In Full Bloom: India Shaw-Smith

Things rarely move fast…until they do, and then it’s an avalanche.

India Shaw-Smith knows this intimately.

Credit: David Reiss

At this precise moment, Spartacus: House of Ashur reaches a global audience, her indie feature The Pines Still Whisper distributes worldwide, and her acclaimed stage run as Jane Austen’s Emma has just toured the UK. It all looks like momentum, (and it is), but it’s come from years of patient planting.

“I’m incredibly excited. It feels like such a big moment, because a lot of different parts of my career [things from a few years ago, things more recent] are all coming together at once. And it’s immensely rewarding to see.”

It’s the culmination of what she calls “a good bit of hard graft,” the delayed gratification only

making real sense in retrospect. A friend once told her: you plant the bulbs, and one day they’ll bloom.

This season, they are.

In 2021, Shaw-Smith travelled to Eastern Canada to shoot The Pines Still Whisper, an independent feature she also helped develop and executive-produce. Shot in just 20 days, the film went on to win Best Microbudget Feature at the 2023 Toronto Independent Film Festival and was later picked up by Buffalo 8 for release on Amazon Prime.

“It’s a project very close to my heart. We shot the film during COVID, and to finally be able

to share it after years of anticipation, has been so rewarding.”

Credit: David Reiss

Concurrently, she also found herself returning to the theatrical world; a move that felt reminiscent of her childhood. Last year she starred as Emma in a bold new Jane Austen adaptation at Theatre Royal Bath before touring the UK. The production leaned heavily into Austen’s comedy, reengineering the acclaimed novel with refreshed warmth and wit.

Not long after came her role in Spartacus: House of Ashur; a production that was a world apart in scope and budget.

“What surprised me is how much the show still felt very theatrical, almost operatic. I could really draw on my stagecraft. The language is classical, bold, and the tone unapologetic.”

The show reunites many of the original creative teams from the Spartacus universe, something Shaw-Smith, long a fan of the original, calls “a dream to work on.”

She found out she had booked the role while alone in Los Angeles.

“I fell on the floor for about thirty minutes. Everyone in the UK was asleep. I couldn’t tell anyone. I was beside myself.”

Two and a half weeks later, she was in New Zealand.

“I’m drawn to characters who experience real evolution, who begin with one understanding

of themselves and arrive at another. For an actor, that kind of journey is everything.”

Penny in The Pines Still Whisper. Emma on stage. Viridia in Spartacus.

Viridia’s arc, in particular, is underscored by grief and constrained by the politics of her Roman elite world. Widowed by Spartacus’ rebellion, she returns to her family home, where marriage becomes her only perceived option for security. Over the season, she begins to question everything.

Credit: David Reiss

“What if my loyalty wasn’t to my family, but actually to myself?”

It’s a question that continues to resonate far beyond the walls of the period drama.

India identifies strongly with Viridia’s integrity and moral compass; qualities she values deeply. The differences lie in their circumstance, not their spirit.

And Shaw-Smith’s inner fire is unmistakable.

Acting, for her, has never been in question.

“I’ve always loved storytelling. I’m a huge history buff. I believe stories can change people…help them feel seen, or question their understanding . They are a mirror to society.”

And also tremendously fun.

“I’m basically a big kid,” she says laughing. “And the idea that I can play, do meaningful work, and enjoy it…it’s the biggest blessing.”

On set, she often thinks about her younger self.

“I like to let little India know: it’s okay. To feel afraid, or to be in awe. Some moments I experience, I just know that she’d be jumping for joy.”

Credit: David Reiss

Shaw-Smith never wants to lose this sense of play.

“The world can be tough. You have to seek the light.”

I ask her what she is still learning to be brave enough to want.

“To be my own best advocate,” she says, after a short pause. “To back myself. To be audacious without feeling entitled.”

“You deserve to ask for what you want. The stories you want to tell, they have a place.”

For those encountering her work for the first time, Shaw-Smith hopes one thing above all:

“That my love for the craft rubs off. That people feel compelled and ignited.”

She wants her work to draw people in, to remind them of their own fire.

Credit: David Reiss

At the end of our conversation, she reflects on what her life could have looked like, if not for

acting.

“I would have studied theology. Religion, philosophy, ethics. The big questions humans have

always asked. All of that fascinates me.”

She sees no contradiction between that life and this one.

“Storytelling also asks: who are we? Why are we here? Is there something greater than us?

For me, acting has always been another way of exploring those big questions.”

We get the impression that this is why her performances feel so luminous; they are rooted in

a lifelong curiosity about the human condition.

Spartacus: House of Ashur is available to stream on STARZ.