Daily Mail 2008

Zoe Tapper, 26, lives in Northwest London. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and will appear in The Last Van Helsing [now renamed "Demons"], a new six-part supernatural drama starring Life on Mars’s Philip Glenister, on ITV later this season.

THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY YEAR HAS BEEN…spending six weeks in Romania filming the Victorian drama Affinity. But I really can’t pick one. I love the variety my job offers. In the last 12 months I’ve been Desdemona in Othello at London’s Globe Theatre and filmed The Last Van Helsing – a high-concept vampire-slaying adventure. I was a bit of a wimp when it came to the fight scenes but I loved the challenge.

MY WORST AUDITION WAS… for a furniture company advert where they wanted me to construct a chair while wearing a red bikini. I didn’t know the first thing about assembling furniture and I really did not want to be prancing around on TV in a red bikini. I remember thinking, ‘This really isn’t me; stick to costume drama.’

I FELT LIKE A STAR WHEN… I first stepped on to the stage at the Globe. There were 1,500 faces staring at me as I performed; I felt like a rock star and it was a huge buzz. Being cast in the film Stage Beauty with Claire Danes was a magical experience. I was fresh out of drama school, they took me under their wing and carried me away.  

IN FIVE YEARS’ TIME I’D LIKE TO BE…not a superstar, but a very successful actress. You soon learn that keeping in work is more important than status and fame. And you realise, too, that celebrity can be managed – it’s the way you live your life. Cate Blanchett manages it – she has children but still does her glam stint on the red carpet now and then. 

Original article here.