Nick de Semlyen is the current Editor of Empire, having joined the team back in 2004. His love of film was ignited at an early age, when he saw an archaeologist with a cool hat unearth a magical box in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Since then, he’s interviewed Harrison Ford himself, plus hundreds of other actors and directors, and written extensively on subjects including comedy, film noir, silent cinema and the oeuvre of Chuck Norris.
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During his time at Empire, Nick has won multiple awards, including two from the British Society of Magazine Editors: Editor of the Year (Entertainment & Celebrity) in 2023, and Best Features Idea in 2017, for his article in which the cast of the Lord Of The Rings movies interview each other. During his tenure as editor, he has overseen the world’s first stop-motion animated magazine cover, collaborating with studio Laika to reveal the hero of their movie Wildwood.
His experiences at Empire have led him to some incredible places: a car being driven by Jackie Chan at high speed through the streets of Shanghai; Jack Nicholson’s house; a room populated by all of the Goonies, plus Steven Spielberg, to celebrate Empire’s 20th anniversary issue. He’s also chatted to some unusual people: the Gimp from Pulp Fiction, the rabbit from Donnie Darko, the girl in the red dress from Schindler’s List. Rick Moranis once lent him some squash shorts.
He is also the author of two books, Wild And Crazy Guys (about the comedy stars of the 1980s) and The Last Action Heroes (about the same decade’s action icons). With judicious use of the pause button, you can just about see him in the top left of a shot in Jurassic World, getting splashed by a water dinosaur: a happy accident that came about during a set visit in New Orleans, but which left him with very wet shoes.
You can find Nick on Twitter and Instagram @nickdesemlyen.
