Samantha Hopkins
British Actress
ABOUT
Samantha gained a first class degree in Drama from Loughborough University (www.lboro.ac.uk) before going on to train for three years at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (www.mountview.org.uk).
In 2009 Samantha became an original cast-member of Threesixty’s hugely successful production
of Peter Pan (www.peterpantheshow.com) directed by Ben Harrison. The show was staged in
a specially designed tent in Kensington Gardens with a set by Bill Dudley, which included 360 degrees of CGI projection surrounding the audience. She proved herself to be a reliable understudy and her ability to play up and down in age enabled her to cover a
range of roles including Wendy and Mrs Darling. She stayed with the show when it transferred
to the O2 and then went on tour with it to America, where she took over the role of Wendy
and performed in San Francisco, Orange County and Atlanta.
After returning to the UK, Samantha spent the next
couple of years working for the UK’s biggest outdoor
touring theatre company, Chapterhous.
She played one of English literature’s most famous heroines, Elizabeth Bennet, in a National tour of Pride & Prejudice, adapted by Laura Turner.
“Samantha Hopkins and Adam Grayson, as Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy, give spark and depth to their simmering relationship in the way that they look at each other - or indeed look the other way” (Kevin Berry, The Stage).
This was followed by a Shakespeare double bill, in which she played Viola in Twelfth Night and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“Samantha Hopkins played lovesick Viola/Cessario with an excellent balance of humour and heartache” (Sarah Chatterley, The Birmingham Mail).
Samantha has recently worked as understudy/ASM on two no.1 tours with Touring Consortium Theatre Company (http://touringconsortium.co.uk/). Brave New World was directed by James Dacre and was a co-production with Royal & Derngate (https://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/). This was followed by Of Mice & Men, which was a co-production with Birmingham Rep and was directed by Roxana Silbert (https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/).
Following a successful run in London, Samantha is playing the part of Joan in a UK tour of Nigel Slater's Toast (https://www.nigelslaterstoast.co.uk). Toast is based on Nigel Slater's autobiographical book of the same name and has been directed and choregraphed by Jonnie Riordan to great acclaim.
Despite working primarily in theatre, Samantha has always been keen to maintain her screen acting technique. She received excellent training in acting for camera at Mountview, where she was taught by Jonathan Wolff and went on to develop her skills further with Screen Acting London (www.screenactinglondon.co.uk) and more recently, the advanced screen acting course at CityLit (http://www.citylit.ac.uk). She has worked on a number of short films including Cancer Hair, directed by Gail Hackston, (http://www.cancerhairfilm.com/) which went on to win a number of awards at UK Film Festivals, including Best of Fest at the Isle of Man Film Festival and the IMDB award for best new director at Bath Film Festival. Samantha's other short film credits include Dulcie in The Most Important Question You Will Ever Ask, D.S. Alice Greaves in Saucy Butty and the Nurse in The Violinist.
In 2014, Samantha became a founding member of a script reading company called
The Watermark Collective. A group of actors who provide a table-reading service for script writers. The company has developed an excellent reputation within the writing community and has worked with writers from The Royal Court writing programme and the London Screenwriter's Festival competition in association with Hayley McKenzie and Script Angel. (http://www.thewatermarkcollective.com/)
Please click on the Spotlight link to view Samantha’s full CV.
