Amber Davies has said she worried that winning Love Island had “ruined any chance” of a career in musical theatre.<\/p>\n
The actor, who won the dating show in 2017, said she spent much of the period afterwards anxious about whether she would be able to return to the stage.<\/p>\n
Speaking to RT\u00c9 Entertainment ahead of the Dublin run of Legally Blonde The Musical, Davies said she would now approach those early post-Love Island years differently.<\/p>\n
“I actually look back and wish I’d enjoyed the few years after a little bit more, because I was anxious,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I spent a lot of that time being anxious that I\u2019d ruined any chance of having a musical theatre career.<\/p>\n
“If I\u2019d have just known that it was going to work out, I wish I\u2019d just enjoyed it a little bit more.”<\/p>\n
Davies is currently playing Elle Woods in the new touring production of Legally Blonde, a role she said has become more meaningful to her as she has grown older.<\/p>\n
The character, played by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 film, follows a fashion-conscious sorority girl who enrols at Harvard Law School after being underestimated by those around her.<\/p>\n
Davies said that, while she was initially drawn to Elle\u2019s confidence and glamour as a child, she now feels closer to the character because of the story\u2019s deeper message.<\/p>\n
“I feel more connected to her now than I did growing up,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I didn\u2019t really understand the message of the story. I was more visually impressed because she was this beautiful woman and intelligent, and she was everything. She could be everything all at once, which women can be.<\/p>\n
“But as I\u2019ve grown up and I see how she was underestimated, and I have had a similar route in my career, I actually feel like I can relate to her more than ever.”<\/p>\n
Davies said she hopes audiences, particularly younger girls, leave the show feeling encouraged by Elle\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n
“I want little girls and teenage girls and even women of all ages to come and watch and feel inspired and feel confident and feel motivated,” she said.<\/p>\n
“And if I can do that in any way, then I\u2019ve done my job.”<\/p>\n
The actor also said her recent appearance on Strictly Come Dancing helped make her feel more at ease returning to the demands of musical theatre.<\/p>\n
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” she said of the BBC competition.<\/p>\n
“It was so hard. It was so challenging mentally, physically, character-building in ways that you can\u2019t even possibly imagine.<\/p>\n
“I think what it taught me the most is being so uncomfortable in Strictly, with all of the different styles, made me so comfortable as soon as I stepped foot on stage as Elle.”<\/p>\n
Davies said she is looking forward to returning to the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre, describing Irish audiences as “wild” and perfectly suited to a show with as many emotional highs as Legally Blonde.<\/p>\n
“They\u2019ll be laughing, they\u2019ll be crying, they\u2019ll be cheering,” she said. “At the end of the show, they\u2019ll be on their feet.”<\/p>\n
Legally Blonde is at the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre from 7 July – 18 July<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amber Davies has said she worried that winning Love Island had “ruined any chance” of a career in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-528893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}