The Moment I Fell For... Aimee Lou Wood

I keep seeing White Lotus breakout Aimee Lou Wood's quote about feeling "ugly" from her new interview with GQ bouncing around social media today -- Pajiba did a good piece on it here -- and it's making me feel sad, crazy, and angry all at once. So let's give Miss Aimee Lou her roses! I only watched the first season of Sex Education and remember liking her there (although my eye was more drawn to Conor Swindells on that series for, uhh, obvious reasons). But it was her role as a cheerful secretary opposite Bill Nighy (who was giving the performance of his own career) in Oliver Hermanus' 2022 film Living (a remake of Kurosawa's masterpiece Ikiru that I voted my sixth favorite film of that year) where Aimee Lou Wood first won my heart -- I haven't seen Mike White talk about why he was fighting for her so hard to win the role but I would not be surprised if he'd seen Living as well; she should have been nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar alongside Nighy if you ask me. As I said in my review of the film she's tasked with representing all the light and life that Nighy's misplaced amid his daily grudgery, and Wood does so effortlessly (as she did on Lotus, albeit with a darker edge) -- she's just one of those performers that is is incredibly easy to fall head over heels for. And given the enchanting memes that her Lotus character of Chelsea gave life to (not to mention the general reaction to the finale) I don't think I am alone in feeling that way. We adore you, Aimee Lou!