Stars of Tomorrow 2025: Emma Laird (actress)

Emma Laird is speaking to Screen International fresh from a four-month Glasgow shoot for Charlotte Regan’s BBC series Mint, in which she plays the daughter of a gangster who is navigating her first love amid the downfall of her family.

“I was number one on the call sheet – I was in almost every day – and I’ve never had so much fun,” she says. “Charlotte does this great thing of focusing on the women in what could typically be a very male-driven story.”

Chesterfield-born Laird – who was a model for seven years – decided to pursue acting when she moved to London. “My horizon expanded in my head of what I could achieve,” she says.

In 2021 Laird booked her first screen role in Taylor Sheridan’s Mayor Of Kingstown for Paramount+, opposite Jeremy Renner. Her rise has been rapid: roles in Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot mystery A Haunting In Venice and Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist followed, and her numerous upcoming credits include Cary Joji Fukunaga’s feature adaptation of Jo Nesbo’s novel Blood On Snow.

In 2025, she featured as Jimmima in the final minutes of Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, a role she is set to reprise in the Nia DaCosta-directed 2026 follow-up The Bone Temple. “We had done two weeks of stunt rehearsal, so I got absolutely jacked,” she says. “I am a huge horror and zombie fan, so being on that set was a dream come true.”

In addition to “starting an organisation where I help kids in working-class northern towns to access the industry”, Laird has ambitions to hone her craft, listing Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter and Tilda Swinton as actors she admires for their versatility. “I want my career to be ever changing as I grow and learn and expand my knowledge on film.”

Contact: Kirk Whelan-Foran, United Agents

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