Hannah John-Kamen floats freely from the galaxies of Star Wars to the Marvel universe.
PHOTOGRAPHER RANKIN CREATIVE DIRECTOR ALAN ABOUD FASHION STYLIST ELLIE WITT HAIR STYLIST EARL SIMMS MAKE-UP ARTIST LILLY KEYS STYLIST ASSISTANT SANDRA BLAZINSKAITE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER NICOLA KENNEY PRODUCER CHRISTINE WRIGHT DIGITAL TECH NEIL BENNETT, ALEX GALE STILLS ASSISTANTS JACK CHAMBERLAIN BEN DUAH TATJANA GALIC ARTICLE CHRISTIAN CHENSVOLD
There are certain people who, if given a time machine, wouldn’t go very far. No ancient civilizations or futuristic cities for them: they long to take a short hop back to the era just before their birth, the time they just missed. Hannah John-Kamen is such a person, which means her time travel destination of choice is the 1980s. “I’d love to go to a prom in the ’80s,” says the twenty-nine-year-old. “I love the films, music and novels of the ’80s, and just want to experience it. I want to be that cool — I want that hairspray!”
John-Kamen does an extraordinary amount of travel for work. Of course, to shooting locations, but primarily into the fantasy worlds of big budget film franchises. While many actors dream of one day landing a role in the kind of films and TV shows feted at comic conventions, John-Kamen has scored one after another, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Game of Thrones, and Tomb Raider. And then there’s her foray into the Marvel universe, via 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, in which she played the villain Ghost, not to mention her dream come true, a blast from the past role in Steven Spielberg’s ’80s homage Ready Player One.
If that sounds like an impressive resumé for someone who went straight from acting school to work (notably, in the series Killjoys), it is. “You kind of go wow, I can’t believe this is my job,” she says. It wasn’t as easy as it looks, but it was made easier by having a great team of family and talent representation. “You need your support staff,” she says, “and to be yourself, grounded, and patient. And also decisive: if you don’t want to do something, you don’t bloody have to do it. You talk to your team about where you want to go, and they work to get your foot in the door, and you continue on that upward trajectory. My parents kept saying just enjoy it.”
Her family is not only a tightly knit one, it’s also quite unusual. Her mother, a model from Norway, met her father, a doctor from Nigeria, while in London, where John-Kamen makes her home today (even if she’s rarely there). “It was amazing to have such different cultures within your own family and really opened up my view on the world,” she says. “Not everyone has that.”
But nothing prepares an actor for roles in the kind of larger than life fantasy worlds that John-Kamen so often finds herself in, where the stakes are high in archetypal battles between good and evil. She approaches these roles the same as any contemporary drama: by finding each character’s truth. “You always play the truth, even when you’re wearing a superhero costume or flying in the air and fighting.” Collaborating with directors such as Spielberg and Peyton Reed (her director for Ant-Man and the Wasp) has been incredible, she says, and they’ve allowed her to be spontaneous and interpretive in her performances. The ideal director gives character motivation guidance as preparation work, she explains, “and then when you show up on set, you can just go and play. You’re in an environment with other actors you haven’t worked with before, so it’s an open space, an open playpen. You get in there and play, and I love the freedom of doing that and seeing what comes out.”
What comes out includes not just art and glory, but appreciation from fans whose knowledge of fantasy worlds is staggering. “The fans are so intelligent and knowledgeable about the worlds and ask the most wonderful questions. I’m like, ‘Wow, OK, now I know that.’ And that’s why I do this, to feel I can do a movie justice. Each genre has its own unique beauty, and that’s why I want to explore each and every one that I can.”
