Georgie Henley

Profile last updated 11th July 2008

The Basics

Age:13

Birthday: 9th July 1995

Height: 5 ft 2 (?)

Lives: Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England

Siblings: Sisters Rachael and Laura

School: Bradford Grammar School

Represented by: Christian Hodell, at Hamilton Hodell


Claim to fame?

After an 18 month long casting session Georgie Henley was picked to play one of the Pevensie siblings, Lucy in the series of films, the Narnia Chronicles, based on the popular children's books by C.S. Lewis.

Georgie stars as the youngest child to stumble into the world of Narnia. The first film, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe came out winter 2006 and starred famous actors such as Tilda Swintom, James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent, and at aged just 8 managed to give a dazzling peformance alongside them.

Her teenage co-stars however, Skadar Keynes, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell were all acting professionally before getting parts in the Chronicles of Narnia. Although Georgie attended acting classes, she was the only one without an agent or a member of a stage (theatre) school before the films.

How did she get the role?

This interesting article by NarniaWeb which can be found here tells us about how Georgie's drama group Upstagers heard about open auditions for a big screen adapation of the Narnia Chronicles. The Drama Teacher said:

"I [The drama teacher] told the casting agent that they ought to come and have a look at some of the youngsters from Upstagers, because we're fantastic."
"It took some effort to pin her down, but she ended up coming here to Ilkley to The Barn."
When Ms Pippa Hall (the casting director of Narnia) arrived in April last year, a small number of Upstagers youngsters and some from Moorfield School awaited her.
The agent then took out a video camera and filmed the youngsters as she asked questions to them.
"They sent the films to the producers over in the United States and said they'd get back to me. We didn't hear anything for quite some time and I thought that was that," said Mrs Jackson.
"Some time later we got a call saying that they were interested in little Georgie and could I bring her down to London."

Georgie was then asked audition in London, and you can get an idea of what Georgie would have done in her audition by reading an experience of the auditioning process here, with some interesting stories from other auditionees.

Georgie was asked in an interview:

You hadn't acted before, so were you nervous when you started on this?
Georgie: It was quite hard for me because this was my first film. But you get used to it because everybody's there to help and they all look after you.

What Else? What Next?

Georgie has signed up for the next Narnia films in the series which at the moment include Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

In 2006, Georgie also accepted the role of "young Jane" in the British TV Drama Jane Eyre. Georgie has managed incredibly well on screen so far, and we hope to see much more of her soon!

Other facts

Rachael Henley (Georgie's sister) played the older version of Lucy at the end of the first Narnia film. 

Shocked at some of the rude language from the grown ups, the Georgie took it upon herself to organise a swear bucket during the filming of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. She says the worst offender was James McAvoy!

The filmmakers of Narnia wanted Georgie's first reaction to Narnia preserved on film - so they blindfolded her and passed her down until they got to the set. They let her open her eyes once they started filming.

Georgie Henley, was just eight when she started filming (Narnia). She said being in the films has helped her mature. "I feel like I've become a stronger person which I think is good." Source

Georgie in the galleries

There are too many pictures of Georgie for me to hold in my gallery, but there are lots of excellent photo galleries online dedicated to Georgie. For a list of Georgie Fansites click here. Check these out:

Simply Georgie Gallery

Georgie Resource Image Archive

Credits for this Profile

Simply Georgie, NarniaWeb (Images and Info)

IMDB

I wrote this page using all the linked sources. This means you can too, so please no copying.