Laura Rees ‘ate’ every second of her screen time in Love Actually (Picture: TikTok)
In a film that nearly causes a nationwide electrical outage because of the intense wattage of its star power, it’s a near-impossible task to standout as a new actor.
But not if you’re Laura Rees, who outshines the likes of Keira Knightley and Hugh Grant in the Christmas classic Love Actually, according to the internet.
TikTok users have been discovering her brief but punchy scene-stealing moments as record label executive Gina, part of Bill Nighy’s fading popstar Billy Mack’s team.
Not that any of them have been paying any attention to the Living actor as all of their eyes have glued to Laura who, without uttering a single word, has been deemed of giving an ‘Oscar-worthy’ performance in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene.
Never has so much charisma radiated from a silent actor, who merely hands Bill’s Billy a phone, takes a swig from a glass of champage and raises an arch eyebrow at a label party. She ‘ate’, as one TikToker put it.
‘It has been surreal and really flattering,’ Laura tells Metro of her TikTok popularity, which has seen a clip of the scene viewed more than 1.3million times.
TikTok users are saying she deserved an Oscar (Picture: Aisling Legros)
However, Laura is reticient to ‘own’ her new-found internet fame. ‘It ultimately ended up being such a small role,’ she said modestly. ‘I always feel kind of sheepish when people say, are you in Love Actually? And I’m like, “Man, it was only one line… because that’s what it was, right?’”
Small or not, Laura’s starpower as Gina knocks you for six. It makes you wonder what have brought to the roles she originally auditioned for porn performer Judy and villian Mia, played by Joanna Page and Heike Makatsch respectively.
She clearly won over Love Actually’s director Richard Curtis who offered her the role of Gina after turning her down for Judy and Mia as he wanted her involvement in the film.
Gina was also originally a bigger role in the film but scenes were cut in the final edit. Laura couldn’t be further from bitter about losing airtime, saying it’s standard practice in Hollywood.
Laura says her newfound internet fame is ‘surreal’ and ‘flattering’ (Picture: ITV)
Like the rest of us, her feelings toward Love Actually now are warm and fuzzy. Bill and Gregor Fisher, who played Billy’s manager Joe, were ‘real gents’- as was Richard who arranged for her to keep Gina’s designer clothes. It was a welcome and unexpected gift for a young actor who had only recently graduated from drama school.
After Love Actually, Laura says ‘more doors were open’ but there was heartbreak along the way, including a huge US TV project with Vampire Diaries actor Paul Wesley that never saw the light of day.
She had filmed the pilot of the King Arther spin-off for NBC but days later the plug was pulled. ‘That could have really changed the course of the next few years for me,’ Laura says.
Laura was also been cast in a movie with Love Actually co-star Sienna Guillory but the funding fell through at the last minute. ‘I was disappointed. But some projects will stick and some won’t, that’s the nature of the industry,’ she adds.
After Love Actually, she performed in TV shows including Where The Heart Is (Picture: ITV)
She has now quit the acting industry but would accept the right role (Picture: ITV)
Her other credits include TV shows Where the Heart Is, Inspector Lewis and Endeavour but her heart truly belonged to the theatre, where she performed with the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Six years ago, however, Laura quit the industry. She said her decision waspartly influenced by a multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis.
She explains: ‘The part of the industry that I struggled with was the always being “well”. Some people would call it ableism – but, and it’s in all industries – there’s no room for sickness.’
Laura says she had some ‘hard experiences’ as an actor where she did not feel she had the support but insists it is getting ‘better.’
She now has her own project, The How Are You Project, which seeks to improve society’s awareness of the everyday experiences for people with non-visible disabilities.
While Laura is committed to improving access to various industries for people with non-visible diasbilities, and educating comanies on how to enable staff who made need adjustments, Laura has not sworn off acting for good.
She has also recently signed to an agent for commerical work, but would not rule out a film or TV show. ‘Never say never,’ she says.
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