Darby Camp talks the joys and struggles of “Playing Pretend Professionally”
Written by Ella Edwards
Photos by Ashley Thompson
Produced by Lucy Ivey
Styled by Lucy Ivey assisted by Jules Wettreich & Charlie Sue Birznieks
Framed by a wooded expanse, Darby Camp answers the call sitting beside her mother in their North Carolina home, with the kind of beaming smile that makes you smile too. Acting since she was six years old, Camp has already begun to make waves in the industry. Whether it be in the recent drama series Big Little Lies that seemed to have the entire nation glued to their TV or her breakout role in the Netflix original movie The Christmas Chronicles, her range and undeniable talent have made her a young actress to look out for.
Camp’s interest in wanting to see the world through a new set of eyes began at a very young age. “When I was younger, I would always just be in my own world playing make-believe with anything I could get my hands on. My sister was also interested in acting when we were growing up, and she had to do a crying scene but didn’t want to be in a bad mood, so I said I would do it, and I just thought it was so cool being able to pretend and escape for a little bit.” The range in her acting abilities is also reflected in the range of the content she grew up watching. “When I was little, I was obsessed with Coraline. I would watch it seven times in a row, I was also obsessed with My Little Pony, and now I can’t stop watching Friends; it’s there for me in every little moment,” Camp laughs. Darby started auditioning when she was four and began landing roles when she was six when her mother, who got her degree in acting and is also an actress, got her into the profession. Darby never really had to take acting classes; instead, she could learn and be inspired by her mother.
Although so much can be taught, Darby’s talent, determinism, and endless work ethic seem to be innate. When asked about the first role, she remembered Drop Dead Diva at six and The Leftovers at seven, then she and her mother began to laugh about one of their first memories of Darby acting. “It was one of her first movies,” Darby’s mother explained, “It was October, we were in the mountains of North Carolina, and she had to stand in icy cold water. She would come and sit in my lap and say, “My feet are so cold!” and I would be like, “Okay, I’m going to tell them this is the last take,” and she would scream, “No! I want to do it again,” and she would jump off my lap and run back over there, and they would yell cut, and the cycle would repeat. I was so scared they were going to make you work all night and weren’t going to be able to go Trick or Treating, but we got home just in time to catch up with your friends.”
The excitement of putting productions together has always entranced Darby. “I love being able to travel and meet new people and being on set with 200 cast and crew. Getting to work and getting to know so many different people and all the adventures that come with it is something I love.” One of those adventures was during The Christmas Chronicles, when Darby got to learn how to do her own stunts. “I fell out of the sleigh, git to float in a bag of toys, got to learn how to use wires and be up in the air like that, it was just a super cool experience that I know not many people get to experience, so I just felt really lucky being able to.”
The aspect of “playing pretend” can sometimes be challenging, but Darby finds she learns so much about herself and the world around her through the characters she plays. “Getting to play Kate in Christmas Chronicles 2 was one of my favorite acting experiences. She was growing up and learning a lot about life, and we get to see her struggle with that. Initially, she’s more selfish, and we see her evolve. I thought that was really fun being able to play the different aspects of going from being a fun little kid in the first movie to watching her become this more complicated teenage character in the second.”
When having to “become” a character, Darby finds she can best channel the character when she tries to understand the person behind the lines. “I read the script and try to form who the character is in my mind. I imagine the background and think about things that aren’t even in the script. What prompted her to say this? What has happened to her to affect her and make her act like this? How would I react if I was in her situation?”
With her role as Chloe in Big Little Lies, Jean-Marc Vallee, the director of Big Little Lies who recently passed away, helped inspire Darby to always develop characters beyond what they are on the page. In the original book, Chloe didn’t have much of a presence, but when Vallee had the idea to run the soundtrack through Chloe’s iPod, it gave her character a newfound significance and depth. “He is just such a gifted artist and a wonderful human being, and he is just missed so much in this industry,” Darby’s mother adds.
Darby’s most recent project, Gaslit, is a reflection of how far she has evolved as an actress. The series follows the story of the Presidential Watergate scandal and Martha Mitchel, the wife of President Nixon's attorney general, who speaks out on Nixon’s involvement which triggers a chain of life alternating events for everyone involved. Darby plays Marty Mitchel, Martha’s Daughter, who is thrown in the middle of her parents' newfound conflict and forced to choose between them. “Marty is the first non-fictional character I have ever gotten to play. That’s kind of intimidating because I want to do right by her if she were to see it. There is not a lot of information out there about her so I had to fill in the blanks based on her parents and how I might imagine she would respond to them. Robbie, the writer, and Matt, the director, helped me flesh her out into a real person.” Wearing Marty’s glasses and her array of polyester dresses Darby got to what she finds interest the most, being engulfed in a life she wouldn’t be able to normally understand. “I’ve always been aware that women weren’t always treated fairly in the past, but this experience really put me in the shoes of a young woman of the 70s. It was really eye opening to watch the female characters struggle to gain any control over their lives from the big life choices to just day to day decisions. There was always some authority there to either allow or deny their every move.”
Aside from continuously growing as an actress, Darby is continuing to take time to do the things she loves to do and be with the people she loves. “I love painting. It is one of my favorite things to do. At my school, I am a varsity cheerleader. It’s my favorite sport.” Yet even with finding time to do both, juggling the two lives can be difficult. “It’s hard to leave and come home and unpause when everyone at home has continued living their lives, and it’s hard to build back some relationships, same with school. It’s getting easier. My school has become more flexible, and it’s easier to keep in contact with technology.”
As Darby continues her career, she hopes to have the opportunity to explore further the worlds and lives of individuals she wouldn’t usually be able to. “I would love to be a Superhero, or a Vampire and explore that realm.” Looking up to actresses like Amy Adams and Jennifer Aniston, it is still surprising to Darby when she meets people who look up to her. “When I meet people, and they tell me I am one of their role models, it's hard to believe because I still just think of myself as a normal 14-year-old girl just living her life in North Carolina, it is so surreal.” When people do come to her for advice, she makes sure to get the point across to never give up. “You’re going to come across a lot of rejection in this industry, but just know it is normal and has nothing to do with you as a person. Just keep your head up and keep trying and if you don’t get something, just know it wasn’t meant to be, and there is something better in store for you.”
