Conveying something of yourself while playing a character is what makes 24-year-old actress Lea Gavino, the face of Skam Italia, so real on screen and so beloved by audiences. After the Netflix series and the role of Artemisia Gentileschi in Michele Placido’s Caravaggio’s Shadow alongside a stellar cast, Lea is ready for new debuts in Italy and abroad. Her secret dream? «Working with Paolo Virzì».
She has an angelic face, a soft voice and a sensitivity that’s not so common among many young women at the age of 24. Yet these traits, so evident upon first meeting Lea Gavino, are not only the only ones she would like to bring to the big screen. «I’d love the idea of taking on an eccentric, colourful, maybe a bit bad-girl role. To try to be something other than what I have brought to the screen so far». This is how the young Roman actress born in 1999 talks about her future, of her secret dreams, and of a passion for acting that surprised and overwhelmed her, and made her fall in love.
«Playing a character is always a bit like talking about yourself»
Cinema came unexpectedly into your life. What was your ‘plan A’ until then?
After secondary school I had begun studying Psychology at university in Rome. During the second year I received an offer from a casting director to participate in an audition for the role of the younger version of the leading actress. I’d never considered acting, but I was curious, so I went to the audition. I didn’t get the role because the main actress, initially thought to have brown hair and brown eyes like me, was then chosen blonde with blue eyes and no longer resembled me. But after earning my degree I decided to enrol in Gian Maria Volonté Film School, and from that moment it was clear that many things both inside and outside myself had been set in motion. I signed a contract with the agency that I still work with, and after little time I obtained the role of Viola Loiero in Skam Italia.
Your real debut. What was it like working on a set for the first time?
Although I joined the cast in the fifth season of the series (distributed in Italy since 2018, conceived by Ludovico Bessegato, and about the tormented lives of a group of Roman high school students, ed.) I was perfect for the role of the young teenager. Playing a character is always a bit like talking about yourself. In that moment I’m Viola, but it’s my voice, my body, and so many aspects of Viola merge with those of Lea. I’ve learned many things about myself by playing her, as well as having relived some parts of my own adolescence in many ways.
«In a series you have to somehow exit and re-enter the character all the time; this has allowed me to excel at fast thinking, being able to quickly react»
Has your family always supported your choice to become an actress?
Initially my parents were afraid of the future that this profession could offer. Then, after seeing how much passion and commitment I put into studying and working, they totally supported my choice and were happy to see me happy. When my brother, Damiano, two years younger, also took this path, then they really resigned themselves.
What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from the experience in this TV series?
There’s definitely many differences working on a TV series compared to working on a film; Skam has been challenging, there are longer, more stretched out and intermittent times. You have to somehow exit and re-enter the character all the time; this has allowed me to excel at fast thinking, being able to quickly react. It’s like an incredible endurance workout, it’s a marathon. I realised how much it helped me when I then began to go to new auditions.
«L’ombra di Caravaggio was an incredibly valuable experience, but also one of great growth for a young actress like me»
After Skam came the big cinema…
Yes, at the end of 2022 Caravaggio’s Shadow came out. A film directed by Michele Placido that won two David di Donatellos in which, alongside extraordinary actors such as Riccardo Scamarcio, Micaela Ramazzotti, Louis Garrel and Isabelle Huppert, I play the role of Artemisia Gentileschi, a painter of the Caravaggio school and a prominent female character in the history of Italian art. Playing this role was a huge responsibility.
Studying the character, I realised how important she is in the history and culture of our time, although it was the passionate story and the direction on set by Michele Placido that fully engaged me, that really conveyed to me what she had represented in the story. I had proposed a strong, austere interpretation, while Placido invited me to reflect on the strength hidden in her great fragilities. It was an incredibly valuable experience, but also one of great growth for a young actress like me. At first I felt insecure, but working with such a sensitive cast of actors, who invite you to trust yourself and take you by the hand, was a great gift. I never gave up, tenacity was fundamental.
«Every experience makes you grow, evolve, change, that’s the privilege of this profession: to be able to bring something other than your true ‘Id’ on stage»
What are your next projects in cinema or on TV?
This year I worked with Leonardo D’Agostini, winner of the Nastro d’Argento as Best New Director in 2019, on the film Una storia nera, playing a complex and dramatic role that revolves around the search for truth, and at the same time I also worked on a BBC series in London. Both will be released soon.
What do you hope for in the future?
My hope is to sooner or later be able to play a more eccentric, colourful, particular, extravagant role, perhaps a bit of a bad girl, why not? Every experience makes you grow, evolve, change, that’s the privilege of this profession: to be able to bring something other than your true ‘Id’ on stage. Something different than what I’ve played so far could give me a great boost.
Which director, in particular, would you love to collaborate with?
I’d love to work with Paolo Virzì, a director I adore for his ability to express himself on the screen with a language that’s entirely his own, which is ironic even in drama. I find it credible in its transgressiveness, an eccentricity that intrigues me. If I think of the film La pazza gioia, the eclecticism and genius of the role practically written for Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – an actress I highly esteem – well, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. But for any other role I play, I hope to always come across as entirely sincere, even in fictional characters, and to convey it to the audience through my acting. I think that’s the winning card on set.
Credits
Editor in Chief Federico Poletti
Photographer Davide Musto
Stylist Stefania Sciortino
Make-up & Hair Cotril
Photographer assistant Cristina proietti Panatta
Stylist assistants Chiara Carrubba
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