Lily Collins has worked in various genres over the course of her acting career, ranging from sci-fi projects such as Priest as well as comedies like Rules Don’t Apply. She is the daughter of Phil Collins, the legendary Genesis frontman who has influenced artists from different musical backgrounds ranging from the likes of Kanye West to Ozzy Osbourne.
Born in Surrey, Lily Collins eventually moved to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents got divorced but she had started acting when she was just two years old. In recent years, she has continued to forge ahead with more prominent projects such as a J.R.R. Tolkien biopic as well as the popular Netflix series Emily in Paris.
In an interview, Collins reflected on her childhood experiences and the dual identity of her father. She claimed that it didn’t register at first that her father was such a huge celebrity icon when she just knew him as ‘Dad’ but with time, she realised that he had two different identities depending on the social context.
“It was kind of weird,” Collins recalled. “I’m sure your kids maybe will go through this. But it’s a weird thing to have your dad or a parent be on a stage with like millions of people saying their name when you’re like ‘No. That’s just dad’. But I started to get used to like ‘that person was Phil’ and then when we were home that was dad.”
The actor finds it funny when she looks back at those years but at the time, it was a surreal experience for her which she described as “a meeting of the worlds”. She also revealed how Phil Collins enjoyed the fact that there was one particular radio station who introduced the musician as “Lily Collins’ dad” after playing his music.
While talking about her dad’s work, Lily Collins singled out one particular song that she considers to be her favourite Phil Collins work. Collins actually wrote the song for the 1999 Disney film Tarzan which ended up getting a lot of recognition and acclaim, winning the Best Original Song Award at the Oscars.
Commenting on her special connection to the song and what it meant to her, Lily Collins added: “‘You’ll Be In My Heart’ from Tarzan. It was written as a lullaby to me when I was younger. We grew up watching Disney shows and movies together. So that was his way of kind of being able to do it for his kids. It was so special.”
