Luther: The Fallen Sun Star Lauryn Ajufo Shares Swimsuit Photo of “Mirror Mirror On the Wall”

Luther: The Fallen Sun star Lauryn Ajufo is asking who is the fairest of them all, and her fans have one obvious answer. Ajufo, who plays Anya Raine in the film, shared pictures of herself posing in front of a mirror, wearing a brightly patterned swimsuit. “Mirror mirror on the wall,” she captioned the post. “Beautiful!” an admirer commented. Ajufo is living her dream right now—here’s what’s next for the actress.

1. Acting Rituals

Ajufo likes to connect to her characters through music. “I think most actors have their rituals when it comes to preparing for a role, but I feel like I'm pretty chill,” she says. “If I've been given a role, I will read the script with all my highlighters lined up, and I'm very much an annotator. Music is also something that helps me in developing a backstory – I'll create a playlist that I think would fit the character, or the story itself, and listen to that as I'm trying to annotate through. It’s probably quite cliché to say, but I really enjoy not having to tap into my own emotions for a while, so just delving into this other character that has their own story is very therapeutic to me.”

2. Mental Health on Screen

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Ajufo believes film and TV can be a great way to normalize mental health realities, and encourage open dialogue. “When I was growing up, so many things seemed much more like teen bubblegum, but the narrative has changed so much in filmmaking now–in terms of discussing mental health, and so on,” she says. “I absolutely love that, because there are so many people out there who think they are alone in their battles, but what great shows and films can do is open our eyes to the fact that people aren't alone... I strongly believe it's important to portray the average, or everyday, realities of how we all live our lives on-screen – people suffering from depression, or encountering racism, and things like that.”

3. Music and Acting

Ajufo absolutely loves music and live performances, and never planned on going into acting. “If I’m not on set you are bound to find me at a festival, concert, making a playlist, teaching myself how to DJ,” she says. “It’s either that or I’m stuffing my face at a new restaurant I’ve found, after I’ve taken the pic of course haha… I actually didn’t want to be an actor funnily enough. There was always an interest there I had shows and films I admired but I didn’t see the bigger picture of it being a career until I’d completed GCSE drama and attended Brit School… and had the little push from my parents. I went on to study musical theater there whilst being a part of Stratford East Youth Company and that’s pretty much where it all started to kick off.”

4. A Different Approach

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Ajufo enjoys TV shows because she has more time with the characters she plays. “I find with TV I grow into my character more and more as the project progresses simply because so many things change everyday whereas with film your character is kind of established already,” she says. “Yes yes there are changes but I feel they’re little in comparison to TV. So yes I do approach acting differently I guess.”

5. Her Definition of Success

Ajufo focuses on happiness and growth when it comes to defining a successful life. “I think success, for me, is just doing what I love and being happy with it, which is really about knowing that I've done the most I can with a specific job,” she says. “As long as I know that I've worked hard, I don't really care about anything else. I'm happy if I know that I killed it. I also think success is about just trying to do things, and telling yourself not to be doubtful of everything. I don’t take anything too seriously, because I think you can always try to be a greater version of what you were yesterday.”

The Fall of the House of Usher star Paola Nuñez visited beautiful Costa Rica at the end of summer and took some gorgeous pictures while she was there. Nuñez, 45, shared a sultry shot of herself posing in a spa while wearing a black bikini and white cover up, tagging cinematographer Federico Verardi as the photographer. “#nosarabeach #travel #puravida⛱️ ,” she captioned the post. “Welcome to Costa Rica Pura vida!❤️” a fan commented. Here’s how Nuñez stays fit, and what makes her happy about work.

1. Strong Woman

Nuñez loves lifting weights and using resistance training machines. “I am naturally really skinny and because of that I was bullied in high school, so I started doing weight training since I was 16 years old,” she says. “I mean, I got really obsessed with muscles. I wanted to grow. Actually, I worked as an aerobics instructor for a couple of years in my hometown Tecate, Mexico. After a lot of hard work I finally accomplished the body that I wanted. I was ripped!! Funny enough, when I moved to LA, 4 years ago, my muscles were being a little bit of an obstacle. I was not booking and my managers told me to lose muscle mass. I did, and started booking after that.”

2. She’s a Runner

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Nuñez’s athletic prowess served her well on set. “I still workout of course but I don’t kill myself at the gym,” she says. “I stay in good shape, I run a lot now. In Bad Boys I had a scene in which I had to run really fast to catch up to a moving camera that was moving in front of me. After the first take everyone came to see if I was ok, if I needed oxygen or something. They couldn’t believe that I could run that fast and that I was not even out of breath. They were so surprised, that I was surprised too at their reaction. I guess I AM in good shape, better than I thought. We had a lot of fun action scenes that I really enjoyed.”

3. Lara Croft Dreams

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Nuñez loves playing tough female characters. “I’ve always been inspired by strong, independent women,” she says. “Usually women are represented as submissive victims, especially in Spanish Telenovelas, so I am encouraged to become a strong woman and take on more bold roles. I want to see more super women! I would love to play an action heroine, like Lara Croft. This is the perfect strong and powerful woman archetype that I admire and aspire to be, both professionally and personally. I love the high intensity and physical element that action roles demand.”

4. Politics and The Purge

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Nuñez says her role on The Purge reminds her of how intolerant society has become. “I think the theme of this decade is intolerance in general, and I think that’s why The Purge is so important right now,” she says. “It’s such an interesting movie, such a subject to touch, like how intolerant we are, feeling so much separation between us that we can’t even sit down and say, ‘I don’t understand but I get it.’ But now you can’t sit down with friends and have a normal conversation without it being super-heated up…politics, right?”

5. Advice For Actors

Nuñez has advice for those trying to break into the entertainment industry. “I love being able to create something and see it on screen as a finished work,” she says. “After all the stress and obstacles you face, being able to capture magical moments while filming then relive them after it’s all said and done, by watching them. It’s an incredible feeling of achievement. You have to be strong in this business. A career in Hollywood will tempt your insecurities and emotions. You will be forced to confront yourself like never before. All that you don’t like about yourself will be brought to the surface, so that you can change, improve, and grow as a person and as an artist.”

New Amsterdam star Alison Luff spent the last days of summer soaking up the sun in Positano, Italy, on what looked like a babymoon trip. Luff, who plays Alice Healy on the show, shared highlights from her trip, including a beautiful picture of herself posing on the beach in a bronze bikini. “Positano Party of 3 Humpty Dumpty Dump 🌊,” she captioned the sweet post. Luff is a stage actress as well as screen—here’s how she feels about the characters she plays.

1. Guitar Player

Luff is a musician as well as an actress, and shares videos of herself playing guitar on social media. “Studies have shown that music training improves cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory, attention and inhibition) across our life span,” says Patricia Izbicki, PhD. “This has been shown with both short-term and long-term music training. Because playing an instrument requires many different areas of the brain, it strengthens a variety of neuronal connections.”

2. Feminine Strength

Luff loves portraying a feminine type of strength with her role as Stacie in Heels. “When I originally read the season one [script], I saw strength within Staci, and I knew that ‘Okay, there’s different ways to show strength.’ Some people would say, ‘Oh, she’s just a mom,’ but she is maintaining her entire household,” she says. “There is strength in that, and it’s so easy to look at strength through like a masculine lens and be like, ‘Oh, strength is just money or physicality.’ I think the great thing that these writers have done is show the strength in these women that through — not to genderize it, but through a feminine lens. Staci’s strength is loyalty. Her strength is nurture; her strength is maternal. Her strength is accountability and action, and it’s not athleticism. It’s not physical strength, but she does have these other strengths.”

3. Love for Theater

Theater star Luff developed a deep affection for Jimmy Buffet after starring on the stage production of Escape to Margaritaville. “I haven't told him this but I want to call him Uncle Jimmy,” she says. “And I don't know if he'll be okay with this, but I feel like he would be because he's a great guy. He's so fun. He's always around. I mean, he's a really very busy man, but he's always around. And when he is around, he's always giving his input, and he's always being supportive. The other day, the second to last run-through we had in the rehearsal studio, he was laughing like he had never seen the show before. And there were a couple new parts that he hadn't seen, and I'm looking over to see if he's laughing and then he is and I'm like, ‘Yes!’”

4. Be Kind

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Luff says playing Jenna in Waitress taught her to embrace her own imperfections. "Jenna has been such a gift and it's been a dream role," she says. "There are so many lessons she's taught me like leaning into the imperfections of who you are, because her imperfections really shine. The line we always remember is, 'She's messy but she's kind.' Kindness will go a long way and things can get messy, but as long as you stay true—you're going to stay on track."

5. Confidence In Herself

Luff gained confidence in herself when she stopped trying to be better than her peers at doing the same parts, like the role of Jenna. "I think I really started to own myself and my career when I realized I can't do what they do better,” she says. “I need to figure out what I do best and what I can offer that no one else can. [Jenna] was a dream role of mine back when I saw [Waitress] in November 2016. The first five minutes of watching it I had tears in my eyes, I turned to my husband and said, 'I have to do this.' I think about that almost every night when that curtain goes up. I like the imperfect nature of the story. It's hard to make an affair a love story and make people root for it. I really love doing it."