Sienna Guillory

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Arya uses magic to ward off an enemy. (Photo: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox)

Sienna Guillory made a name for herself as a successful model in London, but acting was her real passion. We recently chatted with Sienna about her role as Arya, the 100-year-old warrior princess in Eragon. Here's what she had to say:

Did you always know that you wanted to perform?
Sienna: I always knew that I loved performing, but I enjoyed the camaraderie of performing. I think my father [the famous Cuban-born guitarist Isaac Guillory] was a huge encouragement in terms of music and all forms of expression. And I think that definitely helped.

What was your first professional job?
Sienna: Riders. It was a TV series. I was 16 when I started work on that. Essentially, they were looking for a girl who could ride a horse. Going onto the set and working with experienced actors was a real eye-opener for me. I didn’t realize it could be so free and so natural. I just asked lots and lots of questions of everyone I worked with and thankfully the people that I worked with really gave me so much advice, and that was where I’ve been learning the most.

You modeled for a little while—What was that like?
Sienna: Absolutely—to support the acting habit. It’s extremely hard work and it’s really good fun. I was very fortunate. I got to work with a lot of creative people. And again, it’s about teamwork. When you are putting a show or a shoot together, the goal is to find an image or a series of images that represent an ideal or a way of seeing and believing and interacting in society, so it was always really exciting. It felt like doing a sort of silent movie. The hardest thing about modeling is to create the naturalness and spontaneity, which again is the hardest and most important part about acting.

Describe Arya, your character in the movie.
Sienna: She’s an absolute dream role. She’s a princess and she’s a warrior. I think the thing that drew me to her most was the fact that she sacrifices herself for the good of the kingdom and it’s an incredibly powerful decision. And that made me respect and admire her and therefore gave me the sense of status with which to play her. She’s an elf and a warrior and she has to be able to move very quickly and very suddenly and understand people’s passions because she’s supersensitive to how people are feeling.

Interview by Marie Morreale

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LESSON PLAN

Write Your Own Screen Play Focuses on the transition of Holes from novel to screenplay with consideration for how the details in a book are brought to life in a movie.