Zoe is an actress and physical performer. Since graduating from her Acting degree at Manchester School of Theatre in 2018 she has worked across theatre, TV, film, modelling, music videos and commercials.
Zoe enjoys combining her conservatoire actor training with her physical skills which include ballet, physical theatre, motion capture, stage & screen combat and circus. She has developed her creative practice with industry-leading artists from DV8, Song of the Goat, Gecko Theatre, Lindsay Kemp Company, Hofesh Shechter and Batsheva.
During and post-pandemic Zoe has enjoyed expanding her knowledge of filmmaking by creating low-budget short films working in front of and behind the camera. Zoe has now produced, written, directed and performed two of her own shorts including 'RUSTY' which went on to win multiple awards at festivals across the globe.
Zoe has toured nationally and internationally with Temper Theatre over the past 8 years, as a lead performer and core member of the company, having taken multiple productions to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s Zoo Southside Main house, and Teatro Británico in Lima, Peru with critically acclaimed show ‘TRIBE’. Most recently she played East Anglian princess Etheldreda in HOLM, presented at Jacksons Lane Arts Centre in October. She has worked closely with world class director Mark Murphy on various projects, including Wimbledon Rematch - recreating the famous tennis match of 1980 between Björn Born and John McEnroe. In her last year of training she played lead roles Millie Owens in ‘Picnic’ and Albertine in ‘A Waste of Time’ - Marcel Proust’s ‘À la Recherche du Temps Perdu’.
Zoe worked alongside Ed Sheeran and Elton John in their music video for ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’. She also featured as Judas in The Zangwills music video for ‘Judas on the Dancefloor’ produced by Maisie Williams and led by BAFTA Cymru winning director Lowri Roberts. She has featured in roles on HBO’s ‘Pennyworth’, BBC1 dramas ‘The ABC Murders’ and ‘The Trial of Christine Keeler’. In 2019 she started to develop her understanding of filmmaking and has now produced, written, directed and performed two of her own shorts including 'RUSTY' which went on to win multiple awards at festivals across the globe.
As determined as we are to hit the ground running, 18 months of laying about, watching Netflix and eating pizza have taken their toll! Join Zoe as she comes out of hibernation and is immediately swamped by reality.
In a desperate attempt to get life back on track, Zoe discovers that there is more to a post pandemic existence than her career. And maybe there are moments of lockdown worth holding on to as she goes in search of her new dreams…
‘Rusty’ developed from a 5 minute theatre experiment originally created for a competition at Cambridge International Arts Festival - inspired by coming back into the world after lockdown and feeling incredibly rusty doing auditions & self tapes. Talking to people at the festival she found a lot of performers were feeling the same way so when the festival blues kicked in she felt compelled to continue its journey and adapt the piece for the small screen. This is her first film and has enjoyed collaborating with theatre and experimental film makers Finn Morrell and Rich Rusk, actress Rosalind Halstead, her father Harry Villiers and cousin Tommy Villiers.
Special thanks to Michael Lynch & Cambridge International Arts Festival.
Festival news:
Best Short Short - London Independent Film Festival
Best Super Short - Paris Film Awards
Best Actress - Paris Film Awards
Best Sound Design - WeMakeFilms International Film Festival
Best Microfilm (Gold Award)- Independent Shorts LA
Finalist - Ethos Film Awards LA
Semi-Finalist - Boden Film Festival Sweden, Near Nazareth Film Festival Israel
Official selection - New Renaissance Film Festival Amsterdam, London Lift-Off Film Festival, 8 & Halfilm Awards, EnCore: Dance on Film, Suffolk Shorts, Covent Garden Film Festival
Honorable Mention - Tokyo International Film Festival, Art Film Awards
Watch RUSTY here...
Watch INTERVIEW here...
