Don’t get Erin Kellyman wrong; she’s thrilled to be here. It’s just that the 26-year-old actress doesn’t exactly love being the center of attention, and she’s suddenly found herself squinting into the blinding beam of a massive spotlight. “This industry is, I feel, very contradictory to the person I am,” the softspoken actress tells me over a video call. Kellyman, a freckle-splashed breath of fresh air with gloriously fiery curls, is in a palpable growth period as a person and performer—but beneath the glamour, she’s a family girl who loves her dog, writing scripts, and watching crime shows with her castmates. (More on that later.)
It’s 2 p.m. in her time zone and 9 a.m. in mine. She’s swapped her recent Loewe ensembles (she stars in the brand’s latest campaign) for a casual tee; the Birmingham, England-born starlet’s freckles dazzling the same way they did onscreen during an early viewing of Eleanor the Great—Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut and Kellyman’s most focal role to date.
Earlier this spring, Kellyman told The Upcoming that she was “honestly horrified” of the then-impending release of Eleanor. “The idea of there being so much footage of me in the world. … It’s not happened yet,” she explains to me. “I feel like this is like the first time where there’s a bit [of me] to look at.” You see, Kellyman’s experience in the film industry has largely been comprised of smaller roles in star-studded projects—the BBC’s Les Misérables and Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, to name a few. However, this Johansson-led film marks many firsts for Kellyman, including working opposite leading lady June Squibb as well as with the first-time director.
Though Eleanor received a several-minute-long standing ovation at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, it’s taken some mental preparation for Kellyman to stomach the screen time. “I feel very, very blessed every day to be doing this career because this has been a dream since I was, like, 13,” the burgeoning actress quips. “But I think younger me definitely creeps out sometimes where I’m just a bit like, ‘Oh gosh, what have I done?’”
It’s younger Erin’s smile I can see shining in Kellyman’s eyes as I tell her I, first, would have never guessed her British nationality based on her flawless American accent (she credits a childhood spent parroting Disney Channel shows like Hannah Montana and That’s So Raven), and second, that I commuted to the office sporting black teartracks after witnessing her heartbreaking performance as Nina—a college sophomore vying for a morsel of recognition from her famous father (that she exists, that her mother once did, that she would amount to something). “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” she gleefully apologizes.
While her character’s storyline differs widely from her own, Kellyman found emotional synergy with Nina’s arc in this half-comedy, half-tear-jerker. “You meet her and she’s so insecure. Like, she can barely string a sentence together,” she explains. “It feels like she’s always stuttering and doubting herself, and by the end of the film, she really comes into her own and finds her voice.”
As a self-described “extremely introverted, anxious child,” navigating this mysterious and glamour-cloaked industry has been somewhat of a challenge for the actress, who had to come into her own on her own in front of cameras. (“None of my family are in this industry, nobody knows how it works,” she explains.) But while her character’s on-screen family is tattered and torn, she credits her own (plus her “family unit” of a cast) as the ultimate source of support during this exhilarating process. “First of all, my mum raised me right, so I already had a solid work ethic,” she laughs. “And then obviously, June and Scarlet were attached, so it felt like a dream even being able to audition for it.”
That said, Johansson’s movie menagerie made Kellyman feel confident in the project from day one. “Even from the jump when I had that callback, [Johansson] was just so sure of herself—so sure of what she wanted,” she reminisces. “There was no doubt about the movie she was making. She just, like, oozed confidence.”
Another thing Johansson did right while directing this film? Pairing Broadway alum Squibb and Kellyman together. “We didn’t have a chemistry test or anything like that. It just worked, thank God,” she tells me. According to Kellyman, Johansson doesn’t quite believe in the practice—if you’re a good actor, the chemistry will just be there. “Luckily, it was there way before we started filming,” she adds. When the pair wasn’t on set, they were hanging out in Squibb’s apartment watching crime shows, as any old friends do. “You know those friendships that you have where you can sit in silence and not talk to each other? It was like that,” she recalls.
However, Eleanor is far from the only project Kellyman has been busying herself with these days. The rising star scored a role in the apocalyptic horror film 28 Years Later, the third installment of the 28 Days Later franchise. Needless to say, it was quite the genre switch-up. “Off the back of something hyperemotional [and] very real, I was excited to do something a little freaky, and 28 Years Later is definitely fucking freaky,” she laughs.
But don’t mistake Kellyman for a horror fan—she’ll switch off the TV in a second. “No, girl. I hate horrors,” she tells me when I ask if she has a favorite. Well, except for anything directed by Jordan Peele. “That’s the only compromise,” she declares.
When she’s not avoiding horror movies or filming a new project, Kellyman has been dreaming up her own storylines. While some people get bogged down by intense schedules, her recent jam-packed press junket rekindled a creative flame. “Weirdly, I came home and felt a surge of energy to write, which I haven’t had in months,” she confesses. She later tries to tell me that she doesn’t have a dream role because she’s got “no imagination,” to which I remind her of her current writing phase. “Yeah, that’s true. Oh my god, wait! Maybe I’ve got it!” she exclaims. “I’ve got, like, six scripts on the go in my head!”
Now, that’s not to say that the actress wouldn’t do unspeakable things to collect costars and directors like Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, and Greta Gerwig. “If I was to ever work with Meryl Streep, my God, I’d probably drop down dead,” she laughs. And Walters isn’t just one of Kellyman’s North Stars for her memorable roles in Harry Potter and Mamma Mia; she’s also a hometown hero. “To see somebody from this area of England do so well…” she trails off. “She’s just so talented.” Kellyman also has her sights set on starring alongside her director someday. “I would actually love to act with Scarlett. I think that would be so fucking fun.”
We eventually land on the topic of imposter syndrome—how women experience it regardless of industry —and how self-fulfillment is a necessary journey that many of her characters (and she herself) must undertake. “I was having this conversation with my friend the other day, and I was like, ‘Girl, I’m behind,’” she admits. But judging by her ever-growing list of accomplishments, this humility exemplifies exactly why Kellyman, unbeknownst to her, is every bit Erin the Great.
Don’t miss Kellyman’s captivating performance in Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor the Great, in theaters now.
Photographer: Bryan Carr
Stylist: Lauren Levin
Makeup Artist: Fulvia Farolfi using Chanel Beauty
Hairstylist: Holly Mills
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