Interviewing Actress Sammie Lei
At what age did you decide to become an actress and how did you know you had the skills to go on TV?
My passion for Performing Arts started in secondary school when drama was a part of my weekly curriculum,
I had a teacher named Miss Sparks who made every lesson exciting
I was never very interested in the more important subjects at school, as I struggled to concentrate
I guess you could say performing arts was an escape and gave me the ability to be someone else for a while,
There was a lot of abuse in the family home
I loved performing arts so much at school, that I joined a drama school at 12 years old, which ran at weekends.
This was one of my happiest times as a child, as everyone at the drama school was kind. not like the kids at the normal school.
so I decided these were my people, and I went on to take Performing Arts in sixth form,
but unfortunately by the time the summer holidays were over we were due to return to education.
I realized that a girl who had made my life hell through the whole of primary and secondary school was now to be in my class in 6th form
This girl terrorized me since year 6 primary school, right though secondary.
so when I started 6th Form it was too much for me to take She targeted me so much that I could not continue with performing arts sixth form and I decided to leave and take a different journey
From the age of 10 onwards, I had also been interested in various dance styles and attended many dance competitions and theatre-based lessons
so I decided to concentrate on that side of the entertainment industry
My first paid job was working for an attraction theme park named Gulliver's Land I was working on the Christmas contract for the stage shows which was great fun
When I was 17, I went to Athens in Greece for what I believed was to be a nightclub dancer Unfortunately I was fooled by a mafia gang and when I got there I realized it was an exotic gentleman's club
I was only 17 and very naive but I had to fill out my contracts or I wouldn't get paid and couldn't afford to eat or get home
I was in a foreign country with no other way of making money
the whole experience made me realise that the world I thought I lived in was a lot worse than I had first thought
After I had returned from Greece back to the UK
I decided to concentrate on my studies but not long after I fell pregnant with my first child a beautiful baby boy and five years after I was blessed with the beautiful baby girl,
So i concentrated on my family for the next nine years and put my dreams and aspirations for performing arts aside
Around age 28, I was scouted by an agent in a nightclub they gave me a test shoot audition for a modelling Job
This was a lot of fun and I was successful so for the next five years I worked in and around the promotions industry promoting various events,
This is how I eventually moved back into the film industry
In 2013 I met an old friend from school who had many years of experience producing and filming in the horror genre and he asked me if I would help him with a project
I was extremely new to the film World and had only had experience in Theater at this point but I enjoyed it,
I love acting on the filmmaking side but I would say that the most enjoyable part of filmmaking for me is seeing your Characters come to life on screen on the Edit
I then went on to build my film CV working with various independent filmmakers and in 2017 I realised I had a story to tell myself regarding the dangers and some of the experiences I had suffered growing up
I realised that making Films gave you a voice that people would listen to
After my first film, Roofied was published on Amazon, UK, and USA
It has become apparent that our Productions were not only helping me but also a great tool and Group for aspiring actors to gain contacts and experience on Set and gain the tools,i.e., showreels and photos to accelerate their careers in the industry.
Since 2017 Sammie Lei Productions has gained more members and Talent and I feel extremely blessed to know so many amazing people who have the same mindset and interests as myself
Did your parents support you in the decision to become an actress?
unfortunately, I didn't have the greatest childhood
I was born in Germany due to my father being in the military
The army unfortunately was not the best path for my father as he gained a drinking problem at an early age and became an alcoholic
he divorced my mother when I was two years old and went on to pro-create more children whom he has never supported
He is nothing but a sperm Donor in my eyes
I did go to live with my real father for a couple of months when I was 14 as I was being abused by my stepfather at the family home where my mother lived
She let this happen for over 13 years
So I left home at 14 and ran away to a friend's house, but as i was only 14 Social Services said I could not live with my friend and gave me three options
1 to live with my real father
2 go back to my mother and abusive stepfather
3 Or go into care So I chose care
I didn't know my biological father that well at this point so when I decided I wanted to get to know him a little more and made the decision to move out of my mother's away from my abusive stepfather and rekindle a relationship with my real father little did I know things would get worse as my dad was extremely abusive and an alcoholic by this point he also suffered with severe PTSD due to his experiences in the Military
so when I was 14 I was put into a care home called The Ark in Milton Keynes I would probably say that this was the loneliest and darkest time of my life.
when I was younger from the age of 10 to about 13
my mother did seem to support me as she paid for the drama school and the dance lessons but when I reached the age of 14 she seemed to lose interest in me.
She had another child with my step father by now.
A boy she had always wanted
my mother says that I was a mistake as was marrying my father was a mistake and I don't have any memories of my mother being a mother
she did make sure that we had clean clothes and that we were fed but there were no motherly hugs storytelling kisses the usual stuff that mother do with their daughters
I never went shopping with my mum or had a hobby with her never spent any time together She preferred to work or read
when I was younger I knew that something wasn't quite right
I would see my friends Mum's and how they would act with their daughters and how my friends' mums would act with them, and I couldn't quite understand why my mom wasn’t as loving as my friends' Moms
my mum just seemed to be angry all the time and everything was my fault or my biological father's fault and I believed I wasn't good enough for many years.
you see my stepfather always hated my biological father so there was already a triangulation in the situation before I was even born
because my stepfather hated my biological father so much that he would take that hatred out on me the abuse started when I was two years old and went on until I left the home when I was 14
I spent a lot of my early 20s struggling with the past and trauma responses and I guess filmmaking was my Saviour as it gave me a way to reach out to people and it also made me realise that I wasn't the only one
I believe films and books are the only way to make people listen and understand other people's experiences
like really understand
I haven't spoken to my parents in 13 years and they don't have anything to do with my children
I feel that the trauma they subjected me to as a child will never go away and is just completely unforgivable and I wouldn't allow any predators around my children even if they are blood
What was the role you liked to play the most?
I've always loved fairy tales and in 2022 we had the opportunity to raise money for Make a Wish Foundation UK
so we recreated the Long Lost fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin with a twist
unfortunately, due to copyright issues, we were unable to air the film on paid platforms but we still had an amazing response through YouTube and other social media platforms and many people donated to the charity
as an actress, I have always dreamed of being on a huge set like Game of Thrones i quite like the magical CGI and green screen effects and I would like to work on more projects like that in the future or a role on Eastenders that would be a childhood dream answered lol
What do you think led to fame?
I don't wish to be famous, what is Fame these days?
I believe Hollywood has become evil or maybe has always been evil
I do not believe or wish to compete with the Hollywood stars as I believe that time has gone for me and the times but what I do enjoy is meeting many talents and creating content
I don't need Hollywood to do that
I don't believe I am famous, I'm just well-known on social media due to the Talent and the connections I have been blessed to gain over the last 10 years of filmmaking
What type of character would you like to interpret?
As I mentioned before I do have a love for the mythical realm so I would like to work on a big-budget production maybe throwing a few fairies dragons and wizards working on Harry Potter would have been cool and again Dream role would be a character on Eastenders
What actors and actresses do you like to work with?
I love meeting new Talent but it is always a really good feeling when old cast members come back to a production
there are many names that I enjoy working with everybody involved with Sammie Lei productions but to name three off the top of my head who have been with me since the start would be
Luing Andrews who played Marcus Matthews in Roofied from 2017 - 2022 he was the Notorious head trafficker
not a very nice character but then he has also gone to play a fairy tale King to raise money for ill children in the UK For Maker Wish Foundation
I find that Luing Andrews is extremely talented in adapting he's characters where they he plays a baddie or a goodie
Luing has done very well within the industry and it is an honour to work with somebody who has worked with such Productions as EastEnders and Holby City plus many more
over the last 8 years, Luing has become a very good friend and I look forward to making more films with him in the future
Aftab Sarkar has also been with Sammie Lei Productions since 2018
this guy has what it takes to hit the silver screen and no matter what character is thrown at him he finds a way to adapt his mannerisms as well as his looks to fit the role
he is extremely impressive at improvisation
my favorite character that he had played was Rumpelstiltskin himself
absolutely amazing performance and I don't think I could have found a better man for the part
Anne-Marie Willis has also been with sammie Lei Productions since 2018 and is one of the Production's favourite fairytale princesses
she is so fun to work with at the onset and brings laughter to the group
She is beautiful inside as well as outside and making a movie without her just wouldn't be the same
What other genres would you like to work in and around?
I used to do some work within the music biz industry and that was fun, I'd love to be Filming and Editing a cool new track maybe that could be a possibility
Do you have any ancestors or people in life
who have marked you as a person?
up until a couple of years ago, I was pretty confused as to who I was supposed to be
I didn't seem to fit in with my father's side of the family due to not having much to do with him growing up and I didn't seem to fit in with my mother's side of the family due to them hating my father is
so in my early teens, there was a lot of anger and confusion as the years went by and I had my own children I slowly started to heal
knowing that I would never treat my children the way I was treated as a child
12 years have gone past since seeing my parents and now they are nothing but a vivid nightmare
I still suffer from bad dreams nearly 30 years on and I don't think childhood trauma is something anyone gets over.
All we can do is learn to live with it and to make damn sure that those ancestry Cycles are broken
There was one man in my family whom I dearly miss my Uncle George.
who passed away five years ago, he was very much into the performing arts like myself and would be known for sitting around the campfire with his guitar singing songs till the early hours of the morning drinking wine, and enjoying life
I believe one day when my time here on earth is over I will see him again and I look forward to having a sing-song around the campfire,
but unfortunately, I cannot say I have any family who has supported me whilst growing up
in any way. I found childhood to be quite a lonely and scary place, but the experiences have also given me what I have now and I am so grateful for my home my friends my family my children because if I hadn't gone through those bad experiences I wouldn't be where I am today.
sometimes when life gives you lemons, you have to make lemonade
what's what's been your greatest achievement
I would say my greatest achievement in life would be my children they are an absolute credit to me but my greatest achievement in the film World would be the publication of my 2017 film Roofied
The Story tells the journey of a young girl who started as a dancer and was slowly groomed into working as an in-call girl and her fight to take off the chains of control
What projects are you making next?
We are currently working on a production called NARC which is an abbreviation for narcissist we aim to educate people who are unaware that they are or have been suffering from narcissistic abuse it will Delve into the red flags the trauma bonding that a victim of narcissistic abuse experiences
I believe that if I had been taught the traits of the narcissist when I was younger I would not have fallen victim to so many Predators over the years growing up and I hope that this film will help anyone who finds themselves in the same situation that I did many years ago the film will be at on Amazon in 2025 and stars the three actors I mentioned earlier in this interview Anne- Marie Willis Luing Andrews and Aftab Sarkar Alongside many other amazing talented actors whether they be old members or new faces
Do you like Spanish TV cinema and do you have plans to film in Spain?
There are in fact talks in the pipeline about our production company coming to Spain next year i can't give out any more information than that as nothing has been finalised as of yet but what I can say is never say never
I think Spain is a beautiful country and I have visited many times as well as Anne-Marie Willis and quite a few actors within the production company what's not to like about Spain beautiful food beautiful weather beautiful beaches and Beautiful People I would most certainly retire there but can't say I'm familiar with the cinema I'm afraid
Perhaps I will one day have the opportunity
Thank you so much for asking me to do this interview and paying interest to our production company and projects,
if you'd like to follow us for more updates or chances to be a part of our production team you can follow our page for either the NARC film itself or the Sammie Lei Productions page
I wish you all the best with your future blogs.
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