The last five or so years have given us biopics of some of the most game-changing musicians of all time, from 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and 2019's Rocketman (about Queen and Elton John respectively) and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis last year, which saw actor Austin Butlertake home the Golden Globe for Best Male Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) for his take on The King of Rock and Roll.
And but two weeks into 2023 and we’ve already got confirmation of another musical great to be immortalised in film, with Back To Black set to take on one of the most influential singers of the 21st century, Amy Winehouse.
Acclaimed direction Sam Taylor-Johnson will take the helm and we’ve already seenthe first picture of breakout star Marisa Abela in the lead role, looking uncannily similar to the late Rehab singer. But who is the actor and where have you seen her before?
Who is Marisa Abela?
Marisa is a British actor born in Brighton, who went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Prior to pursuing a career in acting she said she’d been considering studying ‘history with a law conversion – but I just wasn’t interested.’
She says it was her parents – who are of Maltese Arab and Polish Jewish descent – who encouraged her passion for the arts, telling W Magazine last year, ‘I think being a lawyer would be me rebelling. I told them growing up that, that's what I wanted to do because every time I was in a school play or a show, they were both like over the moon and like, “She's going to do it!” They were sort of nudging each other. So, I think my way of rebelling was just pretending I was going to be a lawyer.’
How old is Marisa Abela?
Marisa is currently 26, and with a release date for the film set for sometime in 2024 (filming has only recently begun), the actor will be 27 when it hits cinemas – the same age Amy herself died.
What else has Marisa Abela been in?
Ok, so ‘breakout star’ may not be strictly accurate (yet), but Back to Black is sure to be the film that makes Marisa a household name.
So far, she’s best known for playing Yasmin Kara-Hanani on HBO’sIndustry, about the cut-throat world of finance and trading in London's Square Mile, which has recently been renewed for a third series.
In 2020 she was cast as Ellie Sutherland in BBC’s Cobra, acting opposite big names like Victoria Hamilton, David Haig and Robert Carlyle.
She’s also had parts in crime drama Rogue Agent, starring James Norton and Gemma Arterton, and last year’s indie picture She Is Love by Welsh director Jamie Adams.