Lily James took part in a Masterclass hosted by BAFTA and the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) at the Macao Cultural Centre. In front of a live public audience, James discussed her craft and career with Fionnuala Halligan, Chief Critic & Reviews Editor at Screen Daily. 

Lily began her career with breakthrough roles as Lady Rose in Downton Abbey and the title role in Disney’s blockbuster Cinderella. Since then, she has become a household name, playing starring roles in films such as Baby Driver, Darkest Hour, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as well as the epic War and Peace mini-series opposite Paul Dano and James Norton. In 2018, she played a young Meryl Streep in global smash Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and in the 2019 summer was in the hit comedy Yesterday directed by Danny Boyle.

---

At the masterclass, as well as taking questions from the audience, Lily shared insights about her career, from being on television series to title roles on the big screen. With influences from her grandmother and father - an actress and musician, Lily loved acting, dancing and singing from a young age. She shared her experiences of working with different directors, and how she engaged with different roles on movies.

Lily spoke of the importance of maintaining a creative headspace but also letting go of failures in finding success:

 “As an actor, you need to have really thin skin as you have to reveal yourself, let your emotions out and understand different people; but as the same time, you need to have really thick skin when it comes to dealing with failure or success.”

The Masterclass was held as part of the 4th Macau International Film Festival and Awards.