Bel Powley isn't one of those English actors who is forever starring in period pieces and stuffy literary adaptations.
Despite features that practically scream "Brontë heroine" — pale skin, sorrowful blue eyes, dark hair — the 31-year-old has earned a reputation for playing opinionated, fast-talking young women figuring out their path in the world — characters brimming with wit and frantic energy who feel instantly familiar to a modern viewer.
There was Minnie, the hormonally supercharged 15-year-old she played in "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"; Claire, a sexually assertive production assistant in "The Morning Show"; Kelsey, Pete Davidson's spray-tanned friend with benefits in "The King of Staten Island"; and Birdy, a garrulous twentysomething Londoner in "Everything I Know About Love."
