‘Upload’: How Allegra Edwards’ Real-Life Relationship With Clayton Snyder Impacted Her Performance
Actor Allegra Edwards stars in the sci-fi Amazon Prime Video dramedy series Upload. You may not be familiar with her or her work. But if you’re a millennial, you probably know her fiancé, actor Clayton Snyder, who portrayed Ethan Craft in the Disney Channel sitcom Lizzie McGuire. Learn how this relates to the show.
Allegra Edwards stars in ‘Upload’
Edwards stars as Ingrid Kannermann in Upload. The series depicts a man, Nathan (Robbie Amell), who dies suddenly. Ingrid is his wealthy girlfriend, who gets him into Lake View. In this afterlife community, your digital “essence” (memories, personality, etc.) is uploaded into a database so that you can ostensibly live forever.
Throughout the first season, which debuted on the Amazon streamer in May 2020, Nathan falls for another woman, while Ingrid tries to hold onto him by her exercising control as the “account holder.” Both Ingrid and Nathan learn how much power money has in this world as they unlock the secret of Nathan’s untimely death.
She’s engaged to Clayton Snyder
Before Upload, Edwards was best known for her role in the short-lived USA drama, Briarpatch, which starred Rosario Dawson. Prior to that, she made appearances in such popular series as Orange Is the New Black, The Mindy Project, and New Girl. But she was also recognizable to fans of Lizzie McGuire fans because of her relationship.
Snyder and Edwards have known each other for over a decade. After dating years earlier, they got back together in June 2018. In December 2019, they announced their engagement. “2009/2019 I get to grow older with the love of my life, for the rest of my days. I adore you Clay,” Edwards wrote on Instagram.
Their long-distance relationship impacted Edwards’ role
On July 23, 2020, the cast and creator (The Office’s Greg Daniels) spoke about the show in a virtual San Diego Comic-Con panel. Edwards explained how she was able to draw on her own experiences in playing Ingrid. “The thing that made it really authentic and close to home is that it’s actually just a long-distance relationship,” she said.
She continued. “Having been in one for the last two years myself, I think the miscommunication and the trying to get on the same page and how easy it is to be connected when you’re together in physical space versus when you’re not in the same timezone or in the same plane of existence — I think that’s the human element [of the relationship].”
How she feels about a real-life ‘hug suit’
Ingrid tries to keep her relationship with Nathan alive by using a “hug suit” — a costume that allows the human user to touch their digital partner with their entire body. When asked if she would ever use one in her relationship, Edwards said it was “a complicated question.”
“I think it takes a certain level of adventurous spirit to just wiggle into one of those,” she continued. “I think the idea of it is better than putting it into practice.” Edwards elaborated on this, describing all that she had to wear in the scene in question, adding, “directing me [in it] was next to impossible.”
