Cara Delevingne is one of the most in-demand models in the world, but her first true love was always acting. Only the transition was not easy at all and she required her to work twice as hard.
Delevingne, who is 30 years old, has made millions of dollars modeling on catwalks in London, Paris and Milan for brands like Burberry and Chanel, and has had countless covers for Vogue and Grazia.
Her rise in the cinema began with “Anna Karenina” (2012) with Keira Knightley, to take a turn towards the teen drama “Paper Towns” and then to the blockbuster villain movie “Suicide Squad”.
Her most recent film, “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” by Luc Besson, opens in Latin America in August.
Delevingne told AFP in an interview how the transition from the catwalk to the big screen was not as easy as it seems.
ALL FOR A DREAM It has already happened with former athletes and other celebs who get auditions because of their faces, but at the same time they have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously.
Two years ago, on a US morning show to which she was invited to promote “Paper Towns,” she was asked sneaky questions, such as whether she had read the John Green novel that inspired the film.
Not only had she done her homework then, but she wrote her own romance and it’s due out soon.
“There will always be people like that,” she said. “I think it’s just another chance for me to stand my ground and show that I put effort into my job, that I work very hard and I’m willing to show those people (who underestimate her) wrong,” she said.
THE VOICE OF YOUTH A powerful voice on social media with 40 million followers on Instagram, Delevingne has been praised for being supportive of many teens struggling with their emotions, speaking openly about her bisexuality and her battles with depression when she was 15 years.
“I feel blessed to be such a strong influence on girls and teenagers,” she said. “That’s been a goal since I was younger, to be a role model, for them to see how I’ve followed every one of my dreams with hard work and determination.”
NATURAL TALENT When casting for Laureline, Besson immediately thought of Delevingne as the actress who could maintain the empowering, courageous spirit of the crime-fighting character alongside Valerian.
“She was becoming a super model by accident because an agent saw her and said ‘you can take very good pictures.’ That she is at the beginning of a long, long career,” Besson told AFP.
Critics define Laureline’s character as a paradox: a fearless, independent woman who nevertheless defines her happiness through her success in finding her true love.
“That’s what I love about life in general, the dichotomies of everything,” Delevingne said.
“Of course I understand wanting to be a woman who can take care of herself and be completely independent, but also, at the end of the day, all you want is to go home and have someone who loves you and cares about me. and vice versa, and one day to have a family,” he continued.
Laureline, she was adding, proves the reality that romance is not that no-win game for women in which family life must be pitted against career.
“I identify with her in that sense and, sure, I’m strong and independent and all that stuff, but at the end of the day I’m a hopeless romantic,” she said.
“Many people deny it, but aren’t we all?” the actress and model concluded.
