalled Emmanuel. “I read the script. I thought, wow, this is very interesting and there are great people involved. I was like, sure, come on. ”The actress received the recording equipment to be able to work on the project during the blockade. “It was a great opportunity to be creative when I literally couldn’t leave the house,” said Emmanuel.
THE War of Thrones the actress then went on to share what it was like to first learn Valyrian for her role as Messandei on the HBO TV series. During her first look at the script, Emmanuel remembered seeing entire paragraphs of Valyrian and wondering how she would be able to pronounce and memorize the fictional language.
“I remember freaking out for a minute,” she recalled. “It was just written in the script and I didn’t have any other material to teach me how it was pronounced, how to say it, how it sounded. As if I had nothing [at first]. ”Fortunately, the creator of the language,“ conlanger ”David J. Peterson, protected it. Peterson has prepared a lot of resources for the actress to use. “I used to have these pages written phonetically and in English,” said Emmanuel. “And then I would also have recordings of him saying this phonetically, speaking quickly, saying just a little more slowly, and then speaking in English as well. So, I had a lot of support and we also had dialect coaches who were really wonderful. “
Later, Emmanuel told the story of how she decided for the first time that she wanted to pursue an acting career. The actress has always been involved with performing arts as a child, but mostly as a hobby. “I went to the kind of school that was very academic and it was like, you need to be a doctor or a lawyer or a [veterinarian] or a politician, ”she recalled. “It was the academy-based careers that they essentially encouraged us to [pursue]. ”It was not until the age of ten, when she was chosen to be part of the London cast for The Lion King, that she realized she wanted to become a professional actress one day. “I just remember loving him a lot and having a lot of fun,” said the actress. “And as I was only 10 years old, I was simply amazed by everything. That’s when I said, oh, I want to do this as a career. I want to be an artist. That was the real turning point for me. “
Later, Emmanuel talked about what led her to discover her passion for yoga. She was going through a very difficult time and her mental health had suffered as a result. It was the recommendation of someone from whom she sought help that led Emmanuel to his first yoga class. “The person I spoke to, she said, ‘Hey, [this might not] work for you, but you should try to create a space for yourself that is out of your life, like a new environment ‘”, recalled Emmanuel. “‘And see if it just changes your routine a little bit, like if you kind of find something, you know, it helps you feel a little more yourself, because it gives you perspective.’ So that’s basically what happened. “
Emmanuel had heard about yoga from some friends who did it regularly, but she had never been to a class, until one day, “someone was like, oh, there’s a new studio. And then I thought, you know what, I’m going. And I got on the train and went to yoga class, and I fell in love with it. It was a really transformative story for me. Obviously, yoga is not a quick fix for mental health problems, but it was definitely a journey of self-love and being kind to yourself, ”said Emmanuel. “And it really helped me to make some changes that in the end were very, very beneficial.”
The actress ended the interview with stories about her first time she quit her job and what it was like to visit the United States for the first time.
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