British actress Julia Farino who plays the US president in Amazon Prime’s vampire thriller series Age Of The Living Dead, developed a vitamin D deficiency when she moved to LA.

Julia Farino is one of the good guys in Amazon Prime’s vampire thriller Age Of The Living Dead, but when she moved to LA eight-years-ago she adopted a vampire lifestyle because she couldn’t handle the intensity of the sun.

She slathered herself in factor 50 whenever she went out and would skulk in the shade rather than soak up the rays. She didn’t get sunburn, but her body became depleted of Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin.

“I was too scared to go out in the sun in LA because I burn so easily and the sun is so much stronger than it is in the UK,” explains Julia. “I also have pale blue eyes that are sensitive to sunlight. Three years after moving to the US, I started getting lots of coughs and colds and was diagnosed with a Vitamin D deficiency.

“It was such a shock, because you’d never imagine anyone in LA not getting enough sun – apart from the vampires!”

Julia, 53 is originally from Little Bookham in Surrey and when she first auditioned for the role of US president Margaret Robertson in Age Of The Living Dead, the show’s makers had no idea she was British.

“When I turned up for the first day on set, they were surprised to hear a British accent. As they were in Canada, I’d sent them my audition on video so they’d only heard me being American,” she says.

A second series of Age Of The Living Dead is due to be aired on Amazon Prime this autumn.

Julia has worked with Sir John Gielgud, Sir Elton John and Robbie Williams. She has starred in Veep (HBO), Jane The Virgin (The CW), The Gifted (Fox) and Lady Windermere’s Fan (Amazon).