{"id":227656,"date":"2026-01-11T03:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227656\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T03:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:32:16","slug":"meet-camila-morrone-the-standout-star-of-the-night-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227656\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Camila Morrone, the standout star of The Night Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a scene in the second episode of The Night Manager when Camila Morrone\u2019s character, Roxana Bola\u00f1os, makes a showstopping entrance at a party wearing a deep red Versace gown slit to the hip. Her appearance as the archetypal femme fatale belies the twisty layers that make television\u2019s long-awaited comeback so compulsive. It has been ten years since John le Carr\u00e9\u2019s espionage novel first came to the BBC, with a cast including Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman and Hugh Laurie. The original series made a star of Elizabeth Debicki. This time Morrone is its leading lady.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s quite the Jessica Rabbit entrance, I tell her as she sits opposite me in a Mayfair restaurant, shower-wet hair, bare face and dressed in off-duty model uniform of all black (Zara) with battered Nikes. \u201cI was adamant about wearing Versace and wearing red for that moment. I said, Roxana needs to walk in in this bombshell colour. It\u2019s a very fiery Latino colour. I had a really clear vision of the first time we see her in her real form, which we will come to see exactly what form that is,\u201d she says teasingly.<\/p>\n

Now 28, Morrone was a teenager when the first series aired in 2016 and she fought hard for the role. \u201cI do that with no shame. I will harass a director via email and send a love story about what I feel about a character. When I knew they were casting season two, I asked if there were any female roles and they were reading women a little older than me in their mid-thirties. When I heard they were looking for a Latin character I was like, you guys, come on, this is written for me!\u201d<\/p>\n

The series started on January 1, and it is as glossy, sexy and suspenseful as the first time we met Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston), a former soldier turned luxury hotel night manager recruited by the British intelligence officer Angela Burr (Colman) to infiltrate the murky world of the criminal arms dealer Richard Roper (Laurie). This time Pine is a low-ranking MI6 surveillance officer lured back into action and dispatched to Colombia under a new alias: the wealthy businessman Matthew Ellis \u2014 all champagne, swagger and loafers (no socks). \u201cRoxy\u201d emerges as a central force but \u201cyou can never really read what side she\u2019s on\u201d, Morrone says. \u201cAll I can say is that Roxana ultimately chooses herself. She is by no means a damsel in distress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Life as a real night manager: sex, drugs and enema requests<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Coat, \u00a31,200, and red skirt, \u00a3580, Toga. Sandals, \u00a3540, Neous<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS: CHARLOTTE HADDEN. STYLING: TIM TOBIAS ZIMMERMANN<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Satin gown, \u00a31,850, Stella McCartney. Trousers, \u00a3961, and leather tassel earrings, \u00a3558, Michael Kors Collection. Hoops (throughout), Camila\u2019s own<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS: CHARLOTTE HADDEN. STYLING: TIM TOBIAS ZIMMERMANN<\/p>\n

Before becoming Roxy, Morrone was best known for the adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid<\/a>\u2019s novel Daisy Jones & the Six. She held the screen to devastating effect \u2014 and was nominated for an Emmy \u2014 as Camila, the put-upon wife of Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin), whose head is turned by the band\u2019s frontwoman, Daisy (Riley Keough). There were indie roles in Mickey and the Bear and Patricia Arquette\u2019s directorial debut, Gonzo Girl (\u201cEveryone should have lunch with Patricia Arquette once in their life\u201d). But before that Morrone was mostly prefixed as \u201cone-time girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio\u201d \u2014 they dated for four years until 2022, and much was made of their 22-year age gap.<\/p>\n

She is gracious when I ask about her fame by proxy. \u201cWhen you\u2019re an actor people will always find things about your personal life,\u201d she says. \u201cPerhaps with projects that will change, but it\u2019s something that comes with the territory. Having grown up in Hollywood, I was around it. I was around celebrities. It\u2019s normal [for people] living in LA to see Brad Pitt at the coffee shop, you know? I knew how ruthless the industry was, and the scrutiny and the spotlight on people in this industry.\u201d She is referring now to Al Pacino, who \u201cis technically not my stepfather, but he was my mom\u2019s partner for a very long time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tom Hiddleston on The Night Manager 2: \u2018Pine is like an unexploded bomb\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Leather coat, \u00a35,730, and leather skirt, price on application, Khaite. Shoes, stylist\u2019s own<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS: CHARLOTTE HADDEN. STYLING: TIM TOBIAS ZIMMERMANN<\/p>\n

Morrone was born in Los Angeles in 1997 to Argentinian parents: her mother, Lucila Sol\u00e1, was a model and actress who later appeared in Modern Family, and her father, Maximo Morrone, was a male model, fronting campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana and Versace in the Nineties, photographed by the likes of Bruce Weber and Richard Avedon. \u201cMy dad was a stud. I\u2019m like, gosh, have you seen my dad in the Nineties?\u201d she says, pulling up on her phone a sexy black-and-white Steven Meisel shot of him with Linda Evangelista. \u201cIt was, you know, Naomi and Kate and all the mega supermodels. My dad was on a par with them. He has got some iconic stories, but that\u2019s for another day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrone attended Beverly Hills High School, the school the Nineties teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210<\/a> was based on. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t what it felt like going there, but you are still among abnormally wealthy kids, kids of celebrities and people whose parents own the biggest clothing line. My parents, we got a little rental apartment on the outskirts that still had the zip code so I\u2019d be able to go there. I\u2019m grateful my parents stretched themselves so I could get the best education.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Leather apron top, POA, Ewusie. Leather jacket, \u00a3990, and leather trousers, \u00a3925, Situationist<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS: CHARLOTTE HADDEN. STYLING: TIM TOBIAS ZIMMERMANN<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Leather top, \u00a3550, Enami. Trousers and studded belt, POA, 16Arlington<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS: CHARLOTTE HADDEN. STYLING: TIM TOBIAS ZIMMERMANN<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Black patent leather dress, \u00a34,515, and shoes, \u00a3910, Ferragamo<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS: CHARLOTTE HADDEN. STYLING: TIM TOBIAS ZIMMERMANN<\/p>\n

Her parents separated when Morrone was nine and her mother went on to have a decade-long relationship with Pacino, with whom she remains close. \u201cHow lucky am I to have known him and to have been raised in his presence. I mean, he\u2019s the Messi of my industry. I think I\u2019ll always look back on my childhood and be in awe that I was in the presence of someone like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her situation offered a unique perspective on Hollywood\u2019s fickle duality. She has previously said: \u201cMy dad and I shared a bed until I was 15 because I had no other room to sleep in.\u201d Her father supplemented commercial work by becoming a headshot photographer and later a wine salesman. \u201cHe reinvented himself many times, but I definitely grew up \u2026 there were times of shortage. And, of course, my mother was with a person who was successful, so I had very much two different lives. Due to her relationship I got to experience things that were perhaps more glamorous and privileged than I did with my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Leather jacket, \u00a3990, Situationist. Skirt, \u00a3855, Magda Butrym<\/p>\n

PHOTOGRAPHS: CHARLOTTE HADDEN. STYLING: TIM TOBIAS ZIMMERMANN<\/p>\n

Aged seven, Morrone accompanied her mother to auditions after school. \u201cI\u2019d watch all these beautiful women go in, all these Latin bombshells who looked like Sof\u00eda Vergara, and they were getting a hard no all the time. My mom was in speech class trying to get rid of her accent. She would get spray tans because she was very fair-skinned and they had a notion of what a Latina looks like, and I guess she didn\u2019t fit that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrone signed a modelling contract at 15 and left school to home study. \u201cI\u2019m someone who has always been financially responsible and I want to always take care of myself.\u201d She was sent home from a swimwear shoot that year for being \u201ctoo fat\u201d, she says. \u201cYou\u2019re not on these high-end, high-budget sets where there\u2019s protection for young models, and you\u2019re changing in front of grown men. Absolutely, there were experiences that weren\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was, she says, \u201ctoo curvy for the runway\u201d, and became a Victoria\u2019s Secret model. Shapeshifting into an actor proved a battle to win over casting agents. \u201cThey all saw me as a model, so I had to try and figure out how I would leave that behind and morph into the new Camila. I always knew I wanted to be an actor because I was quite hammy and loved attention as a kid. But I think it took me a minute to really go for it in fear of rejection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Collage<\/p>\n

Morrone with Sam Claflin and Riley Keough in Daisy Jones and the Six; with Tom Hiddleston in The Night Manager<\/p>\n

PRIME VIDEO<\/p>\n

Modelling was a bootcamp for how to become an adult. \u201cI know how to compose myself in a work environment. I know how to show up to work on time. I know how to be professional and prepared.\u201d I tell her I interviewed the model Kaia Gerber recently who told me something similar. \u201cMy bestie!\u201d she squeals. \u201cI love my girls. Suki Waterhouse is one of my best friends and we became like sisters on Daisy [they were co-stars]. But it\u2019s hard to keep up with these women who have these grand lives. Suki\u2019s on tour, Kaia\u2019s doing multiple projects, Hailey Bieber is, you know, raising a family and a multibillion-dollar business. It\u2019s so unsexy, but we\u2019ll send schedules to each other. We make it work, we FaceTime like crazy and send each other messages on Instagram. Our love language is memes.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from high school, where Morrone felt like an outsider. \u201cThere were these cliquey groups and I never grew up with one big girl group. I feel like finally, now in my twenties, I have this friendship where I\u2019m, like, I love these women and I know that they will be in my life for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrone also counts her Night Manager co-stars as friends. They hung out between takes in London, Spain and Colombia, bonding over British snacks. \u201cTom\u2019s backpack was like the hub for all the goodies. He has a little sweet tooth. In Columbia, it\u2019d be 5pm and we were all getting our end-of-day work crash and he would just pull out a backpack full of Walker\u2019s.\u201d The crisps? \u201cNo, the little shortbreads that are completely addictive and like 100 per cent pure butter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before she leaves Morrone asks me the difference between Earl Grey and English breakfast tea. She\u2019s heading for high tea at Claridge\u2019s with her mum and her \u201cchildhood bestie\u201d Laney, who flew in from LA for The Night Manager<\/a> premiere. They are joined by Morrone\u2019s boyfriend of two years, the music video producer Cole Bennett. \u201cYou go on one date, then a second date and, oh, here we are. And you go, I really like hanging with this person. I always love this quote that we started a conversation and it never ended. It feels like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrone is not so much looking ahead to the future as charging at it full throttle. This year she has the Netflix horror series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, from the producers of Stranger Things<\/a>, and she has just wrapped filming the period drama The Age of Innocence in Prague. Approaching 30 is at the forefront of her mind. \u201cGod, I\u2019m like, how am I gonna do all these things to prevent ageing? Men get older and they become silver foxes and we\u2019re googling facelifts at 41 years old, you know? I\u2019m already like, how soon can I get my facelift?\u201d she says with a laugh before adding: \u201cJokes, jokes!\u201d<\/p>\n

As she heads off for finger sandwiches and family time, she is reflective on the past ten years. \u201cI feel really proud of where I\u2019ve come. I sometimes can\u2019t believe I\u2019m working opposite Tom, and in a show that Olivia Colman is even existing in. That was not my reality ten years ago. I have had to prove to the industry, to casting directors, to directors, I\u2019m going to work my butt off. I\u2019m going to show up prepared and I\u2019m going to work harder than anyone in that room.\u201d I don\u2019t doubt it.<\/p>\n

The Night Manager is on BBC iPlayer and Prime Video<\/p>\n

Hair Luke Hersheson at the Wall Group using the Beauty Works 22in Barely There Clip-in Set in Raven and Arabia Doll Make-up Anne Sophie Costa at Streeters Nails Saffron Goddard using Dior Manicure Collection, Le Baume and Dior Vernis Set Design Nicholas Rogers Local production Town Productions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a scene in the second episode of The Night Manager when Camila Morrone\u2019s character, Roxana Bola\u00f1os,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-227656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}