#Vod Nordstrom

[olemisekunst]

Zawe Ashton and Charlotte Ritchie in Fresh Meat S01E08

[billiuspendragon]

Fresh Meat - Vod's fashion sense

She just like slays all the time it's crazy

[naomicorrell]

Fresh Meat

[edtype]

Blurred Lines

Wife or fiancée?

Husband or fiancé?

[justzawe]

Zawe Ashton Covers AMAZING Magazine | Issue 4

Actor, author, playwright and new mum Zawe Ashton adds another string to her bow: supervillain. As she joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she tells AMAZING about her love of poetry, getting physical on the set of The Marvels and the unwavering support of her own parents.

Zawe Ashton is no stranger to playing the antagonist. From her very first film role as rude schoolgirl Bianca in 2009’s St Trinian's 2: The Legend Of Fritton's Gold, to playing the intimidatingly cool Violet “Vod” Nordstrom in four seasons of student sitcom Fresh Meat and – more recently - as the rejected Julia Thistlewaite in 2022 period drama, Mr. Malcolm’s List, Ashton has a knack for taking on characters who appear unlikeable on paper… and making audiences fall in love with them. However, for her latest role as Dar-Benn in The Marvels, she had to go full villain.

“Very little can prepare you to have to embody an antagonist at this level, in a Universe that is literally not known to anyone – like our Space - and to make it real and impactful,” says the London-born actor, a new recruit to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “There's something deeply humbling about having to return to the sandbox; you have to go back to the playground and that was something I was not expecting. You have to indulge in adult play and it’s surprisingly vulnerable. I know that there are gamers out there, there are cosplayers out there, there are adults who have managed to keep that level of childlike play going and I respect it so much. There's a self-consciousness that can take over if you are not careful. Trying to react realistically to a laser coming towards you is not something I’d done since I was seven years old, and I had to get to that level of childlike confidence to just delve into the imagination. Once that was all clearer, the villainous elements came so much from the physical world, with costume and hair.”

For 39-year-old Ashton, adult play will likely become a more frequent fixture in her life, thanks to her most exciting new role – as a mother. She welcomed her first child in 2022 with fiancé Tom Hiddleston, her co-star in the 2019 revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal on London’s West End, later transferred to Broadway. “What has genuinely surprised me about motherhood is how much I don't feel ready to talk about it,” she laughs. “And this isn’t to shut down the conversation. I have gained so much insight from public people who have this incredible candour and this disarming, relatable dialogue about it very early on, but it's something that I am just dedicating time to absorbing. I’m listening rather than expelling energy. That genuinely has surprised me, because it's something you want to shout from the rooftops about; it's the most unparalleled, most important role in my life. The surprise has been how quiet I want to be about it. Maybe that's also me as a writer and this is something that will come through the pen at some point.”

Ashton attended London’s Anna Scher Theatre School from the age of six and was a member of the National Youth Theatre, before getting her degree in acting at Manchester Metropolitan University, but writing has always been significant in her life. She won the London Poetry Slam Championship in 2000, becoming the event’s youngest winner, at 17. “I may have been knocked off that pillar long ago, but in my head I'm still the youngest,” she laughs. “I love poetry. I had not written for a really long time; during the pandemic I lost a huge chunk of my creative soul when it came to putting pen to paper, which was really scary and was clearly the fallout of being in survival mode and feeling quite fearful. People's attention spans just went all sorts of different ways, didn't they? It was very hard for me to read, and it was very hard for me to write, which is very strange for me.

“More recently, a friend of mine from drama school who I used to do open mic nights with in Manchester – I used to perform poetry and she used to sing - asked me to write a poem for her wedding. I had a few moments where it was really tough, but I did it. I love her and I'm so happy for her, and being inspired enough to get a poem out and read it aloud really opened the floodgates. So, weirdly enough, I've been writing a lot of poetry recently and found a new love for it. I will always continue to use poetry as a way to understand the world. It's just so much part of who I am.”

For Zawe's full interview and shoot, order your copy of AMAZING issue 4 now. The Marvels is out now.

[zawescource]

Actor, author, playwright and new mum Zawe Ashton adds another string to her bow: supervillain. As she joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she tells AMAZING about her love of poetry, getting physical on the set of The Marvels and the unwavering support of her own parents.

Zawe Ashton is no stranger to playing the antagonist. From her very first film role as rude schoolgirl Bianca in 2009’s St Trinian's 2: The Legend Of Fritton's Gold, to playing the intimidatingly cool Violet “Vod” Nordstrom in four seasons of student sitcom Fresh Meat and – more recently - as the rejected Julia Thistlewaite in 2022 period drama, Mr. Malcolm’s List, Ashton has a knack for taking on characters who appear unlikeable on paper… and making audiences fall in love with them. However, for her latest role as Dar-Benn in The Marvels, she had to go full villain.

“Very little can prepare you to have to embody an antagonist at this level, in a Universe that is literally not known to anyone – like our Space - and to make it real and impactful,” says the London-born actor, a new recruit to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “There's something deeply humbling about having to return to the sandbox; you have to go back to the playground and that was something I was not expecting. You have to indulge in adult play and it’s surprisingly vulnerable. I know that there are gamers out there, there are cosplayers out there, there are adults who have managed to keep that level of childlike play going and I respect it so much. There's a self-consciousness that can take over if you are not careful. Trying to react realistically to a laser coming towards you is not something I’d done since I was seven years old, and I had to get to that level of childlike confidence to just delve into the imagination. Once that was all clearer, the villainous elements came so much from the physical world, with costume and hair.”

For 39-year-old Ashton, adult play will likely become a more frequent fixture in her life, thanks to her most exciting new role – as a mother. She welcomed her first child in 2022 with fiancé Tom Hiddleston, her co-star in the 2019 revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal on London’s West End, later transferred to Broadway. “What has genuinely surprised me about motherhood is how much I don't feel ready to talk about it,” she laughs. “And this isn’t to shut down the conversation. I have gained so much insight from public people who have this incredible candour and this disarming, relatable dialogue about it very early on, but it's something that I am just dedicating time to absorbing. I’m listening rather than expelling energy. That genuinely has surprised me, because it's something you want to shout from the rooftops about; it's the most unparalleled, most important role in my life. The surprise has been how quiet I want to be about it. Maybe that's also me as a writer and this is something that will come through the pen at some point.”

Ashton attended London’s Anna Scher Theatre School from the age of six and was a member of the National Youth Theatre, before getting her degree in acting at Manchester Metropolitan University, but writing has always been significant in her life. She won the London Poetry Slam Championship in 2000, becoming the event’s youngest winner, at 17. “I may have been knocked off that pillar long ago, but in my head I'm still the youngest,” she laughs. “I love poetry. I had not written for a really long time; during the pandemic I lost a huge chunk of my creative soul when it came to putting pen to paper, which was really scary and was clearly the fallout of being in survival mode and feeling quite fearful. People's attention spans just went all sorts of different ways, didn't they? It was very hard for me to read, and it was very hard for me to write, which is very strange for me.

“More recently, a friend of mine from drama school who I used to do open mic nights with in Manchester – I used to perform poetry and she used to sing - asked me to write a poem for her wedding. I had a few moments where it was really tough, but I did it. I love her and I'm so happy for her, and being inspired enough to get a poem out and read it aloud really opened the floodgates. So, weirdly enough, I've been writing a lot of poetry recently and found a new love for it. I will always continue to use poetry as a way to understand the world. It's just so much part of who I am.”

For Zawe's full interview and shoot, order your copy of AMAZING issue 4 now. The Marvels is out now.

[a-little-vod-and-loki]

Why do I feel like Zawe and Tom are the type of couple to sit together and just read. And after 30 minutes, they switch books. And when they get bored, they switch on the TV and just binge random shit like Succession or like Euphoria.

Also I feel like Tom would put on, like, Fresh Meat or something and Zawe is begging him to turn it off but every time Vod comes on screen he's just like "Sssssh, look it's you!" and at one point Zawe' says, "No shit, Sherlock" and then Tom plays that pilot episode of Sherlock with Zawe in it and says "Sssssh, look it's you! AGAIN!"

[rex-o0]

[jpjosieandfriends]

The original Hartnell housemates vs their better, newer, improved replacements (according to Josie)

As Howard says, “bit heartless,” although not gonna lie I would watch the shit out a show featuring Josie and this extremely varied group of celebrities.

[halfdesire]

thinking about how violet nordstrom’s mother has always made her feel like shit. how she’s had to take care of her mother since she was a child. how her mother said all sorts of terrible things to her that made her feel worthless. how violet took after her mother and got heavily into alcohol and drugs, to the point where she had to go to the hospital because she overdosed. how her father left her and her mother views her as a burden and a mistake.

but then there’s her housemates, who she truly views as family. though she’s not one for softness, she does love them. they’re train wrecks, sure, but they’re her train wrecks, so it’s okay. and even though she spent her childhood feeling unwanted, they love and support her. and when her mother comes around and fucks up the house, they’ve got no problem with helping violet pick up the pieces.

finally, violet’s got a home where she feels loved and supported. and it’ll make me cry every time i think about it.

[olemisekunst]

Vod + burger phone 🍔

[incorrectfreshmeat]

oregon: just be yourself. say something nice.

vod: which one? i can’t do both.

[suomisubs]

[naomicorrell]

Vod - Fresh Meat

[justzawe]

Zawe Ashton on resilience, tackling complex roles and the fight for on-screen representation

The actress took to the stage at the 2023 Bazaar Summit

When Zawe Ashton looks back at her career so far, she’s a little surprised: not at her own success, but at how she’s managed to navigate a notoriously tough industry so well. “When I talk about what I’ve been through, I think, why have I kept going?” the actress and writer told the audience at the 2023 Bazaar At Work Summit, at which she was a headline speaker. “I wonder if, to even become an actor, there needs to be something inside you that is already a little bit fractured. I think there’s something within me that somehow knows this level of crazy. When it gets really hard is when I feel my strongest or most determined.”

Anyone who has watched and loved the cult favourite TV show Fresh Meat will be very thankful indeed that Ashton did keep going. Her character – the straight-talking, drug-taking, chain-smoking and anti-establishment Vod Nordstrom – was a highlight of Jesse Armstrong’s hit series. The popularity of the sitcom-style show (and particularly of Vod) made Ashton a household name and, to this day, it’s a role she’s proud of playing. “Vod was very left-field, free-thinking and probably, I would say, a queer character without that being made explicit,” she said. “Fresh Meat was 11 years ago now, but there’s still a whole new wave of people who come up to me – lots of young actresses, of every ethnicity – who say thank you to me for being smelly, unlikeable, strange and punky, because there aren’t a wealth of women who are doing that on screen.”

Ashton clearly feels passionate about portraying real women in her work. In 2019, she published a fictionalised memoir, Character Breakdown, the title of which refers to the couple of lines an actor will receive with a script, which describe who the character is – for women, these mini biographies are often laughably simplistic and purely aesthetic. “They go from one extreme to another,” Ashton sighed with disbelief. “Where do we draw the line? If you’re not seeing women’s humanity, if you’re not seeing a full human life when you’re thinking about the ways in which you’re putting these descriptions together, then you’re not valuing women. And that’s a much bigger conversation than my industry.”

Throughout her career, Ashton has fought to play complex roles and has always emphasised the importance of making multi-faceted women of every ethnicity visible on screen. When she took the role of Vod, “growing up as a young, biracial girl in Hackney,” she was “willing to do whatever it took to make that character as edgy and authentic as I felt she could be, so that it would invite anyone not seeing that kind of representation to feel really seen”. In 2022, Ashton scored a role in the period drama Mr Malcom’s List, which was a seminal moment for her – and one which she credits to the success of Bridgerton's diverse casting. “I had never seen any actor who looked like me invited to the table to perform [something like that],” she said. “I hadn’t known necessarily that I was hurting so much, until I saw that representation happen and the success of it take everyone by storm.”

Since then, Ashton has continued to push the envelope. This year, she played villain Dar-Benn – a role traditionally written as male – in The Marvels, opposite Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. “The process of learning stunts and fighting is probably one of the most empowering things I’ve done!” she laughed. “But when I thought the film was finished, I got pregnant and had my baby. And then they told me to come back and reshoot basically the whole movie. That has been the biggest journey for me: my physical wellness, my ability to endure, to mentally switch back into that place postpartum and come back to kick some ass again.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, a boundary-breaking superhero feels like Ashton’s best-suited role to date. (x)

[zawescource]

More than the sum of her parts

Actor Zawe Ashton has graduated from student sitcom Fresh Meat to directing and producing her first film, writing a book and bulldozing barriers in an industry still dominated by white male privilege. Oh, and she might be the next Bond

Scheduling a shoot for first thing on a Monday morning with the woman best known for playing Vod from <Fresh Meat> may not have been the best idea. One imagines Vod waking up in a field somewhere with a spliff stuck to her cheek. Time ticks on. The car is waiting. There’s no word. But when Zawe Ashton finally sashays in full of apologies, immaculate in a Stella McCartney cat-print two-piece, she’s virtually unrecognisable from her bovver-booted, perma-stoned student alter ego.

Zawe (pronounced Zow-ee like Bowie) is a curious mix of erudite and approachable, high-brow but also no-holds-barred. Conversation swerves chaotically from FGM to crisps falling out of her hair, via fourth-wave feminism and the dangers of tequila. She talks frankly about getting recognised at excruciatingly awkward times – “after yoga when I’m naked in a communal shower or when I’m mid-wax and they’re lathering my labia”. Musings on the trappings of superstardom lead to an almost Vod-like exchange. “If you chase that level of fame then you’re asking for it. You’re… who’s the guy who goes that into the labyrinthe?” Er, Theseus? I suggest, searching through my somewhat shaky knowledge of Greek mythology. “Thank you! I’m on my period so I can’t remember anyone’s name.”

She orders brown toast with peanut butter, and then suddenly opts for a salmon salad instead. She has just remembered that she’s going to the Vogue 100 gala tonight – “my eyeballs might look bloated if I eat my beloved toast and that’ll be a no no for Vogue!” Her voice is posher and more considered than it is on TV, and also incredibly husky – not the result of a Vod-esque weekend of hedonism, she tells me, but the tail-end of a bout of laryngitis which left her mute for “six whole days”.

“It’s been one of the most emotional things I’ve ever been through,” she says hoarsely, elegantly crossing her 5ft 10 frame into a tiny school-style chair. “You want to be able to express yourself, but suddenly you’re forced to spend all this time in silence. It was really interesting for me because people pay for this sort of silent meditation so I was like ‘Look within, find the zen…’”, she comically massages her temples. “And actually when you can’t speak, people are very compassionate and kind to you, their body language changes, I really recommend it!”

Many of Ashton’s best roles have been women trying to find their voice. A murderous maid in a radical reworking of Jean Genet’s 1947 play <The Maids>, an unsettled divorceé in the Channel 4 drama <Not Safe For Work>, and the lonely Joyce Vincent in <Dreams of a Life>, a part-dramatised documentary about a woman whose remains were found on her sofa, with the TV still on, three years after her death. And then of course there’s Violet Nordstrom, better known as Vod. “You can’t pin her down,” she explains of her show-stealing part on the student sitcom <Fresh Meat>, which ended in March after four series. “People would say to me ‘There’s never been a character like this on TV before’. I’m so sad to say goodbye to her.” She has lots of souvenirs from the set, including Vod’s leather jacket. “I wear it all the time, but it’s got huge holes in it so I keep putting my hand down looking for my keys and coming up with fake little bags of weed.”

Playing the same character for five years has “intermingled” with her life, not just her wardrobe. She’s currently writing a book of essays about how the “membrane between performance and self can become very, very thin.” It’s partly based on her own experiences – “factional” is how she wryly describes it – not just as an actor, but as a woman. “Female identity can be such a fractured thing…that line between the roles that you inherit, the roles you give yourself, the roles that as you get as you go along through your life and begin to define yourself in terms of relationships, having children…”

Although she describes the writing process as “terrifying”, she clearly thrives off the fear. Ashton has written plays, produced and directed short films and has set up her own production company – Asylum Features. She’s in the process of financing her first feature film, a remake of the 1986 Turkish film <Ah! Belinda>. “I first watched it when I was 18 and working at the Rio cinema in Dalston and I said ‘I’m going to remake that one day’ and now I’ve got the rights to it and I’m working on the script.” It’s the kind of multidisciplinary work ethic that makes Lena Dunham look lazy.

“If you broke me apart I’m sure there is one bone in me that says discipline,” she admits, letting out a raucous laugh. “But it’s not a bone that’s easily seen from the outside. I just don’t think too much about things, that has to be my starting point. If you overthink it, that’s when the anxiety kicks in.”

For Ashton, being an actor-director-writer-producer is about creating a space for herself in an industry that’s still remarkably dominated by white men. “I think you get to a point where the line gets drawn with the powerlessness you feel as a black woman and an actor,” she says. “I’ve had doors slammed on me, people shouting in my face, I’ve been escorted from the premises. So many women I know are multihyphenates. You start off doing one thing but because of the progress that we’re trying to make…that starts to morph into writing or directing or producing or critiquing the status quo.” She cites Michaela Cole, the BAFTA-award winning creator and star of <Chewing Gum> on E4 as an inspiration. “She’s a woman, she’s a black woman, and she made that show because she didn’t feel there was a space where people felt comfortable with her and that’s definitely something I feel.”

The dearth of black female characters on TV when she was growing up led to some unlikely role models. “I loved The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, so Will Smith was my first port of call in terms of someone to look up to – I mean he’s kind of my height and got a similar skin tone. Him or Oprah Winfrey or Rudy Huxtable. That was it.” But she feels that things are slowly improving. “There was a point when I was acting as a kid and there was no make up for women of colour and you were asked to arrive having your hair and makeup already done,” she remembers. “Now you’ve got models like Jourdan Dunn saying ‘I’m one of the highest earning models in the whole world. If I turn up to a shoot and you are not acknowledging my place and my space in this industry, then I’m going to call you out’ and that, to me, feels like a whole new landscape.”

It’s amazing Ashton isn’t more jaded considering how long she’s been playing the game. She’s been acting since the age of 6, when her parents took her to Anna Scher Theatre School in Islington every Saturday. Childhood roles in Desmond’s and The Demon Headmaster were followed by that trusted triumvurate of British acting gigs – Holby City, Casualty and The Bill. She credits Scher with awakening her political education, and attributes her almost-zealot like drive to her “brilliant, creative” parents who were both teachers. Her mum, Victoria, is from Uganda, and emigrated here as a teenager. Her father Paul is a “proper cockney” from east London. “All the dropping me to auditions they’ve done and the times they’ve supported me when it hasn’t been a bed of roses does make you strive that little bit more to turn it into something worthwhile,” she explains.

After getting straight A-s in her A-levels she studied drama at Manchester Met, where she was told she wasn’t a “commercial commodity”, which must amuse her now that she is being touted as both the next Dr Who and the next James Bond. “People love putting me into these iconic male roles,” she laughs. “I know I’m naturally androgynous in some ways but…come on! I’d love to be the first female Bond. It would be an amazing part that also has that one small step for womankind element to it. Sorry Idris, move along!” Although she describes herself as an “indy girl at heart” she’d love to make a big blockbuster. “I have a huge love of musicals and cheesy big budget stuff. Not being pigeonholed is the dream. Someone like Tilda Swinton’s career I really admire because she always makes every role as enigmatic as her persona.”

Hollywood has been courting her and last year she filmed a pilot for HBO about the Salem witch trials, directed by Gus Van Sant – “he’s so quiet but he sees EVERYTHING!”. The series didn’t get picked up, but Ashton loved spending time in LA. “I’m really into the David Lynch surreal dark undertones of the city…I love how diabolical it is”. She could see herself moving there, or Paris, but also says she’s “at that point in my life where I could live anywhere”. She recently bought her own house in Clapton, “embarrassingly close to my parents��� but won’t discuss if she’s single or otherwise. “I don’t talk about any love lives – past or present or future!” she jokes. “Of course, when Ryan Gosling realises that we’re supposed to be together that’s when I’ll shout about it.”

Now she’s off to “get my grooms on” for our photoshoot, which will see her stripping off in the middle of a Shoreditch street for an impromptu outfit change. “Come and get itttt!” she cackles as she whips off her trousers. Vod would definitely approve.