Wallis Day’s New Obsessions

For Wallis Day, every proper night out in London ends the same way: at the Chiltern Firehouse. “They’ve asked me to actually pay them rent a few times because I seem to be there so much,” she jokes of the hotel and restaurant, known for its legendary celebrity parties. (A fire in early 2025 shut down the place, though it’s set to properly reopen in 2027.) These days, the British actor spends about half her time in Los Angeles, and while she’s enjoying its hot spots — like the Living Room private members club — it’s still the party scene back home that she craves the most.

“London has more of a gritty, spontaneous edge to it,” the 31-year-old says. “You can start at a pub, then a club, and then be at a house party until 6 a.m.”

As a teen, Day modeled herself after the British nightlife icons who were mainstays at the Chiltern long before she was old enough to sneak in: women like indie sleaze darling Agyness Deyn and the ultimate English supernova, Kate Moss. “Agyness cut her hair and wasn’t scared to make bold moves like that in the noughties,” says Day (who has been known to shear her hair into a similarly bleached blond pixie cut). “Kate Moss wasn’t trying to be an It Girl. She wasn’t trying to hit perfection. She had this attitude where she just owned her individuality.”

Yet the most formative It Girls in Day’s life might come as a surprise. With standout roles in The CW’s Batwoman and this summer’s Red Sonja, Day has established herself as an action star on the rise — and counts Angelina Jolie in films like Tomb Raider and Girl, Interrupted as an early acting inspiration. “She was one of the first women I had ever seen on screen that made me believe that I could be powerful and multidimensional,” Day says. “I get excited for roles that scare me. I love psychological thrillers. I love complex biopics. I love action films with a real emotional weight to them. I love getting into peeling the layers out of a character to do a drama. I want to play women that are layered and powerful and unforgettable, and I want to tell stories that are gritty and raw.”

“By the end of the shoot, my weapons just felt like an extension of me.”

And then there’s her ultimate icon: Jane Goodall. “It’s so nerdy, but I grew up really admiring the work that she does and who she is as a person,” Day tells me over Zoom, just two days before the revered conservationist’s death at 91. “I’m such an animal lover. I’m vegan. I just would’ve loved to help the world in the way that she did.”

Gun-slinging bombshells, save-the-world humanitarians — such seemingly contradictory inspirations are par for the course for Day. As a child growing up in Cheltenham, about two hours outside of London, she balanced competitive swimming (butterfly was her stroke of choice) with late nights spent writing fiction. “My dad had to unscrew the light bulb in my bedroom lamp so I’d sleep,” she says. But the arts soon won out over athletics: By 13, she started modeling to save up for drama school; at 15 she moved to London where she attended the Sylvia Young Theater School, which counts Dua Lipa and Amy Winehouse as former students.

“It’s so weird because when I stopped [swimming] when I was 15, I couldn’t get in a pool for a really long time. I just associated that with competitiveness and the pressure and the discipline,” Day says. “Now I really enjoy it because it’s a hobby for me.”

“Kate Moss wasn’t trying to hit perfection. She just owned her individuality.”

Despite her clear and early ambition to be a performer — in addition to acting jobs like Netflix’s Sex/Life and Syfy’s Krypton, Day has also appeared in music videos from Arctic Monkeys and 5 Seconds of Summer — her interests extend well beyond being in front of the camera. She also plays drums and guitar, trains in Muay Thai, writes poetry, hosts the lifestyle podcast Girls Next Door with her friend and influencer Francesca Allen, co-founded the vegan food brand PlantPunk, and is developing an under-wraps fashion tech company. If that sounds like… a lot, well, that’s the former athlete in her.

“I actually [had the opportunity] to compete in the Olympics for swimming when I was younger, which taught me discipline and how to push past limits,” Day says. “I like being a student, and I do dive into things a bit obsessively.”

And when her acting roles require new skills, even better. For Red Sonja — which Day has described as a new interpretation of the comic-book character, not a remake of the 1985 film starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger — she had to practice fight choreo, strength training, and horseback riding to play the villainous Annisia, one of the fantasy film’s deadliest warriors.

“I get excited for roles that scare me.”

“Because I’ve always been quite physical, it feels natural to just throw myself into the stunts. They’re part of who the character is and part of telling the story through the body,” Day says. “You’re learning these movements that you want to look effortless on screen, but in reality, you’re carrying a weapon that’s really heavy and that you’re not used to. But I love the challenge, and by the end of the shoot, my weapons just felt like an extension of me.”

So how does she unwind when she’s finally ready to throw down that armor? By hanging out with her two Shiba Inus and leaning into the blissed-out vibes of her adopted city. “My perfect L.A. night would probably be an amazing dinner, and then just ending up at a friend’s place, somewhere we can have conversations by the fire pit or whatever,” she says. “It’s not as chaotic as London. L.A. nights feel a bit slower and more cinematic.” Even without the Chiltern, it’s still its own kind of magic.

Top image credits: Roberto Cavalli top, Christian Dior skirt, Gucci shoes, all vintage pieces from Gabriel Held Vintage