'Mr. Malcolm's List' Star Zawe Ashton Discusses Ice Cream, Fenty And How Self-Love Is Seriously Sexy
In recent years Zawe Ashton has been cast in some very serious roles, including that of ambitious gallery assistant Josephina Thistlewaite in mystery thriller Velvet Buzzsaw - a part that saw her fight to climb the career ladder at any cost.
But, for those who missed seeing her less sinister and more vulnerable side on screen, prepare yourselves for her latest venture, undertaking the part of jilted bride, rejected by one of the most eligible bachelors, in period romance drama Mr. Malcolm's List.
If you've already taken pleasure in watching the film (released on August 26), you'll remember Ashton's character doesn't fit the bill as a suitable wife for Jeremy Malcolm (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù). And with disappointment comes humiliation and later revenge.
As for real-life Ashton? Her IRL persona couldn't be further from the character we've just described. The 38-year-old is witty, warm and expressive, which comes across perfectly during ELLE UK's game of 'Ask Me Anything', in which her fans get to put literally 'any' question to her, no matter how funny or trivial.
During the game, the actor, who is expecting her first child with fiancé Tom Hiddleston, revealed everything from her obsession with magnum ice cream to 'finally starting to grow up, a little bit'.
In response to whether she meant a Magnum ice cream, or some other kind of magnum as something she can't do without, Ashton joked: 'I can't go a day without drinking a magnum of champagne, ok guys. That's me. Any haters out there can jog on.'
The Maryland actor said the concept of 'ice cream on a stick' actually sums up her personality perfectly, which is 'sweet, enjoyable and relatively low maintenance'.
Discussing her biggest beauty faux pas, Ashton recalled: 'All the way through university I was definitely wearing a concealer that was about 10 shades too light for me,' before clarifying: 'Not even light,' but rather a 'chalky mismatched tone'.
She later thanked Rihanna's beauty brand Fenty, saying: 'Of course, again, now we live in a Fenty world and we live in a much more conducive world to to skincare matching, and thank goodness for that.'
This led to her admitting she was 'so scared' to cut and shave her hair for Channel 4 programme Fresh Meat (which, if you don't know, documented both the hilarious and painful reality of being a university student) for the first time. In the end, though, the buzzcut style was embraced by her and everyone else.
'So i think I could learn again how to be a little bit more daring,' she said of the lesson this bold beauty decision taught her.
Talking self-love, Ashton said: 'I think making a commitment to continually work on yourself is, is is probably one of the sexiest things you can do to be honest.
'And you don't necessarily think that when you're a lot younger and your dating and your getting into relationships, but making making that vow to continue to grow as a human being and to continue to investigate the more complex parts of yourself or the most broken parts of yourself or the less attractive parts of yourself is a huge gift that you can give.'
She continued: 'Learning how to fall back in love with yourself I think will always guarantee you being able to continuously fall in in love with anyone else.'
As well as talking about growing up, Ashton shared the five celebrities she'd pick to invite to her next birthday party, including, 'wonderful spirit Iman' who 'would obviously bring that glamour that we all need', Beyoncé ('do i really need to say why?'), The Great Gatsby director Baz Luhrmann and Succession's Nicholas Braun.
'I think that's a good balance,' she says.
'I think that would be a slamming party.'
Watch Zawe Ashton play Ask Me Anything at the top of this article.
Mr Malcolm's List is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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