V Girls

Touched by California fires, Trump's travel ban, and more, their IRL stories rival their stellar films in material

LOVIE SIMONE

LOVIE WEARS ALL CLOTHING MISSONI

Even when fending off a cold, Lovie Simone’s bubbly personality courses through the phone. She’s in Atlanta, filming the fourth season of OWN’s Greenleaf—a soap about the family behind a controversial Memphis megachurch. “I watch almost every episode,” she says. “I like seeing what the other actors were doing when I wasn’t on set. And I haven’t seen any other shows about a church family [like this one].”

As ebullient as she is offscreen, Simone has a knack for playing rebellious and defiant, both on Greenleaf as Zora and as Jenna in Share, one of Sundance’s most talked-about films, also starring fellow V Girl Rhianne Barreto. And as the tough-as-nails leader of a drug-slinging, vindictive clique in Selah and the Spades, another Sundance favorite, Simone says she was able to find a toughness she didn’t know that she had.

“I learned a lot about myself while playing Selah, and I feel like I’ve become a little more like her; I’m really stern now about setting my boundaries,” says Simone of playing the whip-smart, antiheroic Selah Summers. “And about having people come to me with respect. That’s the vibe that Selah gives off: If you don’t like me, at least you respect me. I mean, I don’t know if I would do something as crazy insane as drugging someone just to get people to respect me, but I do like how upfront and open Selah is. You will never question where she stands, ever.”

Having grown up in the Bronx watching Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie movies, Simone always had her parents’ support in her pursuit of acting—something of a blessing, she’s come to realize. “My mom is from the Bronx, and my dad is from Kumasi, Ghana, and came [to the U.S.] when he was 10,” says Simone. “African parents are generally really big on education, but [my dad] actually really supported me when I didn’t want to go to college and do Greenleaf [instead]. They’ve both always been very free in letting me be my artistic self. [Now] we— my parents and my twin sister—all live together in Georgia.”

Though Simone is just 20 years old, she says she’s in the process of writing a novel. “It’s going to be about finding self,” she says. “I eventually want to turn [it] into a movie.” With her luminous confidence on and off camera, there’s little doubt Simone’s literary debut will pack a punch. But until we’re able to read Simone on the page, we’ll gladly be staying tuned for more of the strong, firey characters she brings to life on screen.

CHARLOTTE HOPE

CHARLOTTE WEARS: ALL CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES MIU MIU

Charlotte Hope wants to dash your preconceptions of Catherine of Aragon— if you have any, that is. The daughter of Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella and first wife of Henry VIII isn’t as discussed as some of her historical peers, but as a key player in upending the Tudor dynasty, she is worth a reboot.

While the lore alleges that Catherine died of a broken heart, Hope believes she may also be the victim of a historical bias—one that the English actress hopes her new show, The Spanish Princess, premiering May 5, will remedy. “Everyone remembers Catherine as this pious, barren first wife—a precursor to Anne Boleyn,” says Hope. “This is the version they don’t know: the 17-year-old girl who was the product of incredible monarchs— Ferdinand and Isabella were both in love and politically matched, a real rarity at the time. Then she comes to England, her husband dies within six months and she has to forge a life.”

Hope has a varied résumé, logging theater cred and notable screen roles in The Theory of Everything, The Nun as a titular cursed nun, and Game of Thrones. “People are really shocked,” Hope says of the differences between her IRL self and murderous GoT villain Myranda. “They’re like, ‘You’re so smiley!’ I’m like, yep. And awkward. There’s really nothing threatening about me at all.”

Proving her leading-lady bona fides, Hope displays equal tenderness and force as Catherine, sometimes in the same scene. “A lot of the time, I’d read stuff and I’d be like, that’s an amazing part I’d love to play, but millions of people can play it,” she says. “But I read Catherine, and I was like, this is my part; they needed someone age 18 to 30 with red hair and who could speak fluent Spanish. And thank God [they did] because I have really been like hustling for a good eight years.”

Hope drew inspiration from both the original book, which she read voraciously as a girl, and a “brilliant” script, while bringing a certain idiosyncrasy to the character. “I’m obsessed with sugar,” Hope says. “And Catherine had a sweet tooth as well. So I tried to find any opportunity for Catherine to be eating sweets— which also meant I’d be eating them.”

Though she has been most recognized for Game of Thrones, Hope’s stint as a real-life royal is sure to land both the actress and Catherine of Aragon herself a new generation of fans. And what could be sweeter than changing someone’s preconceptions?

RHIANNE BARRETO

RHIANNE WEARS: JACKET GUESS | EARRINGS, RINGS, BRACELET CARTIER | WATCH OMEGA

In Share, Pippa Bianco’s film about a young teen’s post-blackout struggle to remember her suspected rape, Rhianne Barreto imbues the story with a quiet force. “Mandy says a lot without much dialogue,” says Barreto. “She really listens to everyone, which was fantastic to play, because that’s what acting is, essentially—just listening really hard.” Be that as it may, her prep for the role bordered on Method. After initially befriending her costars, even learning their favorite snacks to keep in her pantry, Barreto kept her distance on set, mirroring Mandy’s arc toward social alienation.

“I wouldn’t speak to Nicholas [Galitzine], for example, because he plays [a suspect in the case],” she says. “I started to feel extremely left out, and that also happens to my character.”

Set life aside, Barreto is indispensable to the film, as both her Grand Jury win at Sundance and Bianco’s leap of faith in casting her prove (Barreto’s previous acting experience included trying to stand out among her eight siblings). And Barreto demonstrated mettle even before production began.

Just before flying to the U.S., her previously approved work visa was suddenly invalidated, causing her to nearly miss the job altogether. “It was during the Muslim ban,” says Barreto. “And there were racial questions in my interview. They said, ‘You don’t look British to me.’ And I’m British, born and raised. What does ‘You don’t look British’ mean?”

As a testament to Barreto, first-time director Bianco moved her production to Canada. And while Barreto is grateful for her positive outcome, she still simmers at the memory. “It’s fucking Trump, and his administration,” she adds. “That was really tough, and it must suck more for other people.” Having encountered Trumpism firsthand, Barreto is raring to amplify historically silenced voices onscreen. “You shouldn’t lose out because of what your race or ethnicity is, [but] it can take people like [Bianco] and [the film’s distributor] A24 to [ensure] you don’t lose a job because of the color of your skin.”

To Barreto, the film’s value is in its portrayal of a rarely seen side of coming forward about assault: the strength in rehabilitation. Citing the macho trope of watching a character do push-ups (as Mandy does following her attack) Barreto likens Share to a prison-break film. “She’s stuck at home, so she does push-ups. That’s such a prison-movie thing,” she says. “Her story is about not being passive. Just because [she’s] got a vagina doesn’t make her less tough. She’s such a soldier. I wish I had her strength.”

DIANA SILVERS

DIANA WEARS: JACKET AND SCARF CHLOE

A tennis champ and accomplished photographer, Diana Silvers’s it-factor is multifaceted. While her onscreen presence was limited prior to January’s Glass, it’s poised to triple by year’s end thanks to back-to-back appearances in Ma, Booksmart and Eve. “People tell me everything’s going to change and to be careful, but you can’t worry about what might happen or you’d just go insane,” Silvers says. “When the Ma trailer came out, [it made me] super, super anxious. But then I realized that, at the end of the day, you’re still yourself. As long as you’re happy with that person, it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks.”

In Ma, a psychological thriller starring Octavia Spencer in an uncharacteristically malevolent role, Silvers plays Maggie, the new girl in town who’s eager to impress. While trying to swindle beer, she and her underage friends set into motion a series of unfortunate events orchestrated by Spencer’s “Ma.” “I think it’s similar in tone to Get Out, in that you’re going to laugh and you’re going to be uncomfortable,” Silvers says.

Laughs are sure to be had in Booksmart, Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut about two studious friends (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) who ditch books to experience adolescent debauchery while they still can. “It’s kind of like if Superbad and Lady Bird had a baby,” says Silvers. “It’s really funny but it’s also real. My character is kind of like the Kyle character in Lady Bird [played by Timothée Chalamet], but less aloof and a little meaner.”

While details about the plot of the Jessica Chastain-produced Eve remain vague, the film, also directed by Ma’s Tate Taylor, sees Silvers as an “assassin type” alongside heavy hitters like Chastain, Colin Farrell, Common and John Malkovich. “I was like, oh my God, what?! I get to be in combat with these amazing actors? Cool!”

After losing her family home in Ojai to last year’s Thomas Fire, it’s no surprise Silvers keeps certain things close. “A lot of what I do outside acting is really just for me,” she says. “Photography is very personal to me. God knows how many rolls of film I have that I’ve never shared.” Which goes to show that no matter how closely the limelight follows Silvers (who is also a model, recently closing Stella McCartney for PFW) there will always be more than meets the eye.

Photography Hadar Pitchon | Fashion Ketevan Gvaramadze | Text Maxwell Williams