Synnøve Karlsen is one of London’s hottest talents, a former Screen International Star of Tomorrow who has been in two Netflix series, Bodies and Medici; yet her “shouting at a TV star in the street” experiences still revolve around her role in 2017 BBC psychological thriller Clique, which she bagged at 19.
“Probably a couple of times a week, someone will come up and say, ‘Oh my god Holly! Hey Holly!’,” she tells me. “It’s nice that people have a memory of the show.” In Clique, Karlsen played a student — Holly — who found herself drawn into the shadowy world of university secret societies.
Her new role could not be more different, and should attract a different level of street shouter. She’s sharing the lead in new BBC One series Miss Austen, about Cassandra, the older sister of novelist Jane.
The highly anticipated drama skips between years, with Keeley Hawes portraying Cassandra later in life. It’s a reunion for the pair: Hawes played her mother in 2022 Sky show The Midwich Cuckoos. “I’ve played her daughter but we hadn’t shared a role before,” says Karlsen.
The star, now 28, knew from a young age that she wanted to act. Born in Glasgow to an American mother and half-Norwegian father, the family moved to London when Karlsen was 12.
“We used to go to Norway every summer,” she says. “All my friends would go to Italy or somewhere hot and I was always really jealous. But now I’m quite proud of my Norwegian summers.” She also has Norway to thank for her name. Does she get asked how to pronounce it a lot? “Oh god, all the time. All the time.” The correct way is “Sin-er-va”.
Her acting ambitions crystallised when she signed up to appear in Chekhov’s The Seagull at school. “I basically stopped doing all my homework because I had this play that was in front of me and I just studied it and studied it and studied it and became obsessed with it.”
She had a stint at Lamda and won a place at Guildhall, but left when the part in Clique came along. The roles have kept coming since then. She starred in Edgar Wright’s film Last Night in Soho and following Miss Austen there’s an under-wraps Apple TV+ show she’s just finished filming in Prague.
She’s back at home in north London for now — and attending a lot of football matches. “I’m a big Arsenal fan,” she explains. “It’s very loud and fun, but it can also get quite intense. It’s a good way to scream and let out your frustration.” A world away from the bonnets of Miss Austen...
Miss Austen is available on BBC iPlayer now
