Melina Juergens as Senua in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Melina Juergens turned the gaming world on its ear with her stunning performance in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, so much so that she ended up taking home an award for it at the 2017 Game Awards. But even more surprising than her powerful portrayal of the game’s lead character, Senua, was the fact that Melina hadn’t had any acting experience prior to playing the part. In fact, she didn’t even audition for it. She worked with the Hellblade team at Ninja Theory as its video editor, and she only donned a motion capture helmet to help the studio test out some tech.

As soon as the team saw her in action, they knew they had the right woman for the role.

“I think there’s a lot of myself in Senua, because I’ve never acted before, and I don’t know how to act,” Juergens said in an interview with PCGamesN. “I basically just used method acting — I used experiences from my own life, like traumas or my anxiety, and connected that with the scenes from Hellblade.”

Juergens still works at Ninja Theory, though she says she’s now more comfortable with the idea of taking other acting jobs. And she’d love to follow up her performance as Senua if the opportunity presents itself.

Let’s hope it does.