Plenty of people think actress Olivia Colman has one of the most coveted jobs on the planet. But her children, Finn, seven, and Hal, five, aren’t among them.
“My sons are too little to get wrapped up in the fame side of things and I keep reminding them that being an actor is nice but it’s not impressive. Saving lives is impressive,” says the Broadchurch star, punctuating her sentences with a flash of her dimpled smile.
“Their mates go, ‘Your mum’s famous’, and my sons go, ‘Yeah but that’s not cool. It’s cool to be a nurse’.”
Colman and her sons may be modest but with Bafta wins for her performances in Olympic parody Twenty Twelve and BBC One drama Accused this year, the Norfolk-born actress has entered the big leagues.
After a string of roles on the big and small screen established her as an acclaimed serious actress from her comedy roots, her status as national treasure was perhaps cemented with her role in Broadchurch.
In ITV’s smash crime drama she played tough cop Ellie Miller opposite former Doctor Who David Tennant.
And Colman was tickled when press reports suggested she could be cast as the first female Doctor.
“Maybe I can start rumours about all sorts of roles,” says the actress, giggling.
“I’ve done loads of jobs that are under the radar, so it’s funny when you do a programme or film that more people watch. It’s lovely but it’s scary when people know your name and they throw it into the mix of things you don’t know anything about.”
Tough character
Next be seen in Channel 4’s gritty new drama Run, as Carol is a down-on-her-luck single mother who’s struggling to keep her errant sons on the straight and narrow.
To be shown over four consecutive nights, the series weaves together four seemingly unconnected people who each face life-changing decisions.
“Carol’s doing what she can,” explains Colman. “She’s trying to keep the family together and she’s doing it in an unconventional way.”
Colman, who greets everyone with the same warm smile and encouraging pats on the arm, is the antithesis of her tough character but, as an actress, she relishes playing against type.
“I like the fact that some people might find Carol unlikeable,” she says. “I like that she’s not all smiley and sweet.”
The actress, who befriended her fellow stars from offbeat Channel 4 comedy Peep Show, David Mitchell and Robert Webb, while at Cambridge University, has a very different home life from Carol.
Happily married to writer Ed Sinclair, she loves spending time at home. “My husband’s amazing,” she says. “I get homesick and I’ve never been away more than four nights on the trot.”
Gritty role
Colman’s co-star in Run Jaime Winstone plays a stripper called Tara who learns the man she’s been having an affair with has been killed.
It promises to be another landmark role for the rising star, but she admits to sometimes growing frustrated with what’s on offer.
“I find there’s a lack of material or a narrow-minded view where you’re only getting certain roles or just not being put up for things because you sound like this or you’re a working-class actor,” says the 28-year-old, who doles out plenty of ‘babes’ and ‘darlings’ but refrains from anecdotes about her famous friends who include the likes of Pixie Geldof and Kate Moss.
“I’m a young British actress, so you do get a lot of scripts for prostitutes and strippers, which shows there’s a lack of material but also that there are a lot of strippers and prostitutes,” she says with a shrug.
Killing zombies
Having dipped her toe into film-making for the gothic horror Elfie Hopkins, which she co-produced, Winstone’s currently working on a short film.
“I love film, I grew up on it,” she says, although she doesn’t know what her dream role would be.
“Killing zombies is cool,” she says, and London-born Winstone should know. In 2008, she starred in Charlie Brooker’s critically-acclaimed Dead Set in which zombies attacked the Big Brother house.
“Yeah, you want to do serious drama but you also want to carry around massive machine guns,” she says with a chuckle.
One person who’s sure to be watching Run is her actor father Ray. “My parents are very proud and they’ll definitely be watching,” she says.
“They definitely tell me what they think and they’re very critical, so they keep me on my toes for sure.”
Source: home.bt.com – Olivia Colman and Jaime Winstone talk Run
