EXCLUSIVE: Actress Anna Friel rose to fame as a sex symbol in the 1990s but at the age of 50, she’s now more accustomed to playing a “plethora of mothers”
Mum’s the world for Anna Friel these days. The actress was famed for being a sex symbol when she shot to fame in the 90s and that meant she got plenty of saucy roles on telly and in films.
But now she’s nearly 50, things are very different. Anna said: “I’m at an age where I’m constantly playing a plethora of mothers. It is so fascinating and interesting, being a mother myself and seeing the different aspects and different types of mothering.”
Playing a mum comes naturally to Anna as she has daughter Gracie, 10. She added: “The most important job we’ll have to do is being a mother.”
Playing so many mums means working with plenty of youngsters. They say you should never work with animals or children, but she hasn’t had any problems.
She said: “I am so impressed by the young talent, it’s quite extraordinary. I feel quite blessed to be playing the mother of all this wonderful talent. They’re so hard working and brilliant.”
Anna’s latest TV role is playing a mum in new drama Unforgivable. It’s penned by legendary writer Jimmy McGovern, the man behind hits Cracker, The Street and Time. Getting to work with him is a dream come true for Anna.
She said: “This is the third time I’ve worked with Jimmy and I have nothing but admiration and respect. There’s never a wasted word in the script. Every single word is important and matters and is used with impact and power.”
Anna’s character is at the centre of the action in Unforgivable and that meant learning plenty of lines. After decades in the business, she has tactics to make sure she can tackle a long script. She said: “I’m in the group of actors that believe you just keep reading the scripts again and again and again and again.
“There were quite a lot of big speeches and I like to deliver things at pace so I learned them back to front. I printed them off in A5 and stuck all my dialogue around the bathroom so I could keep reading it again and again and again.”
Unforgivable tackles the issue of sexual abuse. Anna thinks the show’s hard-hitting storylines will get people talking. She said: “Rather than signalling what people should do, Jimmy opens the space for these types of conversations.
“That’s the art of a very clever writer. It becomes a talking piece. Especially because all of his dramas are always very much grounded and cemented in reality.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk