Cherrelle Skeete: Acting, Identity, and the Power of Representation
INTERVIEW with Cherrelle Skeete
ABOUT: Cherrelle Skeete is a British actress, writer, cultural producer, and co-founder of Blacktress UK who trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Her National Theatre credits include Alterations, Three Days in the Country, and The Amen Corner, while her West End work features the original cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. She has also performed in productions at the Young Vic, Hampstead Theatre, the Old Vic, the Bush, Stratford East, the Gate, and the Lyric Hammersmith. On screen, her credits include Slow Horses, Black Cake, The Midwich Cuckoos, Hanna, and Magpie. In 2020, she received the British Black Theatre Award for Best Supporting Female Actor for her role in The High Table. Represented by MULTITUDE MEDIA
“That Imposter Syndrome is a Liar.”
- Cherrelle Skeete.
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Styling: Jewel Kaye
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-Dmi (Editor)
Good afternoon Cherrelle and thank you for meeting with us, my first question will be: what do you think is the hardest part about being an actor?
-Cherrelle
- Well, firstly, I’m very privileged to do what I love, so I’ll take “hard” out of the equation. What I’ll say is that it can be challenging to find balance. As a performer, as an actor, your body, your voice, your energy, everything, is devoted to your work, which means you also need energy for the rest of your life. You still have to live outside your job.
So, when you’re preparing for a role and while you’re performing, it requires such intense focus that it can be hard to make time for other things. Seeing your friends and family can be difficult; you might miss out on important events. That’s why, in my downtime, I really try to invest in my relationships and the things I enjoy doing outside of performing, my artistry in a broader sense.
Yes, I’d definitely say the biggest challenge is maintaining that balance. We love what we do, so it’s easy to slip into workaholic habits, but at the same time, you need to devote time to your “village,” to the people you love. That’s why it’s important to do what you love with people you enjoy being around, ideally, you’re building a community that becomes an extended family over time.
Thank you, very insightful. Do you believe that staying humble is essential for long-term success in acting Maybe you could share how humility has played a role in your own journey?
I do think humility is important because there’s always more to learn. You never really know everything. The older I get and the more experienced I become, the more I see there’s more room to grow. It’s never like, “Okay, I’ve made it.”
That said, as a Black woman of migrant parents living in the UK, there’s also something about celebrating the work I do, because my demographic is underrepresented. In that sense, I don’t believe we always have to stay humble. We should be humble when it comes to our craft, in how we learn and create space for the next generation, that’s crucial. But I don’t think we need to be humble when presenting our work or ourselves, because Black women are underrepresented across the board here in the UK. That’s why seeing an artist like Cynthia Erivo playing Elphaba in Wicked is a huge deal. So, with respect to that, no, I’m not going to be humble, our achievements deserve full celebration.
How do you approach character development Do you have any special routines or rituals You’ve played CIA Agent Terry Miller in Amazon Prime’s Anna, did a voiceover in Overwatch 2 (which is super cool, by the way), and currently you’re playing Darlene Holt in Alterations at the National Theatre. Is there something specific you do to get into character?
I usually start by writing down words that capture each character’s main qualities. Take Orisa from Overwatch, for example, she’s an Omnic, a robot, created by an 11-year-old genius in a futuristic African setting. So she’s both a robot and warm, but also a soldier, all at once. I brainstorm words like that, then play around with them.
For someone like a CIA agent, I’ll research real CIA agents, especially women, to see how they talk and carry themselves, then incorporate some of that into my daily routine. If the character trains a certain way, such as boxing or weight-lifting, or has a particular stance, I’ll try it out to embody that physicality.
With Darlene, the biggest challenge was language. I really wanted to understand her mother tongue, so I worked with a linguist to learn about African-Guyanese culture and its rituals, which are a bit like my own because my dad is half Vincentian and my mom is Jamaican. I researched the historical context, too. In the end, it’s like building a mini “Wikipedia” in my brain about the character, their hopes, fears, dreams, and backstory. A lot of that never makes it onto the stage, but it helps me create a fully realized person, someone with quirks and preferences, even if the audience never sees them eat or discover they have a favorite color. It’s about making them feel three-dimensional.
That’s wonderful. I’m trying to visualize it.
Yeah, I love hearing about other artists’ processes. If you said you enjoy going to different shops for inspiration, I love that kind of approach.
So how do you maintain emotional balance and resilience during the often intense demands of live theatre?
It’s so important. When I create a character, it’s still me in that role. I need to distinguish what’s mine and what’s the character’s. Once I’ve taken my bow or wrapped on set, I should be able to take off the character. If I’m doing 60 to 100 shows, or months of filming, I need clear boundaries.
One thing I do is listen to a particular playlist when I’m getting into character. On days off, I avoid that music because it puts me in the character’s mindset. Taking off the costume is also symbolic; if I skip my usual ritual, I won’t feel fully immersed. All of this helps me separate “Cherrelle off-duty” from “Cherrelle in the role.”
These building blocks help with emotional balance, and I also have a strong spiritual practice. I’m a practicing Nichiren Buddhist, so I chant, exercise, step outside to see the sky, and stay hydrated. Speaking to my friends helps me be myself, not a character with a particular accent. Spending time with my partner, my rock, is grounding as well.
Music and memory are powerful triggers. Certain places, songs, or objects attach to a character’s emotional memory, and I keep that in mind when I’m building a role, even if I’ve never personally experienced those exact circumstances.
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We’re getting to the question everyone keeps asking you. If you could only choose between theatre and moving image (cinema), which would you pick and why?
I honestly couldn’t pick. Theatre and film are different crafts, but they’re connected. Theatre is where you learn so much as an actor, about rehearsal, building a community, understanding how you occupy space, and training your voice for anything from a 50-seater to a 3,000-seater. You learn how to reach someone in the back row who paid their £10 for a ticket, even if you’re miked.
On camera, you might be playing a very intimate scene. But it’s the same vocal and physical tools, just dialed differently. You learn to trust that tiny breath, that “less is more,” because the camera sees everything in your eyes. That’s just as beautiful and poetic in its own way.
Then there’s the magic of post-production, like editing, color grading, the work of the director of photography, and music. In theatre, you don’t have that, but you do get the communal energy of a live audience. Both mediums have their own poetry, so I can’t choose one over the other.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it feels like theatre is just raw art, whereas film has many layers between the final viewer and the actor. If you took all of those layers away, you’d get something closer to theatre, which is almost like being naked.
Exactly. There’s nowhere to hide in theatre. It goes back to our origins as humans sitting around a fire, sharing stories. Everything else, like lighting and set design, is an added layer. Film has many layers of post-production. It’s wonderful, but yes, theatre is more raw in that sense.
If you could name a film or a play you could watch any day, which one would it be, and what do you think that would say about you?
Film-wise, Sister Act 2. The singing is incredible, featuring Lauryn Hill, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Whoopi Goldberg, and a cast of amazingly talented teenagers in a rough school. I remember dancing in my living room, rapping along, and being blown away by their voices. The story is about aspiring beyond your current circumstances, which was so powerful to see as a kid.
A play I love is A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. It’s about a Black family waiting for an insurance check in a time of intense racism, deciding whether to invest in their daughter’s schooling, move into a white neighborhood, or open a liquor store. Again, it’s the idea of dreams and reaching beyond what’s in front of you. That’s the common thread in both, and I love the bold, outspoken female characters who are doing the “impossible.”
Many people associate success with winning awards or achieving fame. How do you personally measure success, and in what ways has that perspective evolved since you started your career?
Success, for me, is doing what I want and being proud of how I’m doing it. Early on, it was just realizing, “Wow, I can pay my bills through acting.” Then it was traveling to places I’d never been, thanks to my work. Now it’s teaching acting for screen while also performing on stage at venues like the National Theatre. I measure success by whether I’m growing as an artist, collaborating with people who inspire me, and being part of projects I genuinely believe in.
It shifts as you go through life. Even just feeding yourself in tough times can be a success, depending on your circumstances. I also want this part of British history, specifically the Windrush generation, to be acknowledged. They’ve contributed so much to British culture, from food to music to language. I want the Guyanese community, in particular, to feel seen. We have the Guyanese flag on stage, and we’re introducing people to Michael Abbensetts, the first Black writer to be commissioned by the BBC.
We also introduce a younger generation of Caribbean British people experiencing dual identities. They don’t fully belong here or in their parents’ home country. It’s about survival, dignity, and hope. I also hope we give voice to the women of the 1970s who didn’t often get one. Many of them are our elders now, so it’s special for them to see their younger selves represented.
What was the hardest part of bringing Darlene Holt in Alterations to life on stage Aside from the accent and language work, was there anything else that felt challenging?
There are some characters that feel really far away from you, but Darlene felt very close. With the help of, we had a drama therapist, Wabria King, in the room. And she really supported us in those moments of the play that felt very close to my experience. And it's not that it was necessarily something I had personally experienced. But I believe that there are certain things that live with you, that stay within your DNA, that get passed on. And you might not necessarily have those memories of you within your personal arsenal.
But I think it would be within my mother's or my grandmother's arsenal that they would have experienced. So there would be certain moments when we were rehearsing that I would just be very, very emotional. And I wouldn't know how to move through it. And I wouldn't understand why. And she would explain to me that there are certain parts of this play that it wouldn't necessarily be me, Sherelle, that was grieving. But it would be things that have been passed on to me genetically, that kind of live within you.
That you're like, I've not experienced this, but this feels like I'm going through it for the first time. Or that I've gone through it before, but I haven't gone through it. So again, it was about creating that separation so it's sustainable for 60 shows. And that I'm not having to draw on my own personal pain or experiences to be able to play this part of the story that is quite painful and heavy. Because of the circumstances of the time, because it's the 70s. And that it keeps me safe.
So that was definitely the challenge. But through the help and support of our drama therapist and building an infrastructure for my character to sit within. It meant that I was able to keep myself safe because of... Yeah, there are certain things that live within your genetic makeup that is just passed on to you. And that you won't necessarily know lives within you. And you'll go through something and it gets triggered.
And you don't necessarily know it, but your body knows and understands it and will respond accordingly. Which isn't always healthy. So finding that line between being safe as well as authentic and true to what the circumstances are of the character.
White Leather coat: BROVARNA brovarna.official
Showroom: room18.london
Earrings:Kolo Magic Jewellery kolo_magic
Styling: Jewel Kaye
Photographer: Dmi Vas master.it.london Photographed on Mamiya rz67 Pro ii / Kodak Pro Portra 160
Which character actually feels closest to you As you mentioned, you’ve played many roles. Is there one that stands out as being really similar to who you are?
Darlene is definitely one of them. My parents are both from the Caribbean, and so are my grandparents, so I was able to draw from my own family’s stories of migration. Terry Miller, the CIA agent, is further away. But I always feel a character is some version of me. It’s like another dimension where I could be that person.
Darlene is the first time I’ve played a Caribbean character who’s explicitly grounded in that culture. I’m a proud British-Caribbean person, and it has been amazing to tap into my own background. I’ve played American roles and even a robot in Overwatch, but here, I can fully explore my Caribbean side. I’ve known many “Darlenes” in my life, like my aunties and other women in my community, and it’s powerful to honor them.
Your answer feels very authentic and profound. It’s clear you have a special connection with this character.
Yes, I feel like I’m honoring women who haven’t been represented often enough, particularly Black British Caribbean women. I’m privileged to showcase these stories, especially for those who have passed on without their experiences being told.
Reflecting on your life before acting, what’s one piece of advice you wish you could give your younger self Or that you’d give to aspiring actors today?
That imposter syndrome is a liar. Critiquing your work helps you grow, but there’s a difference between healthy critique and self-sabotage. I wish I’d recognized sooner when my own doubts were holding me back.
If you’ve put in the work, you deserve the success that comes your way. Stay humble in your craft, keep learning, and surround yourself with people who aren’t just “yes” people. Build a network of mentors in different areas, whether that’s well-being, writing, acting, or spirituality.
Imposter syndrome lies. Keep investing in your craft and understand the difference between artistry and industry. Too many people focus on the industry side, like networking and visibility, while neglecting the art itself. That can lead to bitterness. Stay a student of your craft, always.
Thank you Cherrelle, Cant wait to see you at your current play Alterations at the National Theatre.
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