It’s all about Esme Creed-Miles

A woman wearing a black veil.

Meet fashion’s new muse: the 20-year-old multi-hyphenate writer, director, musician, model, Miu Miu campaign star and lead actress in Amazon Prime’s runaway hit Hanna

By Louis Wise   Photography by Charlotte Hadden   Video by James Canavan   Styling by Grace Joel   Hair by Anna Cofone   Make-up by Amy Wright    Wednesday 23 September, 2020.    Above: dress, Ganni; headpiece, HOOD LONDON

‘This could sound remarkably pretentious, but I don’t consider myself an actress,’ says Esme Creed-Miles. The 20-year-old prefers various other tags – writer, director, musician, fashion muse (she just did the autumn 2020 campaign for Miu Miu), but acting doesn’t quite fit the bill. Which may come as a surprise to those who have been relishing her performance in the title role of Hanna, Amazon Prime’s TV adaptation that tells the story of a teenage assassin on the run. Over two seasons, Creed-Miles has impressed critics and fans alike with her portrayal of Hanna’s growing pains, which just happen to include the odd, unavoidable murder. But it is, apparently, just a pitstop on a much longer journey. 

‘I mean, acting is a wonderful privilege,’ Creed-Miles adds, and she sounds sincere – but she’s also direct and self-aware. ‘I get to travel and meet incredible artists. But, for me, it’s not a career path. If I’m lucky enough to do it with wonderful people, I feel very grateful for that, but I have other ambitions.’
A woman wearing a green blazer sitting on a chair.
Creed-Miles is calling from her home in London, where she is seeing out the end of the summer until a third season of Hanna starts filming in November. Her attitude is all the more remarkable when you consider her pedigree. She is, for starters, the eldest daughter of double-Oscar nominee Samantha Morton, born from a short, early relationship with fellow actor Charlie Creed-Miles. But perhaps this makes the stance understandable, too. If she turned to acting after dropping out of school, mostly as a means of making money, it’s because she has a clear-eyed, almost automatic understanding of the craft. After all, she made her film debut aged six in a Harmony Korine film (the cult auteur cast her as Shirley Temple in his Mister Lonely, all of which was, she chuckles, ‘super-normal’). But she would far rather use the cash and the leverage she has gained from doing something like Hanna to pursue her own passions which, after a long spell focused on music, have now zoned in on writing and directing. In fact, Creed-Miles also presented Jamie, a 14-minute film, at the prestigious Palm Springs International ShortFest this summer.

‘It was the first time that I was doing something where I felt a real affinity with every single part of the process,’ she says. ‘It was just the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.’
A woman with a black hood tied around her head leaning on a table.
(Jacket, WED and bonnet, Hood)

There’s a fierceness and fluency to Creed-Miles that was evident from a young age. She once described herself as being brought up a ‘mini-adult’ and she confirms this today with a small laugh. ‘You know, my parents were very young when they had me and I was an only child growing up, so…’. She says that her life is still ‘pretty solitary at the best of times’, with her beloved Brussels Griffon dog remaining her favourite company. She has well-defined opinions on life and art, and is a well-read feminist and a fan of writers such as Eileen Myles, Maggie Nelson and Hélène Cixous, all of whom will only work with female producers. ‘I remember interviewing a male director of photography,’ Creed-Miles recalls. ‘He said, “This shot sounds a bit self-indulgent” and I was just like, “Goodbye! Get out!”’ Is all this something her mother taught her, then?
A woman holding her hands above her head.
(Dress, Ganni)

‘No,’ she says firmly. ‘My mum sent me to boarding school when I was very young, so I don’t really have any conversations with her about art, or my career, or what I’m interested in.’ We both laugh at the snap of it. Asked if her family heritage is more privilege or baggage, she is again remarkably precise. ‘Growing up with a family of creatives is not the easiest thing in the world,’ she says. ‘But I wouldn’t change it, because I’m so privileged. I’ve grown up with access to whatever I need – I got to do the things that I wanted to do, professionally and creatively, and very few people have that.’
A woman in a black outfit lying on a table with a pomegranate on it.

‘I’ve always loved fashion. Because I’ve had low self-esteem, finding clothes that make me feel better about myself has been a godsend’

Above: cape, WED. Below: dress, tights and shoes, all Miu Miu

A woman next to a wall in a plain room.
A woman with her head leaning against a wall.
Jamie was a personal project, to say the least: not only did she write, direct, star and co-fund it, but it also drew on Creed-Miles’ own teen experiences of bulimia. She had a ‘mental breakdown, essentially’ at school, which led her to dropping out before taking her A-levels. Creed-Miles refuses to be sentimental about the reasons behind making the film, though. ‘I didn’t want to make some “statement movie”,’ she says, audibly frowning. ‘I wanted it to be as much a piece of artistic expression as something political – or a comment on whatever. It is just a piece of art.’ She also balks at calling any of it ‘brave’. ‘There’s this whole narrative that when people make things about themselves in art, specifically about their mental health, it’s “brave”. I think that can go hand in hand in glamorising the issues we’re talking about, and I think that’s dangerous.’
A woman sitting in a chair.

‘There’s this narrative that when people make things about themselves in art, specifically about their mental health, it’s “brave”. I think that can go hand in hand with glamorising the issues we’re talking about, and I think that’s dangerous’

A woman in a black outfit next to a table with a pomegranate on it.

Top: jacket and trousers, John Lawrence Sullivan; bra, WED. Above left: cape, WED. Above right: jacket, WED; bonnet, HOOD; boots, Preen by Thornton Bregazzi

A woman wearing a black outfit with a hood over her head standing in a plain room with a table.
Creed-Miles says that recovery is a ‘process’ and that she now looks after her health with meditation, yoga and the company of her dog. (‘I walk my dog every day. If you’re depressed, get a dog. Anyone who’s depressed, get a dog.’) Perhaps surprisingly, though, she also credits her fashion work for helping her. ‘I’ve always loved fashion. Because I’ve had low self-esteem, finding clothes that make me feel better about myself has been a godsend. I don’t have extroverted style, necessarily, but that doesn’t mean I don’t put a lot of thought into what I wear.’ 

She was already a Miu Miu fan before landing the autumn campaign (she even wore a dress by the designer to her mother’s wedding to her stepfather Harry Holm), but she is also a huge admirer of designers like Ann Demeulemeester and Rick Owens. In fact, she wore a Demeulemeester suit to the Hanna premiere, having been alerted to the brand when she realised the Belgian had designed clothes for a PJ Harvey tour – one of Creed-Miles’ all-time idols. ‘It was probably my favourite thing I’ve ever worn on the red carpet,’ she sighs. The question is, how many more red carpets will we see her on? Actually, no – the only real question is, in what capacity?

Series two of Hanna is streaming now on Amazon Prime. The short film, Jamie, is available to stream here.
A woman wearing a green blazer sitting on a chair.
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