Back when the mysterious scandal surrounding Natalia Grace Barnett made headlines, Imogen Faith-Reid — the actor who would one day play her — wasn’t aware of it. As gripping as the case was, it didn’t exactly make U.K. headlines, and Faith-Reid only came to learn of the story when she landed a starring role in Hulu’s “Good American Family.”
“I saw that it was an open casting, and saw that it was going to be filmed in America, and I genuinely was like, ‘Well, I’m not going to get that, but what can I do?,’” the actor recalled in an interview with IndieWire. “After three or four recalls, I got the job and it just felt so surreal. I was in a restaurant, I look at my phone, see the contract, and I genuinely just freaked out. It was such a surreal moment.”
In the series, Faith-Reid plays Natalia Grace, whose adoptive parents believed that she was an adult pretending to be a child. Kristine (Ellen Pompeo) and Michael Barnett (Mark Duplass) cited the girl’s behavioral issues and perceived threats of violence to their family before moving her out and becoming acting legal guardians. Episode 5 of the series shifts firmly from Kristine’s point of view to Natalia’s — that of an abandoned child now forced to live alone, and completely ill-equipped to do so. Her memories reframe events that have already been shown through Kristine’s eyes as misunderstandings or abuse.
“Not only was she left alone in an apartment at eight years old, she was also somebody living with a disability,” Faith-Reid said. “Playing that and being in that physique and that body, it just felt like ‘How can anybody do this to a child?’ It made me feel angry towards the story. It just really made me want to give it my all, and do what I can to portray this as best as I could.”
Below, Faith-Reid discusses her first major role and both the emotional and physical demands of playing someone as compelling and multifaceted as Natalia.
“I have felt very proud of being a part of a show that delves into telling unique stories and showing inclusivity on screen, which I think we need to see more of,” she said.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
IndieWire: What were your conversations like with the creative team as you started to dig into the character?
Imogen Faith-Reid: A lot of it was their visions with the show and their visions with Natalia, and that we were all on the same page with wanting that sensitivity around the show. We all want the show to win, we all want the show to have respect and sensitivity around these subjects because it was a heavy piece.
I read that Natalia has a different form of dwarfism from you. What kind of challenges did that present as an actor, physical or otherwise?
I had an amazing movement coach. I wanted to do my own version of Natalia. I didn’t want to replicate Natalia’s movement, because then it would feel kind of like imitating. I didn’t want to feel like I was portraying or pretending. So with the movement sessions, we made them feel like it was authentic and genuine in my own body, which felt really good to do as an actor, and also as a little person as well.
Especially as we get into Episode 5, there’s the stuff with the chronic pain, there’s talk about her surgeries. There’s so many different chapters to the physicality.
When we reached Natalia POV, that was the most important time to show the pain that Natalia does go through that we don’t see — because through Kristine’s perspective, she just sees Natalia to be this person that is faking all of this and is this kind of devil. But in Natalia’s point of view, we get to slow it down, take time to really see what Natalia does go through. That was really important for all of us to show the pain that she has.
What other sort of prep did you do on the emotional side?
I had an amazing acting coach that Disney hooked me up with, so he helped to break down the script and the character’s objectives, what the character wants from this certain scene. I’m playing my own version of Natalia, and the more I played her, the passion just grew and grew. So when it got to Natalia POV, that’s when I wanted to show that justice for her. It was really important to me to tell this story.
There’s so many layers because they adopt her as a child, thought she was an adult, then she turns out to be a child — and now you are an adult playing these different versions of it.
It was really fun actually, to play so many different versions, especially because it was my first role. It was something that was cool to delve into. When we see Kristine’s point of view at first, Natalia is very cunning. She’s very quick. She is always one step ahead. And then when we dive into Natalia’s point of view, she really was just this child, and she doesn’t know any better. She doesn’t know anything. She’s just so helpless.
We really get into the helplessness in Episode 5. What was it like shifting the POV?
At first I found it a bit daunting. Playing with Kristine’s point of view a lot, I got into that version of Natalia. Episode 5 was something that I was always very anxious about, because I knew it was my episode. I knew it’d be long hours on set, I knew that it’d be tiring. There were so many physical scenes and heavy emotions carried throughout.
I loved doing that episode. I loved showing the audience what Natalia really did go through. It felt important to do, and I just think it’s just an amazing episode that we did.
In Kristine’s version, you get to play that “Orphan” nightmare that she’s concocted in her head. Were there moments where you wanted to connect those two versions?
When filming, we would play around with different angles, different takes and stuff like that. I remember sometimes the director would ask me to play both in one scene, and play with that innocence but also with that cunningness as well. During Episode 3 — the scene where Kristine is asking Natalia how old she is — I had to do a take combining all of it, and it was so thrilling to do. When doing that, you just can’t overthink it. You just have to let the scene take over, because acting is about reacting to what’s going on. So it was challenging, and it was amazing.
Do you have a favorite scene from the entire series, or from 5 specifically?
I love the scenes with Michael and Natalia. I think they just bring so much joy and that light that we need through such a heavy series. We got to have so much fun, and it felt like I was able to bring some of me into that character as well, that playfulness and that light.
Is there also Michael’s version of Natalia?
Maybe. The way that we approach this is that Natalia always kind of knew that Michael was this broken person, and so was Natalia. So Natalia always wanted to fix Michael and I think those two had such an amazing bond — their emotions were shot and they just needed each other.
What were some things that were exciting or challenging about Episode 5 in particular, because you have so much solo work?
I was nervous about the hours and the repetitiveness of doing those heavy emotions again and again and again. But honestly, it just felt so relieving. Something about playing such a heavy character sometimes can be relieving for the actor, because you’re actually getting your own emotions out while playing this. It felt good to sink my teeth into.
The scene that I remember the most out of Episode 5 was the scene where she has a tantrum. Michael and Kristine have just left her in the apartment. She doesn’t understand what’s going on. She doesn’t know why this happened, and she’s filled with so much rage. That scene I remember in particular shooting, because we’d done so many different takes, and the camera people would do different angles when I would do my tantrum — my POV whilst doing it, and also looking at what I’m doing. And it just felt relieving to do it, something about just getting your anger out. It felt really good.
The production design, is also really immersive — that apartment just looks like it sucks the energy out of somebody.
There definitely is a difference between Kristine’s point of view and Natalia’s for sure, just the colors and everything. What was really interesting, what people may not know, is that when we leave Natalia in the apartment in Episode 4, Natalia is wearing clothes that were lilac and bright, and when we see her in Episode 5, they’re gray, because that’s her perspective. It was fun to play around with that.
I noticed that you keep making sure to say that it’s your version of Natalia. What’s your relationship feel like now to the real version?
I was very proud of the version that I played on Natalia. I wanted to show empowerment and for her to be seen — and for people to take away not to judge others so much. I think that’s what this story does so well, and I was honored to play her.
New episodes of “Good American Family” premiere Tuesdays on Hulu.
