Nylon magazine March 2006

Despite her efforts to keep below the radar, Amelia Warner will become something of a fixture on the silver screen this year. She shares the secrets of her success over a traditional English pint with Nell Card. Photographed by Will Sanders

Amelia Warner and I are admiring the primates at London Zoo when, unexpectedly, an insolent young monkey flagrantly moons his audience. "Someone should give that ape some moisturizer. Look how wrinkly his bottom is!" yelps the British actress, who at 23, is prone to such excitable, endearing outbursts. But then, she has had one hell of a year.

In 2005 alone, Warner completed three films: Stephen Woolley's '60s biopic, Stoned, Dan Wilde's sci-fi thriller, Aeon Flux, and the beautifully restrained literary drama, Winter Passing, in which she stars alongside Ed Harris. She has recently returned from filming Middle of Nowhere, a movie by Ringan Ledwidge about a young couple's sojourn in the Australian outback.

Ostensibly, Warner's combination of judicious ambition and laudable talent has earned her more than just the reputation of an ascending ingénue: She has just bought herself a flat in Ladbroke Grove, a chi-chi area of west London. "I'm so excited," she effuses. "It has huge Georgian rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and white walls. It's really girlie." Her delight is palpable. Having spent much of last year on location, Warner is keen to recover some semblance of stability. "It's not that I get homesick," she insists. "I'm very adjustable. It's just, having spent so much time away, I find it incredibly important to reinvest that time in family and friendships back home. I would hate film sets to become my reality."

Consciously eschewing the image of precious starlet, Warner remains resolutely grounded. When she's not filming, she spends her time with friends in Notting Hill or rifling through the antique markets of Portobello. A dedicated thrifter, Warner's personal style is unconventionally piecemeal. Today, she's wearing a pale peach floor-length skirt, a pair of battered trainers, and a raggedy T-shirt with a faded image of Humphrey Bogart on the front. Her thick, dark hair is loosely tied, her eyes lavishly lashed, and her skin luminescent Having completed the photo shoot at the zoo (and bagged a unique sequined tuxedo top courtesy of the stylist) she invites me to a bar in SoHo renowned for its impressive array of stout. ("I love stout. I think I get that from my mother")

By curious coincidence, we find ourselves sitting at a table next to a man Warner has been trying to avoid. Clearly overwhelmed by his presence, she chooses to forgo the stout in favor of a swift exit. Lifting her delicate chin, she gives him a sweet kiss on the cheek before leaving in haste. Finding solace in a less treacherous venue, Warner quickly regains composure.

Clutching a by now much-needed pint, she lights a cigarette and apologizes for the kerfuffle. I question her about the mysterious man. "It's not right at the moment," she says. "We really want to see each other, but we just can't. So we're trying to give each other some space right now. Clearly it hasn't worked," she laughs nervously, eager to change the subject.

Her reluctance to discuss her love life is understandable. When she was only 19, Warner married Colin Farrell. It transpired that the marriage ceremony was not legally binding and, after four months, the couple parted. Farrell has since acquired the reputation of Hollywood Lothario, while Warner has endeavored to keep her private life under wraps. "I've done some stupid things in the past," she admits, fixing her eyes on the plume of blue smoke she has just exhaled. "Now I want to maintain some control over how I'm perceived."

It is this acute self-awareness that will no doubt continue to propel her career. "There is a whorish mentality to acting," she says, "and if people just want to be famous and make a shitload of money then that's fine, but that's not why I do it...I want to be part of the whole creative process. I want to be part of something beautiful, hopeful, and inspiring." For an artlessly beautiful actress of astounding range, that shouldn't prove too arduous a task.