One Piece live action's Emily Rudd spent "three years" preparing to audition for Nami

6 September 2023, 12:48

Emily Rudd got her hair cut for One Piece before she got the role

By Sam Prance

Emily Rudd was a huge fan of the original One Piece manga series and did every she could to get cast as Nami.

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One Piece actor Emily Rudd has opened up about how she got the role of Nami and the lengths she went to to get the part.

As soon as One Piece debuted on Netflix last week (Aug 31), viewers praised the live-action show for doing a brilliant job of casting the characters from the original series. For years, fans have been obsessed with the animated versions of Luffy and his crew but Iñaki Godoy and the rest of the cast all play their roles with great care and respect to the source material.

One person who really nails their role is Emily Rudd, and she spent "three years" doing everything she could to get cast as Nami.

One Piece live action&squot;s Emily Rudd spent "three years" preparing to audition for Nami — One Piece live action's Emily Rudd spent "three years" preparing to audition for Nami. Picture: Netflix, Toei Animation

Discussing the audition process in an official One Piece comic earlier this year, Emily said: "One Piece is one of my favourite manga and I've always felt drawn to Nami in particular. When I heard they were making a live-action series, I started not-so-secretly playing the long game in lobbying for this role for three years."

Emily then explained: "I coloured my hair red and got it cut just like Nami's. I posted a video of myself when I was younger tumbling and doing backflips, things like that. I was trying my hardest to get anyone who might notice to really see me as Nami."

She ended by saying: "So to audition finally, I was like, 'Oh my God, I did it! I can't believe I did it. What timeline am I in? How did I get so lucky?' It was crazy. I got to work my dream job."

Looks like the key to getting a dream role is manifesting, hair dye and a lot of talent and determination!

Before One Piece, Emily was most famous for playing Cindy in the Fear Street movies on Netflix.

said it once before but right now i gotta say it again.. can’t put it into words. thank you thank you thank you. this is my dream 🧡 i love y’all. i hope it’s your dream now too.
— emily rudd (@emilysteaparty) August 31, 2023

Following the release of One Piece, Emily tweeted: "Said it once before but right now I gotta say it again...can't put it into words. Thank you thank you thank you. This is my dream. I love y'all. I hope it's your dream now too."

No. I'm not crying. You are!