It may sound cliché, but Emma Mackey has always felt like a bit of an enigma. Despite the fact that her break-out role was in one of the most ground-breaking, genre-bending TV shows of our time, and she has starred alongside some of the greatest, influential women in the industry – Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, Fiona Shaw and now Jamie Lee Curtis – the Sex Education actor remains fairly private, and very rarely gives interviews.

And yet. Glamour sits down with Emma on an autumnal Sunday morning at Claridge’s hotel. She’s in full glam, including a gorgeous brown leather trench and her hair is cropped into an enviable bob.

We’re meeting to talk about Emma’s new film Ella McCay, in which she plays a female politician who encounters a public sex scandal – and the gendered double standards that come with that, especially if you work in the public eye – and is underestimated and discriminated against as a woman in a male-dominated workplace as she fights for legislation that will empower women and young children.

Alberto E. Rodriguez

She tells me that the fact that the film is set in the world of politics and revolves around a woman’s experience in the workplace “adds density to it”, with its poignancy only growing since it was pitched and written due to the growing political unrest in both the UK and the US. “It feels even more relevant now, the timing of it… the way that things are aligning now,” Emma says.

She delved deep into the political world to prepare for playing Ella, recalling “being privy to some meetings and meeting politicians and see how their day is fine-tuned down to the minute”. “I believe in these people and these women, and I see it,” she says. “There’s so much negotiation in these jobs. People trying to pass bills and legislation, they’re constantly negotiating, constantly. It’s always, ‘What can I give you?’”

This year, we’ve seen Emma star alongside Fiona Shaw in the movie adaptation of Deborah Levy’s novel Hot Milk, and now in Ella McCay co-star with Jamie Lee Curtis. “I’ve learned a lot,” Emma says. “They’ve got this incredible experience and they’re still working and choosing really interesting things and trying different things. And there’s a fierceness to them both, I would say.”