Lounging on superyachts in string bikinis, there was a time when Camila Morrone was just another of Leonardo DiCaprio’s impossibly beautiful girlfriends. That was before the Victoria’s Secret model swapped catwalks for acting – to launch a stellar career guided by advice from her stepfather Al Pacino.
Camila, 28, says the counselling from Pacino, 85, helped her overcome her struggle to convey emotion on camera and land the leading role opposite Tom Hiddleston in the long-awaited second series of The Night Manager, which starts on BBC1 at 9pm on New Year’s Day.
She is still close to Pacino, whose ten-year relationship with her mother Lucila ended in 2018, and drew heavily on his advice during a tearful, tense scene with 44-year-old Hiddleston’s character Jonathan Pine in a hotel room.
She says that at the start of her acting career, she told Pacino she ‘didn’t know how to act’ or ‘cry’ on camera.
She says he advised her: ‘Just be yourself. If you don’t cry that’s fine, just react to the act and you’ll be fine.’
An industry expert adds: ‘There was a period when she had Pacino as her stepdad and Leo as her boyfriend. That’s got to be more valuable than a top acting school.’
After the success of the first series, which aired ten years ago to rave reviews, producers knew the follow-up to the adaptation of John le Carré’s novel needed an actress who conjured up the same red-hot chemistry Hiddleston shared with former co-star Elizabeth Debicki.
‘They knew Camila was right to play Roxana from her first audition,’ says an industry insider.
‘She has a combination of incredible sex appeal with palpable intelligence. She’s not arm candy, she’s a force to be reckoned with.’
Camila says: ‘My character’s this hustler. She’s the smartest person in any room, which I love, and she has all the men eating out of the palm of her hand.’
As businesswoman Roxana Bolaños, she helps Hiddleston’s Pine infiltrate a Colombian arms gang. One much-anticipated scene sees her in a steamy three-way clinch with Hiddleston and Diego Calva, who plays villainous weapons boss Teddy Dos Santos.
Born to Argentine actor parents in Los Angeles in 1997, Camila went to the Beverly Hills school that also taught Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie and Carrie Fisher.
She began modelling internationally at 18 and two years later bagged her first major film role as Bruce Willis’s daughter in Eli Roth’s action film Death Wish.
Before The Night Manager, her most high-profile role was in 2023’s Amazon Prime series Daisy Jones & The Six, for which she earned an Emmy award nomination.
That secured her audition for The Night Manager, which is set to make her an international star.
The James Bond-esque drama launched Hiddleston’s career in 2016 and thrust his co-star Olivia Colman, 51, into awards territory.
The six-episode version of Le Carré’s 1993 book was an immediate hit with viewers and critics – 10 million tuned into the finale and it swept the board at the Baftas and the Golden Globe awards.
In an industry ruled by viewing figures a follow-up seemed a given, though Le Carré never wrote a sequel and died in 2020.
He admired the BBC adaptation and gave his blessing to a second series.
But despite support from three sons who manage his estate, for a long time nothing made it past a development stage.
David Farr, 56, who penned the first series, wasn’t immediately available to work on a second. Other scriptwriters tried and failed to create Le Carré’s world.
Then Farr finally dreamt the idea for a follow-up. ‘I half woke up and thought, ‘I think I know what that is. I realise what the story could be’,’ he told Radio Times earlier this month.
At a memorial event after Le Carré’s death, Farr relayed his dream to producers who immediately commissioned an episode. Set mainly in Colombia, the new season is directed by Bafta-winning Georgi Banks-Davies.
This time Pine infiltrates an arms ring. His nemesis Richard Roper – played by Hugh Laurie in the first series – is supposedly dead but still wields influence over the criminal underworld.
In a world of subterfuge and intrigue, Camila’s character is persuaded to join Pine to track down one of Roper’s evil aides. Later in the series she showcases her sexy side, going full Bond girl in a show-stopping blue dress for that clinch with Hiddleston and Calva.
Off screen, she has moved on from her five-year romance with DiCaprio and is with music video director Cole Bennett, 29.
Next year she will portray Countess Olenska in Netflix’s The Age of Innocence, a character played by Michelle Pfeiffer in Martin Scorsese’s 1993 film.
She may have spent years in the shadow of two Hollywood greats, but when she stood on the red carpet at the London premiere of The Night Manager this month, Camila was happy to pose alone.
