Ella Lily Hyland always knows how to take her shot, from acing her break-out role in the tennis drama Fifteen-Love to her new show, the action-packed Black Doves, in which she plays a gun-toting hitwoman.
Black Doves, which landed last week, is Netflix’s big Christmas spy drama, starring Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire as assorted spooks and assassins shooting their way around London.
And while those stars are undeniably brilliant, it’s Hyland — sporting a severe fringe and her native Irish accent as the fierce-yet-funny Williams — who leaves a blazing impression every time she’s on screen.
The chatty and disarming actor, from Carlow in the south-east of Ireland, says playing the part was a no-brainer as it was so well written. Oh, and it was “gas” stunt training and gun handling. “In the shoot-out scenes they were all real guns shooting blanks… It’s just scary, but also so much fun. The stunt team were the coolest, they were deadly. It was new and really exciting to do that kind of work.”
Being in gunfights with Knightley and Whishaw — not known for their action credentials — must have been unusual? “We kept laughing, as we are so unassuming,” she says. “It was so funny.”
The 26-year-old praises Knightley and Whishaw for being “gracious leaders” on set. “They were really generous with the space. It was lovely to see, being at the start of a career.”
Growing up, Hyland was always very performative — “hyper,” she laughs — but it wasn’t until she was 16, and starring in Salt Mountain at the National Youth Theatre, that she thought about acting as a career.
After training at the Lir in Dublin, her breakout came with Fifteen-Love opposite Aidan Turner in which she utterly convinced as a former tennis star (with a spot-on English accent) who accuses her coach of sexual abuse.
Her sporty background may have helped land the part of a pro sportswoman, as she used to compete as a pole vaulter. “It’s in my family, my uncle and my granddad were pole vaulters. I did do that too, so I think my agent was using it as ammunition, like, ‘She’s really sporty.’”
Next the actor, who lives between London and Ireland, will be seen in the much-anticipated Stephen Graham show on Disney+, A Thousand Blows. Then there is Towards Zero, a “sexy” Agatha Christie adaptation next year with Anjelica Huston.
After that, Black Doves will return for season two. Hyland laughs, “More getting the shit kicked out of me by Keira Knightley, please God!”
Black Doves is on Netflix now
