Foundation Star Amy Tyger On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

There is no shame in doing something else that enables you to act. Respect the part time job that, whilst not being what you really want, gives you more experience of witnessing life, whilst also paying you enough to get by and giving you the flexibility to take auditions when they come up.

As a part of our series about Rising Stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Amy Tyger.

Amy is an actress who lives in London with her ever growing collection of books and plants. She has just appeared in Apple TV+’s Foundation as Azura. She’s a big fan of an oat milk flat white.

Thank you so much for doing this with us Amy! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Thank you so much for having me!

Well, I was born in Greenwich, London. Then in my younger years, we moved around the UK with my dad’s work. We settled when I was 5 in a village in the North West between Manchester and Liverpool where I went to state schools til I was 18. During school, aside from taking part in plays and youth theatres, I was very academic and also enjoyed sports. I swam, did karate, learned to ski and scuba dive, played on the rounders team, the cricket team and a girl’s football team. I started to learn to play the piano but didn’t have the patience for the practice. Then, later on, a friend of mine gave me a few drum lessons and I absolutely adored that! That’s something I’d love to get back into, actually…

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

My route into acting was a little unusual. Here’s the abridged version!

I have always been drawn to acting and filmmaking. From a very young age, I was absolutely captivated by films and I still get incredibly emotionally invested in the stories and characters!

At 18, I had an opportunity to work in the film industry within the camera department. I did this for 3 years, trying out different roles behind the scenes. I was learning so much, working steadily, earning good money and travelling the world with my work but I found I wasn’t feeling creatively fulfilled. I was still being drawn to acting.

I’d been keeping an eye out for opportunities and one day I saw an open audition for a Universal Pictures feature film called Legacy. They were looking for their 5 main cast members. I applied for the Manchester auditions and was given a shot.

On the day I turned up, got given a script to learn 30 mins before the audition, then went in and gave them my version of the character. I can’t describe how joyful that experience was for me. I walked away with a confirmation that acting was the thing that really set my soul alight.

It was a complete surprise to me that I was asked to do a recall round, which was a full day in London. We did multiple rounds of chemistry reads with different combinations of actors and they let people go throughout the day.

I made it to the end of the day and was so proud of myself for that. It felt like a real achievement to get that far.

They said we’d know within a few days but a week went past and I didn’t hear anything, so I presumed I hadn’t booked the job.

Then, two weeks after the final audition, I woke up to a voicemail from the casting director telling me that I’d got the female lead in the film! I couldn’t believe it, it was like something out of a film! I was very lucky and am still incredibly grateful to the people who took a chance on me.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’m going to cheat a little and pick two — my parents. I’m very grateful that they always told me that I could be anything I wanted to be as long as I was willing to put the work in, and to not let myself or anyone else put limitations on me. When I told them I wanted to act, they challenged me over how much I wanted it and made me aware of the reality of the potential struggle and lack of security involved in this career. When they saw how determined I was despite this, they supported me through all of the difficult years.

They also always asked ‘is this still what you want to do?’ Reminding me that there’s always another way and I could change my mind at any point and do something else. “As long as you’re happy and doing what you want — we’re happy” — which is an incredible foundation of support to have as an artist.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

We all experience failure. A form of failure is inevitable but doesn’t have to be debilitating. I try to see failure as an education and learn from the things that knock me down.

I think it’s also helpful to remember that not booking the job isn’t necessarily a reflection of your talent.

I had an acting coach who said to me:

‘What type of car do you have? What exact model is it? What colour is it? What’s the interior like? What air freshener do you have in it?’

Then — ‘why did you choose those options?’

I said — ‘…because I like them?’.

And he said to me ‘that is exactly how arbitrary the casting process can be. You could remind someone of their favourite niece, or the ex-girlfriend that they hate or there might be someone who looks too much like you on the project already. It’s not all about talent.’

Sometimes we’re just not right for a job and it’s not right for us. And that’s okay! There’s no one set way to become successful — everyone has their own path with it’s own timing.

What drives you to get up every day and work in TV and Film? What change do you want to see in the industry going forward?

I really feel that film and tv, and the arts in general, can help make and inspire positive changes in the world. Alongside that, I feel at peace when I’m acting, plus I’m endlessly curious about being human and why we do what we do.

I’d love to see equality in the industry — in terms of representation within cast and crew roles but also in terms of how different departments are treated. Everyone is working towards the same goal and everyone is important to the end product, everyone should feel valued in the work that they do.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I recently shot a feature film called Age. I can’t say too much about it yet but it’s a sci-fi indie film that looks at decisions we make in life, regrets that we may have and what we decide to do about them. It is very character and relationship based.

It was a fantastic experience for me, a challenging character and I got to work with some amazing established actors who have so much experience in the industry including Diana Quick (Brideshead Revisited), Bernard Hill (Lord of the Rings), Stephanie Beacham (Dynasty). There were lots of lessons on that shoot!

We are very interested in looking at diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture and our youth growing up today?

I think that the arts should be representative of the people who live in the world and that people from all walks of life should have the opportunity to express themselves in this way. All different types of experiences should be portrayed, all ideas welcome. I feel that having more diversity represented within the film and tv industry, on and off screen, would create better working conditions, bring new ideas and change some of the culture of the industry to be more inclusive and balanced.

The arts can comfort us and show us that we’re not alone in what we’re experiencing. This should be inclusive of all groups and experiences within society.

Young people seeing themselves represented in all areas of life shows them that they can do that thing too. If I can see me in that role, I could become that person. It’s incredibly important.

What are 5 pieces of invaluable advice you received that you would want to pass on?

1. Don’t put your sense of self worth, value or happiness on your career. You can’t need it to validate you. You have to find those things within yourself regardless of external success or failure.

2. The fear and doubt will never go away completely. Every time you do something new, you’ll still be nervous or scared. All you can do is acknowledge it, accept that it’s a part of stepping into a place of vulnerability and putting yourself out there, and not allow it to take control of the steering wheel.

3. In auditions, we can get lost in trying to give the casting director what we think they want — don’t give in to that. Give them 100% you, the version you really believe in. Otherwise you end up doing half and half and pleasing no one. They are trying to figure out what they want and whether that could be you, so give them you!

4. There is no shame in doing something else that enables you to act. Respect the part time job that, whilst not being what you really want, gives you more experience of witnessing life, whilst also paying you enough to get by and giving you the flexibility to take auditions when they come up.

5. Learn to rest, even though this career path demands so much of our time. Athletes grow and get stronger during the rest days in between training days, we are the same.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

It’s ‘life is all about balance’. I truly believe that. There are always ups and downs and you can’t have one without the other. Finding balance for myself, within my life, really helps me deal with this very ‘all or nothing’ industry. I take time for myself to rest, to learn new skills, for physical activity and for creative outlets outside of acting. I enjoy reading, painting, gardening, climbing and swimming. I’ve recently taken up aerial hoop classes and snowboarding lessons! I try to follow my curiosity and do what brings me joy. I feel that self care is necessary in this demanding industry.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Equality. I want to live in a world where people aren’t discriminated against because of their differences, where everyone is treated as equal (because we are) and where our differences are celebrated rather than used to try and divide us.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I would love to have lunch with Marcus Aurelius, although that would be tricky for you guys to set up though seeing as he’s dead…. I read Meditations whilst shooting Foundation and found he had so many thoughts on life that I agree with and try to live by!

Someone who’s alive at the moment that I would absolutely love to have lunch with is AOC. She is so inspiring to me politically and in her push for equality. She is being the change she wants to see in the world. Plus she’s not afraid to be feminine in a masculine dominated career path, which I love!

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

I’m only on Instagram! I really enjoy taking photos. My handle is @amytyger

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

And thank you for asking me to be included in this series of conversations! You’ve had some really great contributors so far. I hope this little peek into the world of Amy Tyger is interesting to your readers!