Nico Parker and Thandiwe Newton.Photo:Francois G. Durand/Getty;Kate Green/Getty
Francois G. Durand/Getty;Kate Green/Getty
Ahead of filming the recentSundance Film FestivalhitSuncoast(in theaters now and also streaming on Hulu), the 19-year-old Parker admits to “having some doubt in myself that I would be able to carry out a narrative and a story like that and have an audience be compelled the entire time.”
As Doris, a teenage girl coping with her sick brother moving into the same Florida hospice center as the dyingTerri Schiavoin 2005, Parker had her share of heavy dramatic material, withLaura LinneyandWoody Harrelsonin supporting roles.
But Newton, 51, was “incredibly supportive” as both parent and peer, the young star tells PEOPLE. “A ‘you can do this’ kind of theme [runs] through all of our conversations.”
Nico Parker and Thandiwe Newton.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
She adds that the Emmy-winningWestworldstar’s feedback is “never specific to the industry or to acting. It’s more so just general life advice.”
Parker also turned to her father,Ticket to Paradisewriter-directorOl Parker, for thoughts. “They both read the script, they loved the script,” she recalls ofSuncoast, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama from writer-director Laura Chinn.
“Because it is so predominantly a Doris-heavy film, I just think the idea of having to be the focal narrator of something like that felt incredibly daunting.” But both parents gave the actress the confidence required to take on a role that Sundance audiences would later laud her for; Parker received a jury award from the fest recognizing her breakthrough performance.
“Anything that they’ve tried to instill in me as a person, ways to behave and not to behave or how to treat others — all of that, I think you just take it on board and let it flourish in you however it will. And so a lot of that, I’ve definitely taken and used in a work setting, but it’s never specific to that.”
Laura Linney and Nico Parker in ‘Suncoast’.Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
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She adds that teens — on screen and in real life — can be seen as “selfish for wanting to go to prom or have a boyfriend or get drunk. You so often look at that character and see them as this shallow void. But I think being a teenager, it’s so common to just crave experience, you crave new things. And I just loved that [Doris] had that in her.”
Suncoast, says Parker, “shines a light on everyone’s different ways of coping and feeling and healing.”
Suncoast.Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
Parker’s parents married in 1998 and separated in 2022. They share another daughter, Ripley, 23, as well as son Booker Jombe, 9.
Newton, whose recent credits include voiceover roles inBig MouthandChicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, said in 2018 that she would protect Parker’s entrance into Hollywood “like a lioness.”
Speaking to Britain’sThis Morning, she commended her daughter’s work in Disney’s live-actionDumbo. “She’s been on endless sets,” Newton said at the time. “It’s not that she takes it for granted, but it’s not a world that she feels she’s not entitled to be in.”
Parker also played Sarah Miller, onscreen daughter ofPedro Pascal’s Joel, in the hit 2023 dramaThe Last of Us. She’ll next star in the live-action adaptation ofHow to Train Your Dragon, scheduled for 2025.
Suncoastis in theaters and on Hulu.
source: people.com
