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Ella Bright had all but prepared herself for a normal college experience.

After spending her adolescence on the British children’s series Malory Towers , the London teen found herself at a crossroads. Should she keep acting or take some time to focus on passing her A-level exams and the prospect of college?

Bright decided she’d go on a few auditions before taking her break, with a new Prime Video romance series, Off Campus , being the last. The then-18-year-old was reading for the lead character, college music student Hannah Wells. She never managed to take that break.

“I did the audition, I got the part in this whirlwind month process,” Bright tells The Hollywood Reporter on a Zoom ahead of the show’s premiere. “It was like, OK, we only got two A-levels [done], and I’m not going to college anymore.…