- Hello Emily Brinks and thank you for your time for the Fans.

Thank you so much for having me! I’m very excited to answer these great questions that you’ve picked for me!

 

- Emily, when was the time you knew you wanted to be an actress?

I would say that I wanted to work on movies when I was about 12, but I’d always loved playing pretend and performing in different things for as long as I can remember. I was so obsessed with watching behind the scenes footage from movies that I knew I wanted to do something on set, but I didn’t know what job I would work best in. It wasn’t until I went to High School and joined a class called Fall Play Production, in which I worked on producing a show and every aspect of it, but also auditioned and got cast in the show. It was then that I knew I was going to pursue acting and do it for the rest of my life without question. It just felt like a puzzle piece that fit for me and the way that my brain worked and what I loved to do, but I had no idea how far I could take it. Quite honestly, I didn’t know if I would ever make it onto a movie set, but that was my goal and it worked!

 

- You worked in many episodes of Fear The Walking Dead. How did you get cast?

I originally was asked to just be a stand-in for the duration of the eight month shoot, but I turned it down because I really wanted to move up in my career. It was about a month later that they called me to fill in for somebody who wasn’t able to make it to set just for one day. They ended up really loving working with me and wanted to try developing my character a little further so they kept me for the rest of the season. I really jumped into our emotional scene with the parents in episode six and our director, Michael Stratazemis, came up to me in the middle of the scene and said, “You’re doing such a great job and you look a lot like JCP, let’s make you her daughter and get your close up!”. They commended me for my acting and were hoping to write me into the show, but it just never worked out. They had this idea to turn my character into Diane's daughter, but I’m happy that fans actually ended up picking up on that Easter egg, even if it didn’t go any further in the story. I will never forget when Lennie James came up to me after the scene and told me that I did a phenomenal job, that meant so much to me that day.

 

- Which character did you play?

I was a Padre Soldier, but I later found out that my fandom wiki page named my character Alex, so I was very happy to give her name and make her feel more real. I was very happy to be called onto set to work with the stunt team as the character of Serena Otto. Because I was the right fit for the costume I came in to work and that was one of the coolest experiences I’ve been able to try. It was phenomenal working with the prosthetic makeup team in a 4 hour process to turn me into a walker. I was also so thankful to everyone that helped take care of me that day. It was hard to see where I was walking on the set, and coordinating the stunts with all of the prosthetics on, but everybody was so helpful to guide me onto set when I was needed and make sure that I was doing okay. I had an amazing eye contact technician, Justin, who ended up being such a great friend on set. With the types of eye contacts that I had to wear, she actually had to stand right next to me all day long and put eye drops into my eyes every 90 seconds or so. It can actually be quite a stressful and scary process to be covered in that many prosthetics for so many hours. It can feel very claustrophobic so I found myself meditating inside of that mask, and everybody was so helpful to make sure that I was comfortable the best that I could be. I actually did the stunt falling over with Kim Dickens and we landed on a mat, but when I had to lay down without the mat for a shot, they didn’t realize that there was a pile of fire ants there and they got all over me, making it an even crazier and scarier day. But would I do it all over again, absolutely!

 

- What is the first thing you remember when you look back on the set of Fear The Walking Dead?

I’m remembering how physically demanding that job really was, especially not having any time to prep for it and walking on the set not knowing what I was going to be doing since I was called in at the last minute. They had us wearing heavy armor costumes while trudging through waist deep water and fighting zombies on my first day working! We did a lot of running, choreographed fighting, lifting, shooting, and working on the Padre Army base in the universe of the show. Even though a lot of my scenes were cut in the final airing of the show, I’m still so happy that I did that hard work because it created the world that we were living in and it was the best practice for me as an actor in every way. I’d rather try something and know that I’ve done it, rather than care about the “proof” that I’ve done it on camera.

 

- With a role in TWD Universe comes a Big Fan Community, what are your first The Walking Dead fan experiences?

It's been very interesting to jump onto a franchise that’s already been around for so long and has such a following already. It’s very much like my time working on Halloween Ends and a loyal fan base that comes with it. I got more attention online than I thought that I would considering how small my role was, but I’m glad that fans picked up on little Easter Eggs and details in the show that we were hoping they would. Like JCP potentially being my character's mother, and reuniting with her after being taken away to the Padre island. It was very cool to hear fans commenting about that on a podcast for example, and JCP and I would send those to each other after the show aired and we would both get very excited! She’s been very much of a mom to me in real life too.

 

- Working with the main cast will be a dream of many fans, how was it for yourself?

Everyone was absolutely wonderful! I especially loved Kim Dickens and how sweet and caring she was to everybody on set and how much she helped advocate for me when I needed something. Coleman Domingo was absolutely phenomenal and so down to earth, but so professional and amazing to watch him work. I had been a fan of Daniel Sharman from his work on Teen Wolf and we ended up hitting it off pretty well on set and he was such a great friend to talk to and sit with everyday at lunch. It’s also always nice when we all celebrate things for each other, like when Ruben Blades won a Grammy for Best Latin Album! Jayla Walton was so wonderful! She was great at giving advice and wanted to help me, and it's especially great to have a fellow female friend on set! Even though we would have about 300 people working with us every day, everybody felt like such a good family and wonderful to work with and I really feel like I got to know everyone so well and we still keep in touch today.

 

- Emily, you also work in many other projects like "Halloween Ends", "Last Seen Alive", and a series I just watched some weeks ago, "The Girl from Plainville", and many more. What's your personal highlight so far?

Thank you so much for watching some of my work! Each and everyone of these movies holds a special place in my heart because of the little chapter in my life that they have become. My all time favorite set that I worked on thus far has been “The Menu”. I never have enough good things to say about that experience and everyone that I worked with. The entire cast and crew were so sweet to work with each and every day. Mark Mylod, our brilliant Director, was so kind, caring, and creative. Ralph Fiennes was just an absolute Masterclass in acting every day, I seriously couldn’t believe that I was given that opportunity to watch him work and learn from him as much as I did. Nicholas Hoult is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, he made me feel really welcomed both on and off set and I really thank him for that. Anya Taylor-Joy is still probably the sweetest person that I’ve ever met. She is so phenomenal as an actress, as a friend, and as a creative powerhouse. I also made some lifelong actor friends, Zachary Branch & Joshua Outzen, who are off doing amazing things in their own careers. We keep in touch often and try to help each other out in our careers any way that we can. I was just so in awe of being surrounded by such a talented group of people and being able to go to work everyday in the coolest environment. I learned so much from everyone and I think about the crew fondly all the time!

 

- What will we see next from you? Any projects/movies/series?

I was in a movie with Al Pacino called “The Ritual” earlier this year, so that will be one of my next projects to hit theaters in 2025! That was also such a phenomenal experience that I can’t wait to talk more about in the future and the wonderful cast that I got to work with there as well. I am currently a producer and an actress at Natchez Film Co. in Mississippi. I have a great team that we work together creating original short films, music videos, fashion shoots, commercials, cinema drone operating, and recording music sessions. We just finished shooting our fourth original film this year and hoping to develop bigger movies. There are talks of some big ones on the way hopefully this fall, so we will see what happens next for us. I’m just happy to be in a creative environment where I can keep learning and doing what I love with my team. I feel like something big is around the corner, not sure what it will be, but 2025 will be exciting now that we can move past the SAG and IATSE strikes that we all went through. I’m hoping to really take some big steps in my career and push it to see where it can take me!

 

- Is there any dream role or actor/actress you would love to work in the future?

There are so many to choose from! Jennifer Lawrence is one of my favorite actresses, I feel like we have a lot of the same approach to our work, so I’d be very curious to see what she’s like in person and working on set. Katniss Everdeen is also the type of character that I love and would want to portray a strong and independent girl, but also the turmoil that she internally goes through. Margot Robbie, of course, is such a powerhouse in transforming herself into so many different types of characters, but also being so gracious and sweet. I think she would be lovely and exciting to work with. I would also love to get a chance to work with Bradley Cooper and his characters that he brings so much life to in everything that he does. I love the stories that he is able to tell and really show you his characters on a different level that I don’t think I see from a lot of other actors. I’m also such a huge fan of Lady Gaga and who she is as an artist in all aspects of her work. Because of her deep approach to her characters, I think it would cause me to want to try something like that too if we ever worked together. Oh! But I of course have to mention the amazing Helena Bonham Carter! She might be my all-time favorite, and I just love her approach to not only acting, but her outlook on life is just fantastic. Her character’s never disappoint and she just has such a unique quality about her that she embraces and uses as a tool for her work. She is a wonderful woman that I would hope I can get to know someday.

 

- Is there anything else you would like to let TWD Fans and your fans know?

I was so thankful to be a part of that series. I can also tie it back to an important moment in my life, when I met Tyler Chase, who was in season three of the original “The Walking Dead”. He was giving tours of “The Hunger Games” filming location, and that was definitely around the time that it sparked my interest about working on movies as a reality. Tyler was very kind to me as I was an eager 13-year-old wanting to learn everything about that world and ask him so many questions about TWD and his other work. I was excited to see him in the show “Euphoria” recently, and I’m very happy to see how far he’s gone, even if we haven’t seen each other in 10 years.

 

- Thank you for being my guest Emily Brinks and best wishes for the future. I hope to see you one day in Germany.

Thank you so much for having me! You really did give me some great questions to work with, and I enjoyed it very much. I hope to see you one day in Germany as well!