Scarlett Johnson has left Albert Square for high society in 1880s America. Now that much mocked Yankee drawl can at last be put to good use. Emma Cullwick reports

AMID the deafening crackling noise Scarlett Johnson can be vaguely heard apologising profusely, explaining how she's attempting to navigate her way out of a noisy caf.

Several minutes later she emerges onto a South London street and her voice suddenly regains clarity as her mobile phone reception kicks into life.

"I'm really, really sorry about that, it was really busy in there but I just wanted a sit down and have a coffee," she says breathing out a tired sigh.

It's a busy time for the 20 year-old actress who is rehearsing for her leading role in the play Daisy Miller, opening at Malvern Theatres on Tuesday, August 30, before then going on to tour the country.

Mastering an American accent for Daisy Miller, in which she plays a New Yorker, may not come as a challenge for Johnson, who found fame playing Vicki Fowler in BBC1's long-running soap EastEnders.

She joined the show in March 2003, with her character - the daughter of recently murdered Dirty Den - having an American accent.

But her US twang soon hit the headlines after it was suddenly dropped - leaving audiences rather bemused by the overnight loss.

It seems Johnson was left equally agog by the decision, saying she "didn't know" why one minute she was a Yank and the next she was Cockney.

One thing she does know, however, is that she hopes her new role will finally stop the public remembering her only as Vicki and start seeing her as "a serious actress."

"I think Daisy will be good for that as she's such a memorable character," says Johnson.

The period drama set in 1880, sees the actress starring as a youthful, a high-spirited woman travelling Europe with her 'new money', creating a whirlwind in the life of an upper-class young American writer on her way.

It's not Johnson's first tread of the boards however. She has just finished playing Juliet in the Shakespeare classic at Stratford-upon-Avon.

"It's one of the hardest things I could do but it went really well," she said. "It's filled me with confidence."

In fact Romeo and Juliet was also not her theatre debut either. She first appeared on stage at the Royal National Theatre aged nine.

But unlike many of her counterparts, she is not drama school trained, instead she studied A-levels in music, drama and English.

She auditioned for EastEnders during the summer holidays, and was amazed to land the part, spending the first year of her two-year stint on the soap juggling script-learning with homework and exams.

But she soon tired of the show, and said she would have left sooner if she hadn't been tied to a contract.

"Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it but I got bored and I knew I really wanted to do theatre," she says.

"You don't get to have any input on television, you're a puppet to the producer's needs."

Now, she's hoping Daisy Miller will be the start of a successful acting career, and she isn't ruling out attempting to break America, where no doubt her much-used US accent will come in useful.

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens," she says.

l Daisy Miller runs at Malvern Theatres from Tuesday, August 30, until Saturday, September 3.