London is bidding a teary farewell to summer—in fact, it’s positively sobbing. It’s a Tuesday afternoon in Soho and rain is cascading from the sky. Drenched, I’ve just arrived at Bar Bruno on Wardour Street, when the actor Myha’la cheerily walks in after me, somehow completely bone-dry. (Naturally, the sun arrives with her.) We’re grabbing a tea just a few hours before the premiere of her latest film Swiped. Part of a lineage of tech biopics (see also: The Social Network, Steve Jobs), this one follows entrepreneur Whitney Wolfe Herd, a powerful marketing exec present in the early stages of Tinder who resigned, sued the company for sexual harassment, and went onto launch Bumble instead.
Alongside Lily James as Wolfe Herd, Myha’la plays Tisha, Whitney’s comrade and confidante on the male-dominated floors of Tinder’s office. “She’s a fictional amalgamation of the people Whitney might have been around,” Myha’la says of her character, an outspoken punk rock drummer with sapphire blue-streaked hair and heavy eyeliner. It’s a far cry from Harper Stern, the cutthroat stock trader Myha’la has played on three (soon to be four) seasons of HBO’s financial drama Industry—but in both parts, she’s fiery and energetic.
Sipping on cups of tea—mine an English breakfast, hers a mug of peppermint so hot she orders some ice to cool it down—we talked dating, wellness, and Industry without her co-star and bestie, Harry Lawtey.
Iana Murray: What has your experience been like with dating apps?
Myha’la: It was so grim, honestly. I tried a handful of times. I would get on and swipe right a bunch and then forget about it. And then I’d open the app and I would have a match, and someone would be like, “Hey, cutie.” And I’d be like [imitates barfing] and delete the app and freak out and not revisit it for months. All of it felt really grimy anyway. It didn’t feel like dating, it felt like sex.
You sort of met your partner on an app.
He DMed me on Instagram, but he’d seen [Industry] before. That’s the reason he reached out, but the fact that we fell in love feels very random.
You’re the case study of when it works!
A hundred percent! I didn’t think I was going to be that person at all, but I also feel like in those scenarios where it feels like that seems too good to be true, you’re meant to find each other.
Let’s talk about Swiped. Your character has an amazing look, how did you land on that?
That was all Rachel [Lee Goldenberg] the director. She was like, “I just want her to be punk rock, and she’s in a band.” And I was like, “Okay!” So she worked with Barry Lee Moe, the hair [stylist], and David [Williams] who did makeup, and they just collaborated. The wig was my favorite part of the whole movie.
What was your first reaction when you saw the wig?
I was so down. I feel like Tisha is exactly the girl I wanted to be when I was 12. The wannabe goth punk girl in me as a child was getting her life with that look.
What were you actually like when you were 12?
I was like that! I was honestly, like, subversive and punk rock and kind of insane. But I was also in the choir and doing musical theater, and I was exploring all the different aesthetics and avenues that I could take as a child. I feel like I’m technically a millennial, but I’m Gen Z cusp, and I feel like I was [in] the last generation of people who experienced true and honest cringe via exploration, because I didn’t grow up with the internet like that. I wasn’t allowed to have MySpace. We didn’t understand that the internet was forever.
We’re the last generation to experience life before iPhones and the internet.
Well, on this shoot, we had real time period [accurate] phones. We had the first iPhone. Some people still had flip phones and then transitioned to the iPhone, but they’re so analogue, and it felt so delicious to have those relics of the past. And they made great on-set photos.
What was your first phone?
Ever? I think I had a Nokia, and I played Snake. Oh my God, I loved a bit of Snake.
Did you learn to play the drums for Swiped as well?
I did, and I’m actually pissed that they didn’t show more drumming in the movie, because I spent five weeks in drum lessons. And I’ve actually played a gothic lesbian drummer in another movie, so it’s not my first rodeo. So I was already kind of familiar with it, and then I learned that whole song, and I’m actually playing in the movie.
Would you sing in a film?
Yeah, totally. I’m a musical theater major. When I told all of the people who knew me I was doing a TV show, they were like, “What?”. They didn’t understand at all. I would love to blend the world and do a movie musical one day. In fact, every time I do press, everyone’s like, “Are you gonna sing?” [She leans down into my recorder.] And I’m waiting for someone to cast me! I’m available!
“Am I a meme?!”
myha’la
Speaking of TV, you also recently wrapped the fourth season of Industry. What can you say about it?
You can just expect what you would expect from Industry, but every year [showrunners] Mickey [Down] and Konrad [Kay] somehow manage to elevate their writing. I’m really proud of this season, it’s really strong.
I know you and your co-stars, Marisa Abela and Harry Lawtey, are very close. Was it difficult filming without Harry in the cast anymore?
It was just different. Obviously the three of us are so close, and we spent so much time together, and so much of our experience and perception of how this whole show has gone has been by the three of us. But I think it’s different every time as well, because I spent more time with Marisa than I did last season—but we didn’t spend a lot of time together. If [Lawtey] was there, I don’t think it would have changed how often we see each other. And everyone has lives. They go back to London and I stay in Florida, but I’m literally seeing both of them in, like, a day.
How do you feel about being a meme?
Am I a meme?!
It’s a scene in Industry, and you’re looking at stocks. [I show her the GIF.]
This is kind of iconic. It’s like the one of that woman with all of the math. I love it, this is brilliant. Dude, I think being memed is like being immortalized in a way—putting your stamp on the culture. If I affected anyone with my work, then thank god. I’m doing something right.
When you go to a restaurant, do you look up the menu beforehand?
I kind of have to because I’m gluten free and dairy free, and I try not to do refined sugars because I have soft girl tummy problems, like everybody else over 25. So yes, I do have to do that, not because I want to choose my meal, but I just have to make sure there’s something for me to eat. I’m always the person deciding where to eat.
You like a bit of wellness as well, right?
Hell yeah! I did all my tinctures this morning. I had my mushroom blend. I took my homoeopathic jet lag medication this morning. I did my matcha, my iron drops. Since I’ve eaten, I’m gonna go back and take all my other shit. Oh, yeah, I love to be well.
And who gets the bill?
I think if it’s a group of friends, we usually split it. But if I invite someone out, then I’ll pay—or if it’s with [my fiancé], then we switch.]
Swiped is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu from September 19.