Kin's Yasmin Seky: 'I was really anxious - I had imposter syndrome'

As Yasmin Seky returns for a second season of Kin, she recalls the Facebook message that led to her securing the role – and explains why she won’t let go of her 9 to 5 day job just yet.

Sat, 18 Mar, 2023 - 02:00

Mary Cate Smith

24-year-old Kin actor Yasmin Seky is nothing like her character, Nikita, girlfriend of Eric ‘Viking’ Kinsella (Sam Keeley). While snakeskin and leather is the norm for Nikita, Yasmin is muted in a jumper and what I presume are jeans (although you never can tell over Zoom - perhaps the thigh high boots are out of view).

The mood in this series has shifted, she says, and we should expect things to get darker.

“It still does have that ominous feeling. In season one, the enemy was outside of the family. This time around, a lot of the turmoil is coming from within the family, especially after what Amanda has done, going behind everyone’s backs.” In the first series, Nikita’s loyalty to Viking was almost to a fault but her character development will shine through this upcoming season, she says.

“She’s weighing in on her moral compass a lot more. I don’t think Nikita ever thought that she’d be in the firing line - she was young and dumb. I always thought that her and Viking would be invincible. To see him then get locked up, she’s shaken and a lot more vulnerable.” She’s learning to access that vulnerability and growing with her character on set, Yasmin says.

“Season one was a lot of me finding my bearings as an actor where season two, Nikita has really developed as a character. I’d love to be able to stand up and say that all of her bad bitch tendencies come from me.” Harnessing some very raw personal emotions was her pathway to access the complexity of Nikita who is simultaneously fearless and susceptible to danger at any given time.

“Mostly, it’s the parts where she’s very upset or nervous or shaking - that’s where I had to give pieces of myself to her. I’m really excited for people to see that but I’m also slightly nervous to see how people respond to that vulnerability.” While she admits she lacked the experience some of the other cast members had, Yasmin says the directors allowed her the space to experiment with different ways of performing the scenes.

“The directors were open to hearing ideas. They might picture a scene where Nikita comes in and she’s stoic and beautiful. Whereas in my head, I’m like ‘no, she’s having a meltdown.’” There’s a fine balance between learning lines by rote and keeping the delivery fresh, Yasmin says.

“You want it to be spontaneous. If you rehearse the feeling so much, then you go on set, it feels like you’re beating a dead dog.” Since wrapping on Kin, Yasmin has been honing her craft and says she is “not above” actor training despite having landed a highly coveted role on the RTÉ show that has been streamed by over 2 million viewers.

“People are always like, ‘oh, you’ve done a big TV show, you should know what you’re doing. But there’s so much more to it. I’m always willing to learn. Everybody starts from somewhere. I will always go with my gut but there’s no harm in learning methods as well.”

'AM I THE LAST PERSON THEY CAN FIND?'

The role of Nikita actually took a while to cast, Yasmin tells me, and they had seen quite a few people before casting director Louise Kiely contacted her on a Facebook message and asked her to audition. Her initial self-tape earned her an audition with the director but she still wasn’t convinced that she was good enough.

“Going in I was really anxious, I had imposter syndrome. I was wondering if I was even meant to be there. I was like, ‘am I the last person they could find to do the job?’ When it came out and had a good reaction, I was like ‘okay, you’re obviously here for a reason.’” She’s always bemused at how surprised people are that she still works at the bank.

“People act like it’s a really odd thing. What else am I expected to do? Sit around and wait for the roles to come? I’m actively auditioning and looking for roles.” Having the regular 9-to-5 is actually kind of a relief, she says.

“After season one, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. I’ve worked with powerhouses and they have years of experience on me. I was faced with the question of ‘what do you do next?’ I started to panic and think ‘why am I doing this?’” When she let go of her own preconceptions of what she ‘should’ be doing on set and in her professional life, it freed her up a lot.

Kin actor Yasmin Seky: "I’m not the type of person to wear my heart on my sleeve. But if you can’t do that in your personal life, how are you going to do that in front of the camera?" Pic: Naoise Culhane

“I was less focused on my performance being perfect. I was able to play around with it a little bit more. I have a good support system on set. It was definitely less intimidating this season.”

Yasmin is not usually open with her emotions but being on the set of Kin has shown her that it’s as essential as breathing for an actor.

“I’m not the type of person to wear my heart on my sleeve. But if you can’t do that in your personal life, how are you going to do that in front of the camera? I’ve been working on that.”

As for the claims that the show glamorises violence, she pauses before answering.

“This question was asked of me last year as well. I just found it absolutely insane, especially when a 17-year-old boy is shot in the first episode. If you look at this and see glamour, it shows your privilege - if all you can see is materialism rather than heartache or real stories.” Yasmin used elements of her own personal history and background to get into character.

“I didn’t do much research, I didn’t feel like I had to. I grew up in the inner city anyway. You look at some of the characters and you know someone in your day to day life that’s like them.”

The parish of Cabra is certainly proud of Yasmin’s achievements and people are often more shocked that it is the same quiet girl they knew from the Dublin 7 neighbourhood.

“I’m introverted and quiet. When the show came out, a lot of people were surprised, my mam was being approached most of all. I feel like I’ve done it justice. It hasn’t come across as mimicking or anything.”

SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

While her future is no doubt bright (she’s secured one the best agents in the country and in the UK), Yasmin would love to do something completely different to Nikita.

“Maybe a period drama or historical fiction. I’d love to be the villain.” She did an actor’s workshop recently where she met an Asian actor from Northern Ireland.

“He came up to me and he had watched Kin. To think that not even someone who’s black or mixed race but an Asian male with a Northern Ireland accent had read my story because he thought it applied to him. Little things like that, I’m really grateful for. That always humbles me.”

Yasmin doesn’t see herself as a role model or an activist but she hopes that other young people from the inner city will be inspired to aim high.

“I’m always happy to help people from inner city Dublin. I’m not going to get notions.” Nikita and Viking have some intense sex scenes in the new series and Yasmin feels very lucky that there was such mutual respect between herself and Sam Keeley. I didn’t know him before Kin but we developed a really good friendship. Whenever we did a scene, we would speak to each other. “

It was this openness with each other that eased any awkwardness in the love scenes.

“I don’t think people realize how sterile intimate scenes are. People always expect it to be romantic but it’s not. It’s literally a workspace. It doesn’t really impact your friendship but you do have to have a lot of trust in each other to make the scene look comfortable.”

If she had any advice to her younger self, it would be simply to own her talent.

“I feel like if I had realized that I am good enough, I’d let that stuff go a lot earlier. I wouldn’t be two years into it, I’d be 15 years into it. Don’t let it stop you.”

Her message to anyone looking to get into acting is to try not to let money be a barrier.

“If you can’t afford to go to a certain college, find casting directors on Instagram and Facebook, send them your picture, send them your showreels. Just do it. What’s the worst that could happen? Someone tells you ‘no’ and then you do it again. That would be my advice.”