Kieron Moore

With a role in Peacock's new hit Vampire Academy, actor Kieron Moore is rightfully having his breakout moment. In conversation with 1883 Magazine's Editor Kelsey Barnes, Kieron Moore chats about his meticulous approach to Dimitri in Vampire Academy, the mirror the show holds up against our society and culture today, his love of poetry and the written word, and more.

**With a role in Peacock’s new hit Vampire Academy, actor Kieron Moore is rightfully having his breakout moment.**

There is a quote by James Joyce from his renowned book A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that reads “To discover the mode of life or of art whereby my spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom.” To find oneself and, in return, find their true calling is a sort of magical freedom. There is no other rising talent that embodies this ethos more than actor Kieron Moore.

It is arguable to state that Kieron Moore has already lived more lives than most. The Manchester born & bred actor spent 12 years as a competitive boxer, trained and coached by his own father. Alongside the punches there was a juxtaposition; a love of poetry and the written word that provided a safe haven to express his inner feelings. This desire to connect internally eventually brought him back to acting — a career he was exposed to briefly as a kid and a dream that he never completely fade away.

Moore brings a level of dedication to his characters that rival actors that are 20 years further into their careers. Not only does he dive into the psyche of those he’s portraying, but embodies them, sometimes even chronicling their lives and mapping out their minds via Post-It notes on walls in a short-term rental apartment in Spain. Not too shabby for an actor that was dealing with mortgage contracts just 365 days ago. That apartment was the home of Moore while he filmed his new series Vampire Academy and spent many long hours living amongst his character — the quiet guardian Dimitri. It is now, as fans feverishly watch the weekly episode drops, that he now feels like his spirit is expressing itself in unfettered freedom.

In conversation with 1883 Magazine’s Editor Kelsey Barnes, Kieron Moore chats about his meticulous approach to Dimitri in Vampire Academy, the mirror the show holds up against our society and culture today, his love of poetry and the written word, and more.

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For someone who had their first credit in 2019, you’re already involved in several exciting projects, like The Sandman, Vampire Academy and Masters of Air. I know you were a competitive boxer for quite some time. What was it about acting that made you decide to make a switch?

I’ve always loved film and TV. I’ve felt this emotional release within me after watching great performances and I never really understood why. I did a play when I was in primary school and I remember my friend’s mom saying I should go to drama school. Instead, my parents — mostly my dad — said, “You’re going to be a boxer.” But I always thought I’d like to do that [acting] but nothing came of it. There was a production of Grease that my school was doing and I knew I wanted to do it — I had the hair and everything! Then I went to the audition and all the football boys were there, and I already had a bit of angst with them because I was a boxer, and I turned right around.

When I finally decided to quit boxing, I was working a full-time job and doing a bit of modelling. I was comfortable with the camera and I had an epiphany. I’ve always wanted to act, and I’ve always loved TV. It was the thing I wanted to do my whole life. Everything I’ve done — like landing my feet in a law firm without getting through college — was a lot of swindling [laughs].

Fake it until you make it!

Yeah, why not? I started and kept it really quiet. I found a couple of schools and only one would audition me and they said no. They wanted me to send a photo for next year and, because I know the industry, I sent some modelling photos and they asked me to come in that Tuesday [laughs]. I auditioned in front of a class of people and got in. I would go in every Thursday for four hours after work and had an acting coach, Mark [Hudson], who is my mentor.

I read about him, he sounds like a real force in regards to pushing you to pursue acting.

He was the first person to tell me that I could really do it [acting]. I’ve always been pretty driven and a bit stubborn. One day, after I missed a few classes because of some stuff going on in my life, he asked me to come to the school on a scholarship. I was broke and struggling. He kept saying I can do this and that he would work with me, just don’t miss sessions. We worked together for ages and then I got my first agent, some auditions, and started getting the right reception. Then, COVID happened. I didn’t think I’d ever work. But Mark really spoke to my soul, we have a good connection and I’ve always felt locked in because of him. I always loved the work side of it, not just the performance. I love sitting down and finding things out about a character. Then, came Vampire Academy.

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With actors, especially in regards to reading scripts and such, you have to really zero in and pick apart things. What a character Dimitri says, or doesn’t say, and fixate on that to flesh him out.

The role scared me because I knew it was going to be so easy for me to look really boring if he wasn’t portrayed properly. It’s all about what he’s not saying. With him, my approach is a lot more about insight and I hope it becomes across on the camera. Dimitri gets thrown into the story; we don’t see a before, and we don’t know what’s happened to him. We hear a little bit as the show goes on, but when we started I had no script. I knew what was happening within the first three episodes and I knew it was building towards something huge that had happened, but I never had that inside of me. I had a couple of conversations with Julie [Plec] to understand the pinnacle moments of his life up until that point. From there, I got to call the shots. Not many people know this, but I picked a really meticulous apartment to stay in while filming in Spain because it was all about the work. I just had a wall of post-it notes of Dimitri’s thoughts of Dimitri and ideas I had. It was like a shrine. Now that’s in a little book in case we go back for season two.

I really appreciate when actors are so passionate and in tune with their roles, which leads into my next question — when you got the script for Vampire Academy, what was it about the project and the role of Dimitri that made you want to not only portray him but be involved in the show?

I was in the mix for a couple of things at the time and my agents were pulling me in different directions, but I made the right choice. There was something about Julie and Marguerite [MacIntyre] and they showed an element of care that I could feel. It’s a whole new take on the character and he just terrified me. I never thought I was going to get Dimitri. Then, the British side contacted my agents and wanted me to audition for Christian because, as I assumed, they wanted some huge Russian to play Dimitri. Instead, they asked me to read for Dimitri. I got obsessed; I couldn’t shake him. It was at the point where I was still in the mix with a bunch of people and I didn’t know if I was going to get it. I was still logging onto work doing my mortgage reports. One fortnight I was waiting for a contract to be signed at work and I couldn’t stop thinking about Dimitri. Then I thought: what would Dimitri do? I logged onto YouTube and found Tai Chi videos. It just felt right. Halfway through doing it, my agent called to tell me I got Dimitri. It was all full circle.

That’s incredible. Did you go back to doing Tai Chi after you hung up that phone call [laughs]?

[Laughs] No, I cried instead. I worked hard. I’m very lucky, but I’ve also missed out on a hell of a lot. My mum used to say my head is full of magic, so getting her and my agent on the call for them to say “His head is not full of magic — he’s got it!” was so special.

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I read that you were aware of the books and read them after booking the role. Was there anything else you did — any other outside research — to prepare?

Yeah, I definitely have a Dimitri playlist. It’s in the book so that was given to me on a platter, really. A bunch of stuff from the 80s as well and then certain songs you hear on set. There is a scene in six and now I can’t hear a song without thinking of Dimitri waking up to it. I think a lot of actors do this, but I’m big on smell. When I got the job, I knew I wanted a certain smell for him. The problem now is I have to wear it every time I do Dimitri and I fell in love with the smell and can’t wear it on normal occasions! [Laughs] It just became normal to me and everyone on set knew I was around from being able to smell me. It made me feel like he was around, you know what I mean?

I’ve actually never had an actor say anything about smell before, I love it. It’s the same as putting on a leather jacket to signify someone getting into character. It makes 100% sense.

I think getting dressed a certain way as well helps. I remember reading a famous story of how Ian McKellen would pick up a cup a million times to figure out the exact way a character would pick up that cup. That can drive you crazy, I’m not really like that. I like finding differences. The clothing helped, putting them on felt like a process and felt like he was there.

You actually were able to bring your past experience as a boxer into the role of Dimitri. I read that your training helped you get into his mind and better understand him. What was that like?

I was super excited to do it. It was very important to me to do the stunts for Dimitri because he’s a man of few words. Hopefully, we’ll get more insight into what he wants to say as he unravels more, but for me, fighting was a huge part of who he is. I did have a stunt double but he never actually doubled me except once when we did a fight. He trusted me and he got me into a position where I was so comfortable doing all my stuff. It was better on camera because Dimitri shows a different level of aggression through fighting. Training for those scenes helped Sisi [Stringer] and me because it gave us a bit of symmetry. It was art reflecting life, in a way. You really live it when you’re doing the stunts. We were a support system to one another and challenged each other a lot.

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Something that I think is interesting about Vampire Academy is that, despite being a fictional world about vampires, it really is a metaphor for our own society regarding class structure. What was it like exploring those themes on-screen?
We’re hitting some very close to home. I think people will be surprised by it. They assume it’s just another vampire show but then they’ll have to pay attention because there’s a lot going on. It definitely holds a mirror up to society in a way that is quite close to home for me.

I wanted to talk about this because I heard your accent and knew it was a Manchester accent right away. It makes me so happy to hear someone from the North because so many actors, no offence to them, are always from London and always sound very posh. It’s nice that you were, for lack of a better word, allowed to use your Mancunian accent for this.

It was interesting because when I did the audition I tried to neutralize my accent a little bit. I knew Dimitri didn’t sound like me. I know there will be people who are disappointed that I don’t have a Russian accent. I used to work in a law firm speaking in this certain way that wasn’t like anything like my normal voice. The stereotype against Northern accents is bad. It’s something we’ve always run from. I’ve always been perceived as unintelligent because of my accent.

It’s just nuts to me, it will never make sense. It hits close to home for me because Manchester is home, it’s where my family is. I don’t understand how your voice and your accent is dictates your intelligence.

It’s easy to go off on this topic! I try to look at it from a different perspective. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of contradiction and being a bit of a chameleon. I think the discrimination issue in the show is hyper-elevated, almost like the royal system, but it’s a very good metaphor for what people go through daily. I’m definitely not the most discriminated person in the world by any means — the only thing I get challenged with is classism. My heart goes to anyone who actually faces discrimination. That’s why representation in the show is so important. People need to be ready to take on the show and embrace it.

I love this mindset. Taking something that was always pushed against you and using it for the better.

Exactly. I’ve been going into the acting school and working with the little kids. If I had that earlier in my life and had someone with my accent doing what I’m doing now, maybe I would’ve started sooner.

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Knowing what you know about his arc, what advice would you give to Dimitri?

Wow, that’s a good question. I’m going to say follow your heart. I know people will say that is such a cop out answer, but sometimes you have to lose to win. Dimitri is so particular and disciplined that he’s selfless to the point of almost being selfish. I want him to see how special he really is. I think he’s constantly looking outwards and battling things.

You’ve touched on this a bit — what do you hope to take from Dimitri?

I find myself in a bit of a limbo right now because I’m just waiting for the quiet time and don’t know where I fit! I’ve always been super motivated and disciplined to a point of ruthlessness. We really got to play around with Dimitri’s faith and belief system and I really enjoyed this idea that Dimitri feels a bit like an archangel to be doing what he’s doing. He must do his duty to save other people and save others from themselves. That was a really fun thing to sort of experiment with. It made me think about patience. I admire how patient he is. I miss him a lot.

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I want to talk about poetry with you. It’s not often I meet a past boxer, actor, and poet. There’s a bit of juxtaposition there that is interesting to unpack. What was it about poetry that made you feel seen?

I actually used poetry to hide. My dad has quite a hyper masculine mind. One day, I saw a poem next to my mum’s coffee. I couldn’t believe my dad wrote it. It became ingrained in my mind. It’s a core memory of mine. Teachers pushed me to write but I was always set up for boxing — it was going to be my thing. When I was away for a boxing competition, my great grandmother passed away and I couldn’t get there. I wrote a poem and gave it to my grandma to get the priest to read it. My mum said you could hear a pin drop. I was only 10 or 11 at the time. Poetry and boxing are just two different ways to express myself, one obviously being more physically demanding.

I’ve got books in my drawer from poems over the years and I just forget about them. They might never see the light of day. It’s this conflict that I have so many poems and I write them every day and if I don’t write a poem every couple of days, I definitely feel myself slipping a bit. It’s just terrifying thinking people actually read them.

Acting is one thing because you’re playing a character which can be pretty vulnerable, but poetry and writing are entirely yours.

Exactly. As soon as I post it, it becomes open for perception. I write poetry for myself. I don’t do it for someone else. I have a little Instagram page for it but there’s an element of me that fights it because it wasn’t meant to be for anyone else. It’s just the industry we live in right now, we’re so focused on monetizing everything. I do not want poetry to be that. I never want someone to think I’m just carelessly posting things.

If and when it makes sense, you have the option to do it.

I think the dream would be one book of all of them and that’s it. This show might put a lot of eyes on me and I think it’s cool to think people know me and then see I’ve released this book of poetry.

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What have you been reading as of late?

I was doing a book a week in lockdown and I loved it. Then it became an obsession doing it so I had to break the routine a bit [laughs]. I’ve been going back and reading the books whilst I’ve been away. There’s one called The Writer’s Journey which made me feel a little bit less complacent about my accent. Also, I’ve been reading a bit about Greek mythology. There’s something about the Gods that has always excited me. Gladiator is my favourite film in the world. I go back to books all the time, like Flowers for Algernon.

If you could manifest something for yourself in the next 365 days, what would it be?

Kelsey, I really want to play Wolverine.

I love and support this.

Yeah, I really want to play him. That’s a dream I haven’t said out loud until recently. In addition to that, I’d really like to do a movie. This time last year I was working a full-time job and now I’m not doing mortgage reports anymore — thank you, Peacock [laughs].

It’s exciting to think about what the next year could bring. Let’s chat in a year for another interview and see where you are.

Maybe I can be on the cover then? [Laughs] You really never know, do you? I just want to thank my team because I was ruthless and they put up with me.

The magic in your head paid off!

It did. Thank you and I’m holding you to the yearly check-in.

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