Best known for roles across Peaky Blinders, Wolfe and DI Ray, actress Naomi Yang has steadily built a career led by strong writing and quietly assured performances, moving comfortably between screen and stage. Up next, she’ll be seen in Sky’s crime thriller Under Salt Marsh, starring alongside Kelly Reilly and Rafe Spall. Set in a fictional Welsh coastal town, the series explores a long-buried secret against an ominous environmental backdrop, with Yang playing Jess Deng, a character entering a tightly knit community very much from the outside. She’s also recently been announced as joining season three of the BBC’s Vigil, which relocates its high-stakes investigation to a remote Arctic research station.
In 18 Questions Naomi talks matcha rituals, Enya on repeat, winter shoots by the sea, working with dream casts, and why good writing continues to shape her choices.
1. What’s the first thing you usually do when you wake up in the morning?
Currently, it’s to make a matcha latte. I love the ritual of scooping out the powder and whisking until all the little bubbles form.
2. What’s a small daily habit that helps keep you grounded?
Getting out for a walk, I feel a bit like a caged animal if I don’t feel the fresh air all day.
3. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, what’s your go to reset?
I call my friends and tell them how overwhelmed I am and they make me laugh, tell me everything will be just fine and then I have a nap.
4. Where do you feel most at peace when you need time to yourself?
Genuinely in my flat. I live on my own and having my own little space has been instrumental to me feeling more grounded and at peace over the last few years. Being able to do the simple things like making a cuppa, putting on some music and chilling out on my sofa just always relaxes me.
5. What’s something that always makes you laugh, no matter your mood?
There’s a video of me and my friends on holiday in France that I will snort laugh at every time I watch it. We’re a bunch of actors and a self-tape came in for a shark film. We had a swimming pool in our villa so of course we spent the whole day doing these ridiculous shots of us pretending to swim away from sharks. I didn’t get the part but it will remain my favourite audition ever.
6. What song do you return to when you need comfort rather than inspiration?
Orinoco Flow – Enya. It makes me feel like I’m floating.
7. When do you feel most like yourself during a typical week?
When I’m belly laughing with my loved ones.
8. What’s something you believed about yourself a few years ago that no longer feels true?
That I could do everything myself.
9. How do you usually know when you need to slow down?
I’m still working that out. I’ll usually just do all the things and often forget to slow down and look after myself. This year I want to be more intentional about my time and energy.
10. What does a perfect day off look like for you right now?
An all-day spa with all the treatments.
11. You’ll soon be seen in Sky’s Under Salt Marsh, which centres on a close-knit coastal community and a long-buried secret. What was it about this story or its world that pulled you in?11.
Claire Oakley has created such a fleshed-out world with these beautifully complex characters that you can’t help but lean in. I remember reading it for the first time and just thinking, wow, this is going to be visually stunning. What makes Under Salt Marsh stand out is that there’s this environmental backdrop of the impending storm which adds real tension and pressure. I love where my character Jess Deng fits into the whole story.
12. The series brings together an incredible cast including Kelly Reilly, Rafe Spall and Jonathan Pryce. What did working alongside them teach you, either on or off camera?
Truly a dream cast! A lot of my scenes are with Rafe Spall and he not only has such a deep understanding of the work but is a lovely person so that it just made the dynamic between us so easy. And of course, watching Jonathan Pryce work is just masterful.
13. Welsh coastal settings often feel like characters in their own right. How did the landscape and atmosphere shape your performance in Under Salt Marsh?
Being by the sea, surrounded by the hills and mountains of the Eryri National Park, you can’t help but be deeply affected by your surroundings. I felt almost engulfed by the energy and vastness of it all. That really helped inform how I wanted Jess to feel – that she was coming into this world as an outsider and the place feeling at the same time both impenetrable and overwhelming. We were also filming in winter so the whole time it just felt super atmospheric and moody and that was perfect for what we were after.
14. You’ve just been announced as joining season three of the BBC’s Vigil, set in an Arctic research station. How did you react when you first read the scripts?
I’m a big Vigil fan so I was excited before I’d even read the scripts. Vigil? Suranne Jones? Rose Leslie? Yes please.
15. Vigil moves the story to an isolated, high-pressure environment in Svalbard. How does that kind of setting change the energy between characters?
It definitely adds tension. You’re so cut off from the rest of the world and the town itself is so contained that it completely changes the energy. You can’t help but have some sort of dynamic with everyone. It’s also so vast – you look out and it just seems to go on and on forever. You really feel like you’re at the end of the world and I think that must change how you view the world and your relationships. No one really grows up in Svalbard and so there are people from all over the world but they’re united in having chosen to be in this far away place and I think it’s interesting to think about the reasons people crave that change.
16 .You’ve appeared in a wide range of dramas, from Peaky Blinders to Wolfe and DI Ray. Do you consciously try to avoid repeating yourself in roles, or is it more instinctive?
I think more instinctive. For me, it’s really about the writing. When the writing is good, everything else just sort of works and you don’t really ask those questions because the character is there on the page. My job is just to bring them to life.
17. On stage, you were part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Olivier-nominated production of My Neighbour Totoro. How does performing live compare to screen work for you emotionally and creatively?
Technically it’s very different but for both stage and screen you’re trying to find the heart of the story and the truth of the character. There’s a different level of play when you’re in rehearsals for stage and that’s always something I relish. I’m very lucky that I get to do both. My Neighbour Totoro was a very special job for me as it was the first time I’d worked with an all East and Southeast Asian cast. I still have very close friends from that job – I suppose doing 8 shows a week bonds you pretty strongly.
18. Looking ahead, what kind of roles or collaborations do you hope will define the next chapter of your career?
It’s always the people that make the jobs and so looking forward, I want to continue working with good people that are making good work. In the more immediate future, I would love to get back on stage or do a comedy but of course, if good writing comes my way then anything is possible.
Naomi can be seen in Under Salt Marsh on Sky Atlantic from Friday, January 30th.
Follow via @imoanyang.
Photographer Craig Gibson
Styling Sarah Harrison
Hair Sophie Sugarman
Makeup Min Sandhu
