Freya new interview and pic

As her mother quickly shoved her into the toilets of the posh restaurant, Freya Mavor wondered if she had lost her mind.

Shaking her by the arms, staring into her daughter's eyes, she repeatedly joked: "Why are you being such a bitch?"

"I didn't know what she was talking about," the teenage actress says. "Then she finally told me, 'You're playing the bitch in Skins!' She had just found out, before me, that I had the part."

That was back in June on a Thursday. By the Sunday, 17-year-old Freya was in London preparing for an intense four months of filming in Bristol for the hit E4 series, a gritty drama that follows the ups and downs of a group of raucous teenagers, covering everything from sex and friendships to studying and parental relations. Now, a month or so after filming ended, she is back in Edinburgh and focusing on getting her Highers at Mary Erskine's, nervous about her television debut tomorrow night when Skins returns to our screens for its fifth series - with her at the helm as "the bitch", Mini McGuinness.

"I am petrified - really nervous," the tall, blonde teenager from Canonmills says. "I am worried about how my performance will be received by my family and friends.

"At school, the guys in my year have been taunting me too, telling me they are really looking forward to my sex scenes."

Judging by Freya's maturity and confidence, any friendly jibes from her male schoolmates will surely be taken on the chin, and it's likely her raunchy scenes - which she admits she was terrified of filming - will probably silence them anyway.

As for her family, it is unlikely she could ever disappoint. From the moment her mother was told her daughter had landed the role of fiesty Mini, the dominant teenager in the cast, she could barely mask her pride, whisking Freya away to tell her the good news in private - but not before building up a little suspense.

"I was doing some work experience with a theatre company in Glasgow," Freya explains. "It was after the final show and my mum came to meet me at the restaurant we were in. She kept telling me I had to go to the bathroom with her to take a look at the decor. It was such a posh place and she was calling me a bitch."

Articulate, polite with a warm and chatty nature, she certainly appears anything but a "bitch" in real life, yet her character Mini fits the description like a glove. A fiesty, manipulative, over-bearing teenager, she is a girl with a lot of issues.

"There are reasons for her armour though," says Freya. "Insecurities and vulnerabilities.

I think any teenage girl can relate to that - I can. Teenage years are tough years for girls.

"I love playing her, but at first I was petrified of her character as it felt so alien to me. After a while she became someone I knew and I almost think of her as a little sister now. I know her the best."

It has been something of a whirlwind six months for Freya, who developed a love of acting from a very young age and will be the first Scot to take up a lead role in Skins.

Her love of performing was evident early on when she and her older brother Zander, 19, would put on plays for their parents as youngsters growing up in the Capital. They spent a lot of their childhood travelling as a family as well, meaning Freya has attended nine schools and experienced cultures as far afield as Turkey, Greece and France.

"It was just something my parents wanted to do, so we were taken out of school to go abroad," she says. "We always had to do work, though, and make scrapbooks of the places we had been to. There are some really special memories in those books.

"I absolutely loved living in France and in many ways I think of it as my spiritual home, but I owe Edinburgh a lot for the great opportunities it has offered me. I would never have had the chance to audition for Skins if I had still been in France, for example."

Although she beat competition from thousands of other budding actresses to land a lead role in Skins, Freya has never lost focus on her studies and, despite missing out on lots of lessons since starting her sixth year in August, she is determined to do well in her forthcoming exams.

"When we were filming I was still expected to keep up with my studying," she says. "But I never realised just how demanding it would be. I always wanted to give the acting my all as well, so it was hard.

"I am playing a game of catch up at the moment at school. Last year I worked so hard, though, and I did really well. I know I can do this and I will beat myself up if I don't."

Whether she will go on to university remains to be seen as she has already been tipped for great things in the acting world, notably by co-star Clare Grogan, who plays her party-loving mother in the television series.

The former Gregory's Girl actress and pop star reportedly said she felt she "couldn't teach her anything" on set, while also insisting Freya has a "massive future ahead of her".

"Well, I don't know about that," she says, shrugging off the compliment. "Clare was so lovely to me. I first heard about her from my dad and then went on the internet to read up on her and recognised a lot of her music. She really was great to work with.

"If I can go on to amazing things then great. I know I want to experience different types of drama, though, including stage, so we'll just see."

One thing is for sure, Freya will definitely be in the next series of Skins as well.

It's something of a dream come true for the teenager who has watched every episode created having followed the series with her brother since it first aired.

"I've always loved it. We used to settle down in the living room with bowls of snacks every week," she says. "That's why this is all so mad for me."


Awards and awareness
Skins, the BAFTA-award winning television drama, first hit our screens in 2007.

The brainchild of writers Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain, it follows the lives of a group of teenagers at a Bristol sixth form college.

From the outset, Skins quickly earned a reputation for its successful handling of controversial storylines, which have included sexuality, eating disorders and mental health.

Now entering its fifth series - as the cast moves on from college a new set of characters is introduced - the show has continued its tradition of casting amateur actors, of which Edinburgh's Freya Mavor was one.

There are currently plans for a Skins film, and a US adaptation of the British series has just been launched.

Watch Freya Mavor in Skins, tomorrow on E4 at 10pm.

Source: Edinburgh Evening News

Labels: Brand New , freya mavor , Skins season 5