SOLLY McLeod is riding the wave in Hollywood and shows no sign of slowing down.
The actor has recently premiered an award-winning movie at the London Film Festival and Berlinale with Last Swim, worked alongside Viggo Mortensen in The Dead Don’t Hurt and returned to Scotland for Prime Video’s Fear with Martin Compston.
McLeod is living the dream and this started when he was a child growing up on Orkney. The archipelago is the last place you’d expect to find a rising Hollywood star but Solly McLeod’s acting ambitions were birthed on Orkney, watching movies like The Princess Bride, Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars with his grandfather as a child.
“This sparked an interest in film because I was at the age where I finally realised that these things that I was watching on the TV weren’t real. My mum explained to me that these were actors and they did this,” said McLeod. “I was too young to realise that I couldn’t do this in Orkney but I just wanted to do it and the passion was sparked early on.”
He moved to London at the age of 10 when his parents split up and he went on to attend drama school to start his journey as an actor. This pursuit has led him all over the world and most recently he starred in British-Iranian filmmaker Sasha Nathwani’s critically acclaimed directorial debut, Last Swim.
The movie follows an ambitious Iranian-British teen, who on A-level results day in London, grapples with a major life decision while hanging out with friends across the city.
It was a project that instantly spoke to the actor because he loved the distinct voice that Nathwaan brought to the movie but it also shared parallels with McLeod’s own school years in London.
“All of the characters are people in London that I feel like I had grown up with in my own life.
“My character, Shea, reminded me of my younger brothers at the time and they looked like they were having fun and I wanted to jump into that world. I wanted to relive my 18-year-old self as someone that’s slightly different,” He said.
When approaching his next acting challenge, McLeod asks himself whether this is a story or character that he is equipped to tell.
Where possible, he looks to bring parts of himself to the role to add authenticity and immerse himself in character. “I will try and bring parts of me into a character because that is better than trying to shed away yourself.
“People will tell you to shed yourself to become a completely different character to tell a story but if you can put parts of yourself in the character then it will be easier to find the truth there,” said McLeod.
With Last Swim, there are similarities between McLeod’s own life and experiences and his character. However, this certainly wasn’t the case with Viggo Mortensen’s (below) The Dead Don’t Hurt.
His character Weston Jefferies – an evil son of a wealthy rancher in the American Civil War – was as far removed from his experiences as possible. “The jump from my reality to this evil, psycho, murdering cowboy in the West was a massive jump but also a challenge that I really wanted to take on,” he said.
“I had fun working on the accent, setting, horses and shooting somewhere completely different – we shot in Durango in Mexico on one of John Wayne’s old ranches. We were thrown into the Western world and it was such a crazy transformative experience.”
Of course, having been inspired to become an actor after watching movies like Lord Of The Rings, therefore it was a full circle moment when Mortensen approached him for his movie.
“It felt life-changing in the moment and that was even before I knew I was going to get the job, even just to get a call from Viggo,” said McLeod. “I cleaned my apartment, even though it was just a phone call. I remember the phone ringing and I went to grab it but thought I should let it ring for a few beats to not seem too eager!”
The actor had admitted that the phone call alone was a huge moment and would have given him a huge confidence boost in his career going forward, even if he didn’t get the role, which thankfully he did.
It has been a busy year for McLeod and all of his hard work has paid off with the release of Tom Jones, The Dead Don’t Hurt, Last Swim and William Tell. The actor looks to carry on this momentum into 2025 and promises there’s more to come.
“There’s been a few projects that have come out around the same time. I did them and then you wait a year and a half and they all come out at once and people are like, ‘Who the hell is this guy? Where has he come from and why is he on the TV all the time?’” said McLeod.
He added: “There was an influx which led to a lot of opportunities and more work and projects. I think the same is going to happen next year. “There’s been a few things that I’ve done last year and earlier this year and they’ll come out at the same time so I’m going to piss everyone off with my face again.”
