𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑬𝑮𝑨𝑵 𝑻𝑶 𝑭𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑻𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑺. 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑫. 𝑨𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑬𝑨𝑼𝑻𝒀 𝑶𝑭 𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑳𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑶, 𝑨𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑭𝑬𝑨𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑹𝑰𝑩𝑳𝑬 𝑾𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑷𝑬𝑵 𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑨𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑽𝑰𝑮𝑰𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑻 𝑬𝑵𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯. 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑫 𝑨 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑭𝑬𝑨𝑹 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝑶 𝑮𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑩𝑬 𝑩𝑹𝑨𝑽𝑬 𝑬𝑵𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬𝑨𝑹 𝑰𝑻.
PINTEREST. CONNECTIONS.
thirty-four. british-born, american-raised film & stage actress with occasional production credits.
she grows up between london and a sprawling estate in the countryside. her father believes in strong moral values, which meant living in a multi-million dollar manor in a small town populated by off-branches of nobility for greater spans of time than in the multi-million dollar townhouse in a metropolitan city filled with offspring of the affluent. strong moral values meant traditional english values, which in turn meant classism and nationalism intersecting with a hefty pound of prejudice. it meant - more precisely, most specifically - grumbling at modernity and cities with ever-lengthening traffic, supporting the crown and teaching your daughter to sit straight and act pretty. that they move to america when ava is nine alters none of these things.
the marriage that produces ava is not a secondary one, but it is late-stage for the head of household. hector castro is already into his forties when he marries the daughter of a longtime business and golf partner, making him significantly older than the average first-time father when ava is born. so she grows up a generation behind her peers: bearing their same age, but being raised into a woman meant for decades earlier.
she is allowed - and certainly expected - to be smart, talented, and charming. ava was to exert herself in school and spend her extracurricular hours learning that which would further her through private tutors: etiquette, piano, elocution, dance, and other disciplines of that ilk. she knew she was meant to succeed, but in certain specified areas; despite work ethic being instilled, the idea of work itself - or what careers would be accepted - was never directly mentioned. acting, when it’s brought up, is quickly discarded as a thing for girls of lesser means.
despite her ability to part every room she walks into like your profile is a knife’s edge, she’s too soft a girl — everything ava brushes up against bruises. she’s the prettiest girl in school, and the one over, and probably even the one after that, but like kidskin gloves turned inside out, she gives the most vulnerable bits to the world at first glance. you cry for everyone: strangers on the news, friends made in the bathroom at house parties, yourself. every girl is your best friend, every handsome man is your most beloved. it’s exhausting, falling in love so much, but father doesn’t care for it and mother says next to nothing at all.
the happiest years of her life are those at the royal academy of dramatic arts, a handful of time stolen as a bargain from her father’s home: if you’re going to make a fool out of me on camera, you will do so with proper training. she lives in a flat with two roommates not for the sake of budget, but the ability to come home to others. free of the stifling eye of her father and not yet introduced to the suffocating hand of hollywood, this is perhaps the last time ava was purely herself.
as far as western celebrities go, she’s undeniably a-list. often described (for pr purposes as much as anything else) as among the last great movie stars. she’s never worked in television, is largely inaccessible through social media, and because of coming from money has never had to accept anything less than a prestige project. with undeniable box office draw combined with her aesthetic and old hollywood mannerisms, it’s an easily understandable billing.
plenty of contradiction to her: decides to change her life every midnight, but is consistently obsessive about improving herself. reads proust and whitman and joyce repeatedly in the hopes of expanding her mental horizons. sensitive, delicate heart. loves hard, cries easy. thinks she’s no good.
MISC.
her first notable role was shoshanna in inglourious basterds, but generally speaking her Big Break is considered to have happened in 2012-13. she played selina kyle in 2012's the dark knight rises, which catapulted her to box office audiences across the world, but followed it up with a massively 3-film year in 2013, which solidified her place in film canon.
notable film roles include but aren’t limited to: shoshanna in inglourious basterds (2008), naomi lapaglia in the wolf of wall street (2013), daisy buchanan in the great gatsby (2013), deeanna moran in hail, caesar! (2016), mia in la la land (2016), joi in blade runner 2049 (2017), sharon tate in once upon a time in hollywood (2019), marion davies in mank (2020), mrs. de winter in rebecca (2020), molly cahill in nightmare alley (2021), madeleine swann in spectre (2015) and no time to die (2021), and nellie laroy in babylon (2022). her upcoming projects include barbie (her first comedy!!) and lady margot in dune part 2
CHARACTER INSPIRATIONS: marilyn monroe (obviously); kelly canter (country strong); holly golightly (breakfast at tiffany’s); daisy buchanan (the great gatsby); delysia lafosse (miss pettigrew lives for a day).
















