Scodelario was born Kaya Rose Humphrey on 13 March 1992,[1] in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. Her mother, Katia Scodelario, is a Brazilian who had worked as an accountant in Itu, São Paulo,[2] and had moved to England in 1990; Scodelario's surname comes from her mother's Italian grandfather.[3] Her father, Roger Humphrey, was English and died in November 2010.[4][non-primary source needed][5][6]
Her parents divorced when Scodelario was one year old, and her mother took her to London when she was four. They spent their first night on the street before finding a council flat on Holloway Road.[7] Scodelario took her mother's surname and spoke Portuguese at home.[8] She attended Bishop Douglass Catholic School and then Islington Arts and Media School.[9] She participated in school plays and found drama an escape from bullying.[10] Her mother took on multiple jobs to make ends meet and had clinical depression that worsened during Scodelario's teen years. Scodelario said she wanted to help, but did not know how, and moved to a flat in Camden.[11]
Career
Scodelario in 2009
In 2006, at age 14 and with no acting experience, Scodelario was cast in the first series of Skins as Effy Stonem. At the auditions, she became discouraged as she felt she was too young, but a producer told her to stay and she was asked to read for the part.[12] While Scodelario's role in the first series had minimal speaking lines, her character developed considerably during the second series. She eventually became the central character in the third and fourth series after the cast had been replaced by a new generation of characters. This made Effy one of the only characters to appear from series 1 all the way through to series 4. Filming began in July and Scodelario said that 18 November 2009 was her last day of filming the series and that she would miss being on the show.[13][non-primary source needed]
Critics praised her performance, and she was nominated twice for Best Actress at the TV Quick Awards, in 2009 and 2010.[14] In the episode "Fire", one of three parts of the seventh (and final) season of Skins, Scodelario reprised the role of Effy. It is a two-part depiction of her life as an adult, lasting two hours. She claims "Fire" is "more like a movie" and that she could relate to Effy's struggle to change from a teenager into an adult.[15]
Scodelario made her film debut in the science fiction-thriller film Moon, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, receiving positive reviews. In her second film, Shank, released on 26 March 2010, she played teenager Tasha.[16] In addition, she appeared in the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans as Peshet.
In 2011, she signed on to play Sally Weaver in a British thriller, Twenty8k.[23] The film was released in September 2012.[24] In late June, Scodelario announced that she had signed on to star in Now Is Good with Dakota Fanning.[25][non-primary source needed] The film is based on Jenny Downham's novel Before I Die, about a teenage girl with leukaemia who makes a list of things to do before she dies.[26] She portrays Zoey, the protagonist's best friend.[27] In September 2011, Scodelario filmed a television serial for BBC One, True Love, an improvised series comprising five stand-alone episodes, each covering a different love-related dilemma. She is cast in the third storyline as Karen, the love interest of her teacher, portrayed by Billie Piper.[28]
In January 2012, Scodelario made her first American film, The Truth About Emanuel, in Los Angeles. She stars as the title character, Emanuel, a troubled 17-year-old girl who babysits her new neighbour Linda's "baby", which is actually a very lifelike doll. It had a limited release on 10 January 2014.[29] In April 2012, Scodelario shot a cameo appearance for the film Spike Island.[30] She also participated in an advertising campaign for Korean jewelry brand J. Estina.[31] In 2013 she starred in the four-part Channel 4 drama series Southcliffe, which tells the story of a fictional English town devastated by a spate of shootings, exploring the tragedy through the eyes of a journalist and those close to the victims.[32]
Scodelario then signed up to lead a new Netflix series, an edgy figure skating drama called Spinning Out in 2019.[44] Debuting in early 2020, the series explored multi-person mental illness within a family and its interaction with high-level competitive sports.
Scodelario dated her Skins co-star Jack O'Connell for about a year before they split up in June 2009, remaining good friends.[50][51][52] She was in a relationship with Elliott Tittensor from late 2009 to early 2014. During their relationship, she supported Tittensor after his arrest for hitting someone while driving an uninsured car.[53]
Scodelario and Benjamin Walker began dating during the filming of The King's Daughter in early 2014, becoming engaged in December 2014 and marrying in December 2015.[39][54] Both adopted the surname "Scodelario-Davis" (Walker's full name was Benjamin Walker Davis). Their first child, a son, was born in November 2016.[55] Scodelario's Skins co-star Daniel Kaluuya, who grew up in the same neighbourhood as her, is her son's godfather.[56] On 18 September 2021, Scodelario announced she was pregnant with her second child.[57] In December 2021, she gave birth to a daughter.[58] In February 2024, the couple announced they had separated.[59]
^Company (magazine). InterviewArchived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine (Scanned image) Quote: "I got linked to Nicholas Hoult when he was in Skins. I was only 14 at the time and played his sister! Just for the record I've never been married to Nick Hoult. I did go out with Jack [who plays Cook] for a year and we were quite open about our relationship in the press."