Florence Pugh’s biggest inspirations and influences
As Florence Pugh ascends to the summit as one of the brightest talents of her generation, one might assume that her greatest inspirations would come from other actors or stars whose careers she admires and learns from. However, in a candid conversation, she reveals that her sources of inspiration remain close to home.
“I genuinely believe that every single interaction I’ve ever had in my life has shaped who I am,” Pugh said when asked about who or what inspired her most during an interview with Vogue. It checks out that the actor would be a wallflower in this way, picking up as many lessons and little pieces of inspiration as she can from the world around her. It has worked for her so far as she’s a self-taught performer who learnt as she went along.
Unlike some of her peers who trained at performing arts schools or did acting degrees, Pugh’s school weren’t supporting of her acting dreams. Instead, she had a typical academic education and began getting involved in local dramatic society plays before making her professional debut while in higher education. She’d intended to go to drama school, but after securing her first film role at 17, her career swept her up.
For a while, that was a major insecurity for the actor. She called stepping into the film world “absolutely terrifying” because of her lack of formal training. “It’s very easy to suddenly feel like you’re not supposed to be there,” she said but picked up an attitude of “constantly learning” that has served her well.
This attitude has made the world at large her biggest source of inspiration, as she told Vogue, “I take away everything from every person that I meet, and I think that’s how I’ve become how I’ve become.”
As she credits those around her as the most influential figures in her life, Pugh casts off peers or idols to thank her family instead. “My family have been the biggest part of shaping my sense of humour, shaping my opinions, shaping the woman that I am today and the teenager that grew into this,” she said. “I know that probably sounds quite corny, but they truly did shape the most of me.”
While her school didn’t support her creative goals, her family always did. As the daughter of a restaurant owner and a dancer, and one of three siblings all working in artistic fields, their family home was always one that celebrated creative endeavours just as much as academics. “We’re like the Von Trapps, but not quite as pretty or perfect,” she once told The Guardian of her family dynamics.
It is perhaps her lack of training and humble approach to seeking inspiration that has made Pugh such a unique and dynamic actor, able to convey even the most extreme emotions in a realistic way. As she looks to her family and people she meets for influence, rather than sticking to studying the great or taking notes from other Hollywood actors, her character is allowed a more relatable air that is born from real-life interactions.
It’s also this realism and desire to be a student of life that keeps Pugh interested in getting better at her craft. After discussing her inspirations, Vogue asked the actor what she hopes to inspire and what mark she’d like to leave on the world herself. Answering just as humbly, she said, “I always like the idea of people being able to visibility watch me learn, and watch me change and mould myself.”
Hoping to inspire the world to keep learning from those around us, just as she learned from the family around her, Pugh’s biggest goal is simply to be “someone that has the capacity to continue to grow”.
