There’s a distinct wave of British nostalgia sweeping through London. Topshop is back, ballet flats have colonised the streets and Scouting for Girls are hitting the road again. Everywhere you look, there’s a renewed fixation with the 2010s – the very era that launched Gabriella Wilde into the spotlight.
The 36-year-old actress holds a special place in the hearts of those on the Gen Z-millennial cusp. Her endearingly air-headed performance as ‘posh totty’ Saffy in St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold enshrined her status as a noughties cool-girl (didn’t every teenage girl want to be in those films?), yet her leading role in Endless Love as the ethereal Jade Butterfield pegged the star as one to watch on a more serious level.
© Saskia Lawson
© Saskia LawsonA far cry from the riot of pearls, Tory romp and polished accents of her onscreen schoolgirl clique, Gabriella’s role in the 2014 American rom-com saw her star opposite Alex Pettyfer in a sweeping onscreen love story.
“I had quite a strange experience making that film because I was pregnant with my first son through the whole of filming it – and I was hiding the fact I was pregnant. I didn’t tell anyone,” the actress says from a cosy corner of her Somerset home. “The wrap date kept being pushed back and I was panicking because I knew I was pregnant and I didn’t want to show. I hadn’t fully processed myself that I was pregnant at 24. If you look closely, you’ll probably think ‘her face looks a bit weird...’”
"That was the first time I thought, oh, maybe I could act. As I’d never seen myself in that way."
Gabriella speaks while perched beside a large window looking onto a leafy green countryside setting – a scene poles apart from the Atlanta set of the beloved film. She’s wearing a slouchy lemon-yellow sweatshirt, her face bare of make-up, radiating an unfiltered ease. “It’s funny because my nieces who are teenagers and doing GCSEs are now discovering that film. My friend texted me the other day saying my goddaughter is obsessed with it and she’s ten! I don’t know if it’s even appropriate for her…”
Despite navigating pregnancy and a spell of Bell’s palsy while shooting, the actress successfully carved out a space for herself in cinema, depicting the quietly intelligent, composed 17-year-old high school graduate with ease alongside acting veterans Joely Richardson and Bruce Greenwood.
© Saskia LawsonYet, don’t let her mythically pretty features and tumbling blonde locks fool you. She’s got grit – no doubt shaped by entering the modelling world at 14 and navigating motherhood just ten years later. “I started modelling very young – I was modelling on and off throughout school. Eventually, I left school and went into it full-time, then I started acting when I was 19. At the time, I was at art college studying fine art painting, thinking that was the road I was going to take.”
An audition for Tim Burton’s 2010 production of Alice in Wonderland changed the tides. “That was the first time I thought, oh, maybe I could act. As I’d never seen myself in that way. I wasn’t a particularly extroverted person, but then I discovered through film that a lot of the performance is internal and quieter. It’s not always like a school play where it’s about getting up in front of everybody and being that kid in school, which I wasn’t.”
Hailing from a large, creative family enabled Gabriella to pursue a career in the arts. One of eight children, the Hampshire-native was constantly surrounded by creative stimuli. Her older sister worked for Vivienne Westwood, while several of her half-siblings, including Cressida Bonas, also worked as actors. “There’s a very strong thread between us all,” the star reflects. “We all want the others to succeed and be happy.”
And succeed she did. Following appearances in iconic stories from The Three Musketeers to Doctor Who, Gabriella landed the role of Caroline Penvenen in BBC’s Poldark. The show was a hit, featuring a stellar cast including Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson.
© Saskia Lawson“With Poldark, I joined in the second season and I hadn’t worked in England for about six years. I’d been in America so I hadn’t done anything in my own accent during that whole time. There was this real sort of sweetness in the homecoming of filming with an English cast and crew. I know it sounds strange, but working with English ‘old actors’ and a lot of them coming from theatre backgrounds, it’s a very different feeling to that of being on these big American studio sets.”
Today, Gabriella likes to stay close to home. She has three young boys, aged 11, nine and five, which keep her rooted in the English countryside far from the lights of Hollywood.
Her latest project, Mother’s Pride, was set in her stomping ground of the West Country. The comedy details the story of a struggling pub and a grieving family who find unexpected hope in brewing real ale and entering the Great British Beer Awards. Martin Clunes, Jonno Davies and James Buckley also star. “It’s a love letter to English pubs. It’s a really sweet, really British comedy, reminiscent of those older British movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral. It’s really nostalgic for the Britishness of the village and the pub and the sort of characters that you find in these little pockets of England.”
© Saskia LawsonLike all great comedies, the film is laced with a push-pull tension between humour and heartbreak. The narrative touches upon tender subjects like grief and mental health – a topic Gabriella is well-acquainted with. The actress is trained as a grief counsellor and works as a Soul Midwife, specialising in areas such as palliative care. “It’s amazing, wonderful work – it’s deeply enriching and actually very life-affirming despite people being very afraid of the topic. It’s sad that it’s not more in our culture to bring it into the day-to-day, but it’s an endlessly fascinating topic to me.”
By this point, I’m questioning how Gabriella remains so acutely poised despite juggling an acting career, compassion work, modelling and motherhood. Her boys certainly keep her busy, yet the actress takes parenting in her stride. “It’s difficult, because when you sign onto a project like a film or a TV show, you do slightly sign away your life. You don’t get to say, ‘oh my son’s not well today, so I’m gonna stay home with him’, and that’s where the challenge is.”
© Saskia LawsonShe adds: “On the flip side, there’s a lot of fluidity because it’s not like a Monday to Friday nine-to-five. I often brought my children to set when they were babies. I was pregnant with my middle son on Poldark – I went back to filming when he was four months old and so he came with me every day because I breastfed him and he didn’t take a bottle. He lived on set with me and the whole schedule was around his feeds, which was amazing.”
Now her sons are older, the actress is learning how to navigate both her demanding career and simply being mum: “I’m learning on the go how to make it work with them being in school and having to disappear to do jobs, but I try to tell them how I’m lucky enough to do something that I love,” she pauses, adding with a somewhat sceptical smile: “My oldest wants to be an actor, which I’m like, OK, good luck! It’s really hard!”
© Saskia Lawson"With hindsight, you learn that it’s OK to know where you feel comfortable, where your lane is and what your strengths are."
Regardless of the fact that Gabriella is a bona fide multi-hyphenate (who just so happens to stand at a willowy 5’ 9.5” and is the picture of English rose elegance) like any parent, she still worries about losing street cred points with her eldest son.
“At the moment he’s still young enough that he thinks my job is cool and I think he’s interested in doing something creative himself. But I’m pretty sure that I’m teetering on the edge of him thinking that I’m really lame and embarrassing because he’s 11 – so I feel like I might put him off forever because it’ll become deeply uncool at some point.”
"I was pregnant with my middle son on Poldark - I went back to filming when he was four months old and so he came with me every day"
When she’s back home in Somerset with her family away from set, you can find the mother-of-three in the garden with her sons. The slower pace of country life suits her laidback nature, in addition to her constant craving for sunshine. Although her high-fashion look would suggest that she’s more Westminster than Wellingtons, Gabriella finds solace in simplicity.
She’s not materialistic in the slightest, claiming that fashion is far from being a priority. Her style hasn’t changed much over the years, with classic jeans and T-shirts forming the foundation of her off-duty wardrobe. Describing her style as ‘tomboyish’, she reflects over past red carpet looks worn for special occasions, which she likens to stepping into a character when acting.
© Saskia Lawson“I’m not someone who wakes up, and puts on an outfit and make-up, you know? I’m probably rolling out of bed and running outside to get the boys to school. If I have anything nice, it will be ruined immediately if I wear it at home.”
It goes without saying that the star could wear a bin bag and make it look chicer-than-chic. Yet, her nonchalant attitude towards dressing is refreshing. A quick scroll through her social media will tell you all you need to know about her style. Breezy boyfriend tees, slim-fit jeans, monochrome cami tops and the occasional strappy sundress conjure up unfussy charm, typically without a hint of concealer or lipstick in sight. Think off-duty Kate Moss with a cosy twist.
© Saskia Lawson
© Saskia Lawson“Children always will always bring you right back down to earth,” she says, when discussing the whirlwind that is acting. “It’s also important not to take it too seriously. Working in the film industry is so unpredictable. You do get sort of whipped up in it and lose your grounding sometimes.”
As for what keeps her rooted amidst the chaos? Hot baths, being in nature and practising self-acceptance. Introverts will understand the feeling of living in the shadow of their extroverted counterparts, yet Gabriella posits that the beauty of acting is learning how to harness quiet introspection.
"It's difficult, because when you sign onto a project like a film or a TV show, you do slightly sign away your life."
“With hindsight, you learn that it’s OK to know where you feel comfortable, where your lane is and what your strengths are. Coming into this world so young, you feel that you’re meant to fit into a way of being that maybe doesn’t feel authentic to you. That was probably the thing I struggled with the most when I was really young. I felt that I should be louder. I was a little bit like a fish out of water.”
Introverts, take heart: if Gabriella says it’s OK to let go of the pressure to be anything other than yourself, then there’s hope for us all. Before slipping off to return to her day, the star imparts one piece of advice to young actors trying to crack the notoriously ruthless industry.
© Saskia Lawson“The sooner you can make peace with what you have to offer and what you don’t, and knowing that that’s OK, the better. Everyone has their own unique way of expressing themselves and there is no right or wrong. A lot of time gets lost trying to be things that you aren’t and missing what you are.”
As our conversation draws to a close, it’s clear that Gabriella Wilde is far more than the sum of her enviable CV. From her early days navigating the modelling world to cultivating a thoughtful acting career and raising three sons, she speaks with a grounded, unflashy wisdom. Once constrained by self-doubt, shaped by her naturally introverted nature, Gabriella has since learned to embrace her quietness as a source of strength.
Today, that calm confidence defines her. In a world that often rewards noise, the actress is proof that power can come softly – and that being yourself is more than enough.
The interview with Gabriella Wilde appears in the August-September 2025 issue of Hello! Fashion, out now in stores…
