Nothing could have prepared her for the
whirlwind and the hype that would start to
surround Will and Kate, but given the upcoming
real-life wedding of the films main characters,
doing press tours and interviews became a
staple for Camilla. Suddenly paparazzi were
following her, reporters were showing up at
her door. Camilla remembers, “I was doing all
these scenes in the movie where Kate was
being followed by the paparazzi for the first
time and that was starting to happen to me.”
It was the big break many who chase their
dreams to Tinseltown hope for. And the
timing couldn’t have been better to thrust her
into the media circuit. “I hadn’t really had to
promote anything before that” she says, “it
prepared me for what that is like.”
No stranger to the press now, with a few roles
under her belt like voicing Lara Croft in the
latest installment of the Tomb Raider video
games, and hit series including Californiacation,
True Blood and most recently, her role on
Grey’s Anatomy, the hit medical drama by
creator Shonda Rhimes. “I was a huge fan
of that show before; it was something I had
watched back in the day while at my waitressing
job,” explains Luddington, “I was part of that
fandom and that was nuts to me. Once I got
on that set, I was geeking out.” She believes it
instantly made her love her job more because
she was a fan of the show. She knew the backstories of all the characters and recognized that
wouldn’t have been an easy task to learn in the
few days she had from being cast to showing
up for the first time on set.
“My first few scenes, and my character in the
beginning, well, she was really intimidated by
Meredith and I felt that.” She remembers her
first scene with Ellen Pompeo, “I was like, oh
my god this is Meredith Grey.” Recognizing that
this would only help her with her portrayal of
her character she went for it, noting Pompeo
was incredibly gracious and kind. She cannot
rave enough about the cast and crew she works
with, including the show’s creator Shonda
Rhimes. She notes, “Shonda will do things
and will write things the fans won’t want to
happen. She will go for the gut-wrenching,
heartbreaking moment. She doesn’t apologize
for it. That is what is amazing about her, she
is not about boring. That is what I admire
about her.”
An acting career is often a very fickle thing.
One minute you can be the name on everyone’s
lips; the next it can seem you are all but forgotten. It is clear this British beauty matches
her talent with drive. She is equal parts selfdeprecating and down to earth, noting that
she stays grounded among longtime friends
known before the fame. She is funny and
charismatic, while able to take a joke. Even
with all the success of her voice-over work
and multiple TV roles, including the wildly
successful Grey’s—it would seem that
Camilla Luddington is just what the
doctor ordered.