Holly Jane Kenyon (born 21 November 1980) is an English actress who won a scholarship to study at

The American Musical and Dramatic Academy The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) is a private conservatory for the performing arts in New York City and Los Angeles, California. The conservatory offers master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates ...

in central Hollywood. She appeared in ''The Kindness of Strangers'' (2010) and was invited to attend the film's screening at the 63rd

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

Early life

Holly Kenyon was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, the only daughter of Jane Alison Kenyon. Both her maternal grandmother and grandfather were from

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

families. She attended

Trent College Trent College is a co-educational private boarding and day school located in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, between Nottingham and Derby. Founded in 1868 as a local 'middle class alternative' to the more famous public schools, it is now a coeduca ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

before moving to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

when she was 18 years old. Kenyon studied at

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

However she soon returned to her performing roots and auditioned for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She was immediately offered a scholarship and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to take up her place at the drama school.

Career

Holly Kenyon began her career as a singer and was classically trained from the age of twelve. as well as playing the flute and 'cello. It had originally been her desire to pursue a career in musical theatre and she went on to work briefly in opera and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

and studied at the

London College of Music London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London. History LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at ...

. However, after studying acting at drama school in Hollywood, she decided to focus upon straight acting roles, once back in the UK. Shortly after returning from drama school, she won a place on an acting workshop that was held in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

where she was spotted by a

personnel management Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the effective and efficient management of people in a company or organization such that they help their business gain a competitive advantage. It is designed to maximize em ...

agent who offered to represent her. Soon after signing to her personal management agency, Kenyon was offered a supporting role in the British feature film ''The Kindness of Strangers''. She played the role of a French bar waitress called Beatrice in the film. This film was screened at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. The film starred

David Prowse David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder, strongman and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film '' A Clockw ...

who played the role

Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...

in the original ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' movies. In August 2010 it was announced that ''The Kindness of Strangers'' had earned six nominations at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema including the nomination for Best Film of the Festival and a nomination for Best Director. The film eventually won four of the awards including Best Director for Hadfield. Prior to this film role, Kenyon also played a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n girl in ''

Perfidy In the context of war, perfidy is a form of deceptive tactic where one side pretends to act in good faith, such as signaling a truce (e.g., raising a white flag), but does so with the deliberate intention of breaking that promise. The goal is t ...

'', a role which required her to speak

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. In 2011 Holly was cast as news reporter Celyn Bowen in the paranormal horror film ''

Untitled Untitled may refer to: Artworks The following artworks are sorted by the name of their artist. B * ''Untitled (Pope)'', a panel painting by Francis Bacon * ''Untitled (2004)'', by Banksy * ''Untitled'' (1982 Basquiat devil painting), by Ameri ...

''. Kenyon shot a sci-fi film in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. She played the lead role of Scarlet Davies in the futuristic sci-fi action film.

Filmography

References

*http://thekindnessofstrangersmovie.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=2 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110811112113/http://www.filmmakerfestival.com/noms2010.html *https://archive.today/20130505151835/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Holly-heads-Cannes-film-premiere/article-2172590-detail/article.html Lynette Pinchess 05-19-2010 *http://www.rotundafilms.com/ *http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001190/ *http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Famous-festival-s-drama/article-2140249-detail/article.html *http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10123382 Bruce Sinclair 5 November 2010 *http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/nottingham-evening-post/mi_8158/is_20100519/holly-love-films/ai_n53653541/?tag=content;col1 Nottingham Evening Post 05-19-2010 *http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/8179957.Holly_reels_them_in_with_Cannes_debut/ Lee Day 05-21-2010 *http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/catalogue/browse/?id=5B6B656A0ed2636B25KPi3649BB7 *http://www.health-workforce.com/htm/b20061107.639797.htm 11 July 2006 *http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Health&F=1&id=9727 *http://www.actors.mandy.com/uk/actor/profile/holly-kenyon

Lynette Pinches 10-22-2010 *https://web.archive.org/web/20111006031221/http://www.filmmakerfestival.com/winners2010.html

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenyon, Holly 1980 births Living people Actresses from Nottingham English film actresses