Born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in 1991, Tanya Reynolds got her big break in Netflix’s Sex Education playing Lily Iglehart, a teenage writer of alien erotica determined to lose her virginity. She has since starred in Autumn de Wilde’s film adaptation of Emma, Sky Atlantic’s The Baby and earlier this year was nominated for a best supporting actress Olivier award for her role in Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror at the Almeida theatre. Medieval black comedy The Decameron, adapted from Boccaccio’s short stories, in which Reynolds plays Licisca, arrives on Netflix this month.
In The Decameron you play a servant who effects quite a transformation. On your Instagram you said: “Don’t fuck with her.” Tell us about her.
I love her! She’s fundamentally a good person, but she’s been treated like shit all her life, everyone she cares about is dead, so she decides to start living her life however the fuck she wants to live it. It was so much fun to play someone who completely unshackles herself from any restraints.
The threat of bubonic plague surrounds the characters’ escape to a villa outside Florence. Did Covid-19 factor in on-set conversations?
Strangely, it didn’t. I think so many of us are trying to block out that time from our memories. If we took anything [from it], maybe it was the level of insanity that comes up when there’s an illness that no one knows how to deal with. Early on, you’ll see my character sticking flowers up her nose to “block out the pestilence”. I had to do that for my audition, on a self-tape at home!
The show features lots of funny women, including Zosia Mamet [Girls] and Saoirse-Monica Jackson [Derry Girls], while Kathleen Jordan [Teenage Bounty Hunters] was your showrunner. Do you sense that the TV industry is improving for women?
Zosia and Saoirse acting together was a masterclass – they have really funny bones! As I got my first job in 2016, when #MeToo was just happening, it felt like the industry was suddenly much more interested in female voices, thank God. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve got to work with some amazing female creatives in Scenes With Girls at the Royal Court – one of my favourite work experiences of my life – and I recently worked with Alice Lowe [Prevenge, Sightseers, Horrible Histories] on her new film, Timestalker (out this autumn).
What did you learn from her?
I’d always felt like directing was something I could never do, but watching her direct, having written the film too, with all this calm energy – it was amazing.
You’re a very funny physical comedian. Did you know that when you were young?
No! We had to do a clowning class at drama school and I was quite judgmental about it. And honestly, I sound like a dick, but I put that red nose on and the clown in me, she just happened. I remember people laughing, and I was like: “What, am I funny?” I didn’t realise before that my face did funny things, or that the way I moved was funny. Honestly, that clown class changed my life.
A full scholarship was the only way you could study at drama school. Have you had other struggles?
Well, I only started to get seen for theatre after Sex Education. I also went to one of the only drama schools [the Oxford School of Drama] to give scholarships – and as an actor, you’re expected to have trained, so many people going to drama schools tend to come from high-income families. I was also the first of my family to go to university before that, where I felt so out of my depth. I remember calling my dad after my first seminar, in tears, but I managed to stay on, made friends and got through.
How do your parents feel about your success?
They’re so proud. My dad’s a builder and my mum used to be a signwriter. She’s also an amazing artist, and she does a bit of cleaning. My whole life, my dream was just to be a working actor, to pay my bills with money that I’m earning from acting, and not to have a side job. At this moment, having achieved that, I have to pinch myself a lot and so do my parents.
What experiences have stayed with you from Sex Education?
Going up to Cardiff to record one line, not even one scene, with Ncuti [Gatwa] answering the door to me, where I say: “I just saw two pigeons having sex.” I remember being on the train on the way home, absolutely with my head against the glass, very dramatic, saying that line over and over again, thinking: “Oh my God, I said it wrong.”
What’s it been like seeing Ncuti becoming the Doctor in Dr Who?
So great! That boy is just absolutely divine and such a good egg. It’s great when great things happen to great people.
You post your favourite books on Instagram a lot. Any current recommendations?
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch is brilliant. I started reading it years ago but think I needed a bit of ageing and maturity to appreciate it. The Vegetarian by Han Kang was fantastic, as was The New Life by Tom Crewe, which I think is being adapted. I would be desperate to play the wife in it, although I’m a bit too young probably.
You love travelling too. What’s the best place acting has taken you?
Definitely Rome [with The Decameron]. My dad’s Italian, so it felt very special, although I had to spend the last three weeks there on crutches because I broke my foot. Top tip: don’t look at your phone while walking downstairs. In some later scenes I’m not walking – I’m on a contraption being wheeled along.
What’s the biggest misconception about actors?
That we’re extroverts. The majority of us are the opposite, who find solace in acting because we get to be other people. I’m much more comfortable being someone else than being myself – and I wish I was better at doing the red carpet stuff, but I’m just not. Yes, I had an amazing team of people at the Oliviers who made me feel really beautiful, which was nice, because I never feel beautiful, but I was still: “Oh God. I want to put my pyjamas on!”