Loves of My Life: Susan Wokoma

The best interviews are often the most personal. In Loves of My Life, we get to know the person behind their craft, asking them the important questions we're desperate to know—the restaurants and date-night spots, what's in their Saved folder on Instagram, the piece of jewellery they're most attached to and what's lurking at the bottom of their handbag. In short, these are the true loves of their life. Next up is actor, writer and director Susan Wokoma.

What's your #1 restaurant to visit in the world, and what do you order?

"In the world? That is big. I know my London one, it's easy. Andrew Edmunds in Soho. I'm a bit of a Soho creature and I'm still fighting for Central London—although I know everyone's going east. It's a beautiful, modern European restaurant in an 18th-century townhouse—candle-lit, everything. I was introduced to it by writer and playwright Polly Stenham in maybe 2013. She's a real Soho child. We went for dinner there and the service was amazing and the menus are all handwritten and change regularly. It's the place I go for a big steak or a pork chop, or for the red wine selection. If I really like you, I take you there."

Is there anything in your wardrobe that you're particularly sentimental about?

"Do you know what? I'm really bad with losing things. I'm the kind of person who will wake up on a random Tuesday and be like, where's that top? So one of my 2024 resolutions has been to declutter my life, but one thing I'm very, very sentimental about is what I bought with my first big paycheck for a job I did called Crazyhead in 2016. I didn't know what to spend it on and my friend Emma Dennis Edwards was like, 'You need to get your first Chanel.'

I wanted the classic black flap bag, and she was so sweet and called the New Bond Street store ahead of time so that when we got there they made such a fuss of me, giving us champagne. They let us stay in the store all day. Ultimately, it was a real lesson about buying quality because whenever I use it it's still in pristine condition, and it was a really sentimental moment with a friend."

What would we always find lurking in the bottom of your handbag?

"The one thing I never go anywhere without is my Beauty Blender Blotterazzi sponge. It's shaped like a tear, and you open it and it's got a little mirror. It's really good for shine control. I get shiny no matter what—it can be the coldest day and I'm shiny, so it's always in my bag. That, some gum and my AirPods. Oh, and I always have some Le Labo miniatures. I just throw a whole load into my bag and like to pull them out halfway through the day and layer my fragrances."

What's your signature scent?

"Because I layer, I like to mix and match and change my mind all the time. I would say I am basic in that Le Labo is always in there. Lys 41 is normally a base, and then, of course, we have Santal 33 that everyone wears. It just smells so fresh. There's an Italian actress, Rossy de Palma, who has a perfume [named after her] called Etat Libre D'Orange. I tend to like vanilla, musky and woody scents—I do not want to smell like fruit—but this is an 'eau de protection' rather than an eau de parfum, and I will add a hint of that sharp orange to my other layers for a unique smell. If anyone asks me what I'm wearing, it's going to be about 3000 different things."

If you could only holiday in one place for the rest of your life, where would it be?

"I would say Costa Rica. I went a couple of years ago for my birthday, and I didn't want to do any of what I call 'Instagrammy' holidays, so I went to the middle of the forest to lay in a hammock and read a book, and it was so unbelievably peaceful. I'm usually a city break kind of girl, and I had to force myself to adjust to the pace of life—just beaches, books and incredible food. [It] was beautiful. The slogan for Costa Rica is 'pura vida', which means pure life, and although everything in Costa Rica runs five minutes late (which is a nightmare for my Capricorn brain), it turned out to be just what I needed. You can walk up into the mountains, see the volcanoes and explore the kind of location where you can switch off and be healed."

We've caught you on a rare day off. What are you doing with your spare time?

"Okay, I've mentioned [this] before and it's come back to haunt me, but I had this whole panic a few years ago where I thought, I was born in London but I don't really know London, in terms of it's history. So I started going on these London walks which you can book, exploring different areas of London with a tour guide. There are always more people than you think so it's never just you, and I've loved going along and seeing the hidden history of the South Bank, and one night I did a dark tour of London. We ended up in Smithfield and there's a little square where William Wallace was burned—I didn't know that growing up in London! I learnt so much from those tours that I walk around now and recognise those landmarks.

"I've also started tailoring my own clothes. I'm of Nigerian heritage and we rarely buy anything off the rack; we'll often go to a tailor who also happens to be an auntie. My whole body is about four different sizes, and why waste time trying to fit into what is already out there when I can make it work for me? So, I'll either be doing that, or learning BSL. Our associate director Lilac [on The Real Thing] is deaf, and she gave me my sign name, which can either be spelt out or a gesture that sort of represents you. Mine means open-hearted. Even though Lilac prefers communication by lip reading, because we have somebody in the room who is deaf, it makes sense to learn like any other language. I think there's something quite humbling about learning something as you get older and [being] a student again."

What's your secret date-night spot?

"So maybe rather than a restaurant, a different kind of date-night spot that only a very special group are invited to is my home, but the other one is the Experimental Cocktail Club in Chinatown. I love it because it has no sign and normally some conspicuous bouncer. The cocktails are incredible and it's so dark it's almost too dark, so everyone looks amazing. So take a date and have a few cocktails. Back at mine, I've recently discovered a little roof bit off my bedroom window, and as the sun goes down the light is so beautiful. So now I've put out some chairs and a little table, and you can climb out of the window and perch there for a drink. We might not get gardens because we live in London, but we do have a nice rooftop situation."

What's one item of clothing you would never part with, and why?

"My Buffalo trainers or my Fila Disruptors because I'm a '90s girl and I like a chunky shoe. With the exception of a heel, which can be quite delicate and dainty, I like a trainer and feeling that I'm stomping around a little bit. If I'm dressing down and I've got to wear a regular trainer, it feels so odd! You walk differently in a chunky shoe as it adds a bit of height, and whenever I'm in rehearsals and take my shoes off, people go, "Oh!" I do give tall-girl energy, but that's because, in platform trainers, I'm 5'6"."

What's your current most-played on Spotify?

"Like everybody else, it's Chappell Roan. I knew she was good for the Gen Zs, but then I saw the Coachella performance and I was like, yeah, I absolutely love her. Pop girlies are doing bits right now, and I've got to say, watching Charli XCX have this victory is amazing because this girl has been around and DJing forever, and seeing her rise has been so satisfying. I also love Rachel Chinouriri—as a black indie girl, she has my heart.

"VINCINT! VINCINT makes really gorgeous romantic pop anthems, and when I go for a run, I sing their songs out loud, which is a great way to keep people away from you. If you're not familiar with their work, start with 'Take Me Home'. But honestly, I would say my biggest guilty pleasure is probably my Spotify, because if you saw some of the other shit I've got on there... Let's just say Rebecca Black has more hits than just 'Friday'. If someone took my phone to put me on the spot, I would run across the room and set my phone on fire."

What's your favourite IG account to follow, and why?

"It has to be the Indie Sleaze account. The amount of people I like I've recognised on it! I find it so nostalgic, and some of the songs are bangers. It feels like the last flush of hedonism that my generation had before we got slapped around the face with the recession. It was such a time to be alive."

If we looked through your Saved folder on IG, what would we find?

"There's a Saved folder? I screenshot a lot of things on Instagram, which I guess is sort of doing the same thing—quotes, quotes, quotes and motivational posts that I share with my friends. Therapy-gram. The last thing I screenshotted was a woman talking about discipline and how to replace the word 'discipline' with 'devotion'—how are you showing devotion to this thing, or showing devotion to yourself? Honestly, it did something to my brain."

Where is your favourite place for inspiration and your favourite place for fun?

"I go to Rome quite a bit, and the key to a good time in Rome is to find the artists. It opens up a whole other world. They will often do residencies for like, a year or two, and take over villages or different galleries and museums, so there are people from all over the world congregating whose sole focus is making art and enriching culture, and it adds respect and value to the experience. The last time I went, I got invited to this musician's birthday that was being held in a bar that only opened on the last Thursday of every month, and it was the weirdest shit I've ever seen. It was great, everyone was spilling out in the streets, smoking and talking about their art. This year, I was invited to do my very first performance-art piece as a result of the people I met whilst partying in Rome, so I suppose it was quite inspirational too."

What's one beauty or self-care item you can't live without?

"Out of the blue, I developed cystic acne in 2019. My skin wasn't great before, but it was just fine, and then all of a sudden, breakout. So I went to Dr Ifeoma Ejikeme at Adonia Clinic to see a specialist dermatologist who knows Black skin, and she saved my skin. I basically went from 'moisturise and leave the house' to 8000 creams, but I've worked on that diligently for over a year.

"When I was younger, my thinking was, if I'm oily, don't add any oil, don't use too much moisturiser because it will make it worse. But actually, if you don't use moisturiser, you're gonna make it even worse. I've found the best thing is a rose water and glycerine spray, which I use for my face, my hair and my body. I love an all-in-one. Ever since I started using it on my skin, it's just glowy. I haven't started doing anything surgical yet but I'll let you know."

What are your top three favourite movies of all time?

"Oh my god, well, definitely on my list is All About Eve. I think it's one of the best films on earth—just Bette Davis being high-drama, raggedy and the most OTT actress. Anyone who hasn't watched it will see that it's in black and white and think, Oh, I don't wanna watch something that's made in the '50s, but it's just incredible. You also get to see a very young Marilyn Monroe in one of her first movie roles. I also love Mary Poppins. 'Feed the Birds' always makes me cry, without fail. And actually, Bridesmaids cannot be matched. All three are up there as the films I constantly revisit."

What's one piece of advice that someone you love gave to you that has always stuck?

"My friend Maria taught me drama from the age of 13 and we're really close, she's like a mum. She said, 'Don't let other people live in your head rent-free.' If someone is going to take up your energy, they better be putting dollars into the slot! I'm a real worrier, and I can worry about others and be very hypersensitive, but to what end? The older I get, the less concerned I am about what other people do. I'm only really responsible for my feelings and how I communicate them, and I have to trust that other people are going to be responsible for their views and tell me what they need and what they don't too, I think."

Who are your professional and personal heroes?

"Professional is tough because I don't really have one. The kind of path that I've created for myself is a bit strange, in terms of the things that I add to my bow and the kind of work that I do. I think when most people think of heroes they look at someone's body of work and think, I want to do that, whereas I have so many different people that if I could mesh them all together, that would be the closest I could get. If you could squash Marianne Jean Baptiste together with Olivia Coleman and a little bit of Kristen Wiig and Simon Pegg, that would be my hero.

"But personally, my friend Steph, who has had to battle quite a few chronic illnesses over a time when, you know, we're all sort of discovering who we are and being a bit pessimistic. Her health really started to turn against her, and watching somebody navigate that has been really difficult, but I'm just completely in awe of how she approaches life and strives to make the best choices for herself. She's definitely a hero."

Who is/are the love(s) of your life?

"I don't think I can say out loud.… I do have a crush at the moment, and I never have a crush, okay? You know when you're just like… you're wearing your hair a little bit different, you're putting in a little earring and you've just got a bit more of a spring in your step? That's lovely."

What is the love of your life?

"I think I'm meant to say acting, but also, I know that if this didn't work out, I would be fine. But regardless of whether I'm involved in it or not, I'm always really delighted when I hear that people are creating things, or when actors that I really like or really respect are booking these great jobs. The fact it's happening is beautiful and that people haven't given up on it, because things are really cynical at the moment, [and it] shows the importance of art, whatever you consider that to be, and that it isn't just a luxury. I'm always really impressed because artists can have nothing and still be the people trying to create something that helps."

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Catch Susan in The Real Thing at The Old Vic Theatre until 26 October, and in series two of Cheaters, coming to the BBC in November.