Born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in 1991, Tanya Reynolds got her big break in Netflix’s Sex Education playing Lily Iglehart, a teenage writer of alien erotica determined to lose her virginity. She has since starred in Autumn de Wilde’s film adaptation of Emma, Sky Atlantic’s The Baby and earlier this year was nominated for a best supporting actress Olivier award for her role in Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror at the Almeida theatre. Medieval black comedy The Decameron, adapted from Boccaccio’s short stories, in which Reynolds plays Licisca, arrives on Netflix this month.
In The Decameron you play a servant who effects quite a transformation. On your Instagram you said: “Don’t fuck with her.” Tell us about her.
I love her! She’s fundamentally a good person, but she’s been treated like shit all her life, everyone she cares about is dead, so she decides to start living her life however the fuck she wants to live it. It was so much fun to play someone who completely unshackles herself from any restraints.
